The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

III. “Divine Comedy” a Prophetic Portrayal of Corruption

Taking the Apocalypse and its interpretation by Joachim for a formula, the exiled poet wrote The Divine Comedy in the vernacular. In the poem, the church, bereaved of her first husband, remained over a thousand years without a single suitor. In harmony with the current conception of his day, Dante filled paradise (holiness and happiness), purgatory (penitence and hope), and hell (sin and misery), with the spirits of the departed, painting his picture with vivid colors. Toward the end of the poem, Dante refers to the apostle John as seeing all the grievous times through which the church was destined to pass. PFF2 24.2

“The seer
That, ere he died, saw all the grievous times
Of the fair bride, who with the lance and nails
Was won.” ²⁵ PFF2 24.3

1. JOACHIM DEPICTED IN PARADISE AND SHEPHERDS AS WOLVES

Dante places Joachim in Paradise, as he writes: PFF2 24.4

“‘And at my side there shines
Calabria’s abbot, Joachim, endow’d
With soul prophetic.’” ²⁶ PFF2 24.5

Then is portrayed the transformation of shepherds into wolves, the departure of the teachers from the gospel, and the substitution of decretals, and with more thought on the Vatican than on Nazareth. ²⁷ PFF2 25.1

Four lines must suffice: PFF2 25.2

“In shepherd’s clothing, greedy wolves below
Range wide o’er all the pastures. Arm of God!
Why longer sleep’st thou? Cahorsines and Gascons
Prepare to quaff our blood.” ²⁸ PFF2 25.3

Dante thus assigns one of the most conspicuous places in Paradise to Joachim of Floris, one of whose writings had been solemnly condemned by Innocent III at the fourth Lateran Council, and refuted by Thomas Aquinas. On the other hand, three popes had patronized Joachim during his lifetime, and his more potentially dangerous writings were never condemned. ²⁹ The explanation of this paradox is to be found in the comparative freedom of thought and expression in the thirteenth century in Italy. Dante caused little scandal by consigning one of the canonized popes, Celestine V, to the lower regions. The simple fact is that “the rigid framework and the inexorable discipline of the modern Roman Church are mainly the work of the Counter-Reformation.” ³⁰ The thirteenth century tolerated a wide diversity of belief and teaching. ³¹ PFF2 25.4

2. THE WOMAN OF Revelation 17 AND HER LOVERS

In “Paradise,” Dante’s language is quite symbolical, but in “Purgatory,” Canto 16, the veil is removed. The Roman church, inter mingling the two powers, has trafficked with kings. Sullied with their vices, she has sunk into the mire. This Dante covertly describes from Revelation 17. The car, symbolizing the church, upon which paganism swoops down as “the bird of Jove,” having attached itself to imperial powers in the days of Constantine, is tied to a tree. Islam drags a part away. Then a change takes place, as heads and horns appear at the four corners of the car. Such a monster, with seven heads and ten horns, has never before been seen. Above the car sits a shameless woman, and at her side there stands a giant with whom she exchanges kisses. Then the giant scourges her and drags her away to the forest. Thus is pictured what happened under Boniface VIII, who had usurped God’s place, and who united with the giant (Philip) and was dragged into the forest (France). ³² And when renewal of her connection with the German emperor was sought, Philip scourged her. Hear it: PFF2 25.5

Picture 1: DANTE’S PORTRAYAL OF PAPAL APOSTASY BASED ON PROPHECY
Dante’s divine comedy, later illustrated by dore, filled paradise, purgatory, and hell with Spirits of the departed. He pictured papal corruption Through the Symbolism of Revelation 17-a Harlot and Her Lover, Borne by the Symbolic Beast (Lower Right)
Page 27

“Like monster, sight hath never seen.
O’er it methought there sat, secure as rock
On mountain’s lofty top, a shameless whore,
Whose ken roved loosely round her. At her side,
As ‘t were that none might bear her off, I saw
A giant stand; and ever and anon PFF2 27.1

They mingled kisses. But, her lustful eyes Chancing on me to wander, that fell minion Scourged her from head to foot all o’er; then full Of jealousy, and fierce with rage, unloosed The monster, and dragg’d on, so far across The forest, that from me its shades alone Shielded the harlot and the new-form’d brute.” ³³ PFF2 27.2

3. THE SEVEN-HEADED, TEN-HORNED MONSTER

As Dante proceeds through “Inferno,” the symbols become more graphic. The beast—symbol of Rome—fastens “to many an animal in wedlock vile,” until a greyhound arises as an avenger, supported by love, wisdom, and virtue, and chases the lewd wolf through every town until the monster is destroyed. ³⁴ Then reality takes the place of symbol in the recital. Greedy priests, popes, and cardinals fill hell, so that Cerberus, the hell hound, expresses his delight in fierce barking on account of the rich prey furnished to hell by the Papacy. ³⁵ Boniface VIII arrives, and the spirit of Nicholas III languishes in the flames. ³⁶ PFF2 27.3

The Dominicans had chosen the greyhound as a symbol of their order. The chariot refers to the church. In popes like Nicholas the apocalyptic prophecy of the Babylonian woman seemed to be fulfilled. She sits on the beast with seven heads and ten horns, with the cup of abominations in her hand. Dante felt himself impelled to proclaim that there was no longer before God any true pope or any true church. The chair was vacant; the vessel was broken. ³⁷ PFF2 28.1

Reverence for the keys of Peter restrains Dante from using still stronger language concerning papal corruption and avarice that had overcast the world with mourning. The alleged Donation of Constantine to Sylvester had given birth to all this. As the climax of his poetical interpretation of the Apocalypse, especially Revelation 17, Dante portrays the papal apostasy as worse than heathen idolatry. PFF2 28.2

” ‘If reverence of the keys restrain’d me not,
Which thou in happier time didst hold, I yet
Severer speech might use. Your avarice
O’ercasts the world with mourning, under foot
Treading the good, and raising bad men up.
Of shepherds like to you, the Evangelist
Was ware, when her, who sits upon the waves,
With kings in filthy whoredom he beheld;
She who with seven heads tower’d at her birth,
And from ten horns her proof of glory drew,
Long as her spouse in virtue took delight.
Of gold and silver ye have made your god,
Differing wherein from the idolater,
But that he worships one, a hundred ye?
Ah, Constantine! to how much ill gave birth,
Not thy conversion, but that plenteous dower,
Which the first wealthy Father gain’d from thee.’” ³⁸ PFF2 28.3

Such was the remarkable testimony of the poet of Florence. PFF2 28.4