Paradiso

Dante begins by contrasting the vanity of human ambition and pleasure with the spiritual joy he feels with Beatrice in heaven. St. Thomas Aquinas now speaks again: He senses that Dante wants him to explain further something that he said in Canto 10, alluding to the “sheep” of his “flock,” or religious order.

Thomas speaks at length of the two “princes” and “guides” of the church, St. Francis of Assisi (c. 1182-1226) and St. Dominic (1170-1221), each the founder of an important religious order. Thomas recalls how Francis embraced poverty (personified as “Lady Poverty”) and caused his followers to do the same; how he preached Christianity to the Sultan and bore mystical stigmata in his hands (i.e., marks of a crucifixion) recalling the wounds of Christ.

Thomas goes on to depict St. Dominic (the founder of his order) as another leader who maintained “the steadfast course of Peter’s bark upon the sea” (11: 120). However, the present-day Dominicans have strayed from the principles of their founder, and this is what Thomas meant in Canto 10 by referring to straying “sheep.”

As Thomas finishes speaking, the spheres of heaven revolve, the dance of the spirits continues, and a new light comes to the fore. It is St. Bonaventure (1221-1274), an important Franciscan monk and theologian. Bonaventure speaks further of St. Dominic, portraying him metaphorically as the captain of an army fighting against heresy on behalf of Christ and the true faith. Bonaventure introduces the other souls who dwell in the second circle of the sun, including the theologians St. Chrysostom and St. Anselm.

Now switching back to speak of St. Francis, Bonaventure laments the present decline of the Franciscan order. To conclude, Bonaventure introduces the souls of several other churchmen in the second circle of heaven and acknowledges that St. Thomas’s “ardent courtesy” inspired him to praise Dominic.

Dante asks the reader to imagine a constellation of stars; such is the cluster of souls singing praises to the Trinity. Amid this song of praise, St. Thomas continues to speak. He answers another concern of Dante, who thinks that Thomas implied earlier that Solomon (“the fifth light”) was higher than Adam or Jesus. Thomas clarifies that Adam and Christ are without equal because both were made by God directly; in praising Solomon as without equal, he was speaking only about earthly kings and about the fact that Solomon asked for wisdom so as to become a better king. Thomas urges Dante to make clear distinctions in his thinking and thus avoid error.

Beatrice intuits two questions in Dante’s mind: Will the bodies of the souls in heaven shine eternally, and how will others bear the brightness? Solomon answers that the brightness of souls will vary according to their spiritual ardor. The brightness is a gift of grace, always more than the soul deserves, and making the soul grow in love and intellectual vision until it is “fit to see Him” (14: 48). The brightness shall not harm the eyes, because souls will be given a glorified body that is not subject to the weaknesses of the earthly, mortal body.

Dante experiences an even greater splendor and brightness, and he is aware that he and Beatrice have ascended to a new plane of the heavens: the planet Mars, which burns with a reddish glow. Dante sees an indescribable vision of the cross of Christ in the formation of the Milky Way and the souls that dance in it. From the cross comes the music of a hymn proclaiming “Arise” and “Conquer,” inspiring in Dante a love that is “sweet” and “gentle.” Dante regrets that the beauty of these visions have caused him to neglect the beauty of Beatrice, but he recalls that “holy beauty […] gains in purity” as it ascends by stages to heaven.