Paradiso

Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Adult | Published in 1320

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Cantos 1-7

Cantos 8-9

Cantos 10-14

Cantos 15-20

Cantos 21-22

Cantos 23-27

Cantos 28-33

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Cantos 21-22Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Saturn-Starry Sphere

Canto 21 Summary

Dante fixes his gaze on Beatrice, but she is not smiling. She explains that her beauty increases as they ascend higher and higher, and if she were to smile now, Dante would be overwhelmed. Dante and Beatrice have now reached the planet Saturn. Dante sees before him a golden ladder ascending far above into the distant heavens. On the rungs of the ladder are a throng of souls making varied motions like birds in the sky.

One of the souls approaches, and Dante asks him why this realm of heaven is silent whereas the previous realms were filled with songs of devotion. He answers that it is for the same reason that Beatrice does not smile: because they are approaching the most sacred regions of heaven, where God dwells. The soul’s light spins like a millstone, and it explains that it is radiating with the joy of the love of God, raising it above itself and allowing it to see “the Highest Essence.”

Dante asks the soul who he is, and he introduces himself as St. Peter Damian (1007-1072), the Benedictine monk who became a reforming bishop and cardinal. Peter recalls his contemplative hermit’s life and bemoans the decline of the cardinal’s office from his day to now. As he speaks, Dante sees “flickering flames” spinning from rung to rung of the ladder. Then the souls raise a loud cry like thunder, overwhelming Dante.

Canto 22 Summary

Startled at the loud uproar, Dante inquisitively turns to Beatrice like a child to its comforting mother. She explains that in heaven such noise comes out of zeal for God and the good, and that the words of the cry foretell the vengeance that awaits the corrupt clerics—indeed, God’s justice always comes in its proper time.

Dante turns and sees a hundred souls as shining globes. The “largest and most lustrous of those pearls” (22: 28) comes forward to speak. He is St. Benedict, the Italian monastic founder. Benedict gives his biography in capsule form: how he founded a monastery to bring the gospel to a pagan people, gathering with him fellow monks like Macarius and Romualdus, whom he also introduces.

Benedict is veiled by his strong light, and Dante asks to see him uncovered. Benedict replies that Dante will see him thus in the highest heaven, where “all we long for is perfected” (23: 64). Benedict goes on to contrast the purity of heavenly aspiration with the reality of present-day monastic life, which is stained with corruption and indifference. Nevertheless, if God could perform miracles like those in the Bible, he can surely reform the monastic orders.

Now Beatrice urges Dante to follow the souls up the ladder to heaven. As he does so, Beatrice tells him that he is getting near to “the final blessedness” and to look down at the lower levels of heaven that they have traversed. This leads Dante to recap some of the classical imagery of the seven planets, before he turns again to the “fair eyes” of Beatrice.

Cantos 21-22 Analysis

Saturn is the heavenly sphere associated with temperance and is filled with souls who devoted themselves to a contemplative life and to mysticism, particularly those who lived in monastic orders. The greatest of these, who takes a leading role in this section, is St. Benedict, known as the founder of Western monasticism. As previous characters did, Benedict criticizes the decay into which his order has fallen, yet expresses his faith that God can remedy this.

Dante’s highlighting of monastic orders in the Paradiso reflects the importance that these institutions had in the Middle Ages. While they were centers of learning, religious orders also performed essential charitable, medical, and educational functions. At least in theory, monks and nuns provided an example of exalted Christian living for the common people. In practice, laxity in the lifestyles of the members became common over time, and this is a major point made in Dante’s poem.

Dante’s placing of the contemplative realm higher than others shows that he regards this form of life as superior. Detached from the everyday, the contemplative can devote himself wholly to prayer and communion with God. This is emphasized by the fact that Saturn is farther from Earth than the other planets.

Dante’s vision of a golden ladder in the sky (21: 25-42) recalls the Old Testament story of Jacob’s ladder. The Hebrew patriarch Jacob had a dream of a ladder stretching to heaven, on which angels ascended and descended (Genesis 28:10- 22). In both cases, the ladder represents the connection between heaven and earth and between God and man—a connection that was symbolically fulfilled by Christ as redeemer of humanity. Dante ascends the ladder on Beatrice’s encouragement, providing a visual metaphor for the soul’s ascent to God, as discussed in the theme Humanity’s Ascent to God. Again adding social criticism, Benedict laments that few people now take the trouble to make this journey to God (22: 73-75).