Religion

This chapter explores the way in which Dante forges an original form of religiosity in his work by embracing Franciscan and apocalyptic ideas. It focuses on three aspects: the prophetic spirit that animates Dante’s critique of the Church and his call for spiritual renewal; his emphasis on the transformative power of prayer and its role in the poet’s construction of his spiritual authority; and the celebration of the female role in salvation through the figures of Lady Poverty and Beatrice. Franciscan thought on Poverty, from Joachim of Flora to radicals such as Ubertino da Casale and Peter John Olivi, informs Dante’s theological (but also political and spiritual) reflections on religion. Moreover, Dante’s personal exile becomes a metaphor for Christian peregrinations on earth, a figura of homo viator’s pilgrimage toward the final destination in the afterlife.

Soteriologia e Passione nella Commedia

The present study examines the shift in late medieval devotion and spirituality to the affective consideration of and participation to the sufferings of Christ on the Cross (Christus patiens). Particular attention is given to Bonaventure’s theology of the Cross and to narratives of the Passion of Christ included in writings of Franciscan friars such as Ubertino da Casale and the visual representations sponsored by the mendicants. Against this backdrop, the Author analyses Dante’s representation of the Passion’s episodes in the Comedy. On the basis of the poet’s narrative and lexical choices, the Author notes the absence of the most vivid details associated to the Christus Patiens. In the light of contemporary theological discussion on soteriology, the Author hypothesises that Dante wishes to represent the Passion as a triumph of the divine caritas that ultimately motivates the history of salvation.