The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri [best thriller novels of all time TXT] 📗

the five cantos of the Paradiso after the twentieth; because when he mentions Florence in the twenty-first canto he speaks of Catria, and in what he says in the twenty-fifth, of wishing to receive his poetic crown at his baptismal font, we can perceive his hope to be restored to his country and his beautiful fold (ovile) when time should have overcome the difficulties of the manner of his return.”

Ampère, Voyage Dantesque, p. 265, describes his visit to the monastery of Fonte Avellana, and closes thus:⁠—

“They took particular pleasure in leading us to an echo, the wonder of Avellana, and the most powerful I ever heard. It repeats distinctly a whole line of verse, and even a line and a half. I amused myself in making the rocks address to the great poet, whom they had seen wandering among their summits, what he said of Homer⁠—

“Onorate l’ altissimo poeta.”

The line was distinctly articulated by the voice of the mountain, which seemed to be the far-off and mysterious voice of the poet himself.⁠ ⁠…

“In order to find the recollection of Dante more present than in the cells, and even in the chamber of the inscription, I went out at night, and sat upon a stone a little above the monastery. The moon was not visible, being still hidden by the immense peaks; but I could see some of the less elevated summits struck by her first glimmerings. The chants of the monks came up to me through the darkness, and mingled with the bleating of a kid lost in the mountains. I saw through the window of the choir a white monk prostrate in prayer. I thought that perhaps Dante had sat upon that stone, that he had contemplated those rocks, that moon, and heard those chants always the same, like the sky and the mountains.”

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This hermitage, according to Butler, Lives of the Saints, II 212, was founded by the blessed Ludolf, about twenty years before Peter Damiano came to it. ↩

Thus it began speaking for the third time. ↩

St. Peter Damiano was born of a poor family at Ravenna, about 988; and, being left an orphan in his childhood, went to live with an elder brother, who set him to tending swine. Another brother, who was a priest at Ravenna, took compassion on him, and educated him. He in turn became a teacher; and, being of an ascetic turn of mind, he called himself Peter the Sinner, wore a hair shirt, and was assiduous in fasting and prayer. Two Benedictine monks of the monastery of Fonte Avellana, passing through Ravenna, stopped at the house where he lodged; and he resolved to join their brotherhood, which he did soon afterward. In 1041 he became Abbot of the monastery, and in 1057, Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia. In 1062 he returned to Fonte Avellana; and in 1072, being “fourscore and three years old,” died on his way to Rome, in the convent of Our Lady near Faenza.

Of his life at Fonte Avellana, Butler, Lives of the Saints, (Feb. 23,) II 217, says:⁠—

“Whatever austerities he prescribed to others he was the first to practise himself, remitting nothing of them even in his old age. He lived shut up in his cell as in a prison, fasted every day, except festivals, and allowed himself no other subsistence than coarse bread, bran, herbs, and water, and this he never drank fresh, but what he had kept from the day before. He tortured his body with iron girdles and frequent disciplines, to render it more obedient to the spirit. He passed the three first days of every Lent and Advent without taking any kind of nourishment whatsoever; and often for forty days together lived only on raw herbs and fruits, or on pulse steeped in cold water, without touching so much as bread, or anything which had passed the fire. A mat spread on the floor was his bed. He used to make wooden spoons and suchlike useful mean things, to exercise himself at certain hours in manual labor.”

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It is a question whether Peter Damiano and Peter the Sinner are the same person, or whether by the latter is meant Peter Onesti of Ravenna; for both in their humility took that name. The solution of the question depends upon the reading fui or fu in this line; and of twenty-eight printed editions consulted by Barlow, fourteen were for I fui, and fourteen for fu. Of the older commentators, the Ottimo thinks two distinct persons are meant; Benvenuto and Buti decide in favor of one.

Benvenuto interprets thus:⁠—

“In Catria I was called Peter Damiano, and I was Peter the Sinner in the monastery of Santa Maria in Porto at Ravenna on the shore of the Adriatic. Some persons maintain, that this Peter the Sinner was another monk of the order, which is evidently false, because Damiano gives his real name in Catria, and here names himself [Sinner] from humility.”

Buti says:⁠—

“I was first a friar called Peter the Sinner, in the Order of Santa Maria.⁠ ⁠… And afterwards he went from there to the monastery at the hermitage of Catria, having become a monk.”

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In 1057, when he was made Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia. ↩

Cephas is St. Peter. John 1:42:⁠—

“Thou art Simon the son of Jona; Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is, by interpretation, a stone.”

The Ottimo seems to have forgotten this pas sage of Scripture when he wrote:⁠—

“Cephas, that is, St. Peter, so called from the large head he had (cephas, that is to say, head).”

The mighty Vessel of the Holy Spirit is St. Paul. Acts 9:15:⁠—

“He is a chosen vessel unto me.”

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Luke 10:7:⁠—

“And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the laborer is worthy of his