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13 Death

Divine Comedy: Purgatorio

Purgatory (from the Latin 'purgare', to make clean, to purify) in accordance with Catholic teaching is a place or condition of temporal punishment for those who, departing this life in God's grace, are not entirely free from venial faults, or have not fully paid the satisfaction due to their providence and free transgressions. All sins are not equal before God, nor dare anyone assert that the daily faults of human frailty will be punished with the same severity that is meted out to serious violation of God's law.

Purgatory, Part II of the 'Divine Comedy':

Leaving Hell, one comes upon on a flat and reed-grown seashore, with Mount Purgatory looming above. If one emerges at night, in the southern sky is a cross of four particularly noticeable stars that light up the whole sky. These stars are the symbols of the four Cardinal Virtues, Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, and Justice, the virtues of active life, sufficient to guide men in the right path, but not to bring them to Paradise. According to the geography of the time Asia and Africa lay north of the equator, so that even to their inhabitants these stars were invisible, meaning that only Adam and Eve have ever seen these stars, from the terrestrial Paradise, on the summit of the Mount of Purgatory.

At the base of Purgatory begin seven level terraces surrounding the mountain and rising one above another, connected by stairways in the rock. On these terraces the seven deadly sins are purged from the souls that are there. On the summit of the mountain is the Garden of Eden, or Earthly Paradise, from which the purged souls ascend to Heaven.

People are present by the exit from Hell, mostly those who guide souls up into Purgatory, and know what it is. One of them is Cato. Along the shore, up the steep slope are shady places where, at dawn, enough dew remains to wash away the stains of Hell from the emergee.

As dawn rises, an angel comes to the shore. It is at first visible as a bright white light moving swiftly over the sea, out of the dawn. As it approaches it can be seen to be standing on a boat, which leaps lightly over the waves, leaving scarcely a ripple behind it, propelled by the angel's outstretched, motionless wings, with no sails or oars. The angel is sufficiently glorious that mortal eyes shrink from it.

The boat which the angel pilots carries a hundred souls to purgatory. They sing 'In exitu Israel de Aegypto' as the boat carries them along. The angel brings its boat to the shore and disembarks the souls there, blessing each one as they step onto the shore.

With all of its souls off-loaded, the angel sails away again in search of more souls to bring here. Similar boatloads of souls arrive on the shores of Purgatory quite regularly. The newly arrived souls head up Mount Purgatory, guided and hurried along by the likes of Cato, into Ante-Purgatory.

Purgatory

The Excommunicate
The Lethargic
The Un-Absolved
The Negligent Rulers
The Gate of Purgatory
The First Terrace - The Proud
The Second Terrace - The Envious
The Third Terrace - The Wrathful
The Fourth Terrace - The Slothful
The Fifth Terrace - The Avaricious
The Sixth Terrace - The Gluttonous
The Seventh Terrace - The Lustful
The Earthly Paradise
The Mystic Procession

The Excommunicate

On the beach are the souls of those who have died in outside the Church. Those who died repentant but un-reconciled with the Church must wait outside of Purgatory proper for thirty times longer than they were outside the Church, though the prayers of those on Earth can reduce this time somewhat.

The Lethargic

After quite a hard climb, one emerges from the cleft in the rocks onto a terrace, the first level of Ante-Purgatory. From here Mount Purgatory can be seen looming above, and the shore can be seen below.

This ledge holds the negligent, those who postponed their repentance to the last hour, but
who did repent before death. There is a band of them waiting on this ledge. The Lethargic must wait, and pray, for a time equivalent to the time they spent drifting through unrepentant days before they can be admitted upwards, into Purgatory proper. Again, the prayers of those on Earth can reduce this time somewhat. All of those here are lethargic in behavior, as well as in religious observance.

The narrow cleft continues upwards from here to the next ledge.

The Unabsolved

This ledge holds the spirits of those who had delayed repentance, and met with death by violence, but died repentant, pardoning and pardoned. Nonetheless, they must wait, and pray upon this ledge until they are allowed upwards into Purgatory proper. Mortal visitors will attract large numbers of those here, who wish to be heard, and absolved.

Again, the cleft continues upwards, but this time also leads around Mount Purgatory to the right.

The Negligent Rulers

The cleft leads around the mountain to a valley cut into its side with the steep bare height of the mountain above. The path winds down into the valley to the level of its floor; it takes only three steps - far fewer than would seem necessary - to go from the side of the valley to its floor. The valley is very lush. "Gold and fine silver, cochineal and lead, The Indian wood-blue lucid and serene, The fresh-flaked shining of the emerald green, Would fade defeated from too hard compare With the bright flowers and spreading verdure there. Not color only, but their fragrant scent - Nature to one a thousand odours blent - A large anonymous delight supplied, Sweetness un-singled, unidentified."

In the midst of the valley a group of souls can be seen singing Salve Regina. These are the rulers who were virtuous, but negligent of salvation in life, and who must now wait and pray here until they are admitted to Purgatory proper. These include the Emperor Rudolph, Ottocar (the father of King Wenceslas), Peter the Third of Aragon and Henry III of England.
At dusk, all of those in the valley sing a hymn. Also at dusk, a snake comes to the Valley to tempt those who wait within it, and make them its prey. It always comes from the unguarded end of the valley, glancing backwards at times, licking and sleeking its scales "as though assured and leisured for the overthrow of those it sought".

However, to protect those within from the snake, a pair of Guardian Angels are assigned to the valley, coming "from Mary's heart", and fly downwards through the dusk. "Two angels in a single wonder came, and in their hands two swords of shortened flame, shorn of their points; and their down-planing wings were green, and all their wind-blown raiment, green as leaves new-born, as when on Earth is seen the tender break of her returning springs".

One settles close above where the path upwards enters the valley; the other on the opposite side of the valley. No one can bear to see the eyes of the Angels. They swoop down on and drive away the snake before it can bother those in the valley - if they did not, those inside (and elsewhere on the mountain) would be in danger of corruption, and falling, down the mountain.

Dante rested in the Valley, and dreamed of an eagle. "Then saw I in the far blue heights of air, with wide-stretched wings, a golden eagle soar: An eagle poised to swoop. And I was where the friends of Ganymede he left behind stood (so it seemed) and upward gazed, when he was raped aloft to Heaven's consistory. 'Perhaps,' I thought, 'it soars by custom here disdaining else to strike an earthly prey.' And, as I thought, it wheeled, and stooped, and came swifter than any bolt, and yet more dread, and bore me upward in its claws. . . The flame Of Heaven was round us now. I felt it sear my shrinking flesh, and in that tortured fear perforce I waked."

A gap in the face of Mount Purgatory leads upwards from the valley.

The GATE of PURGATORY

The Angelic

Gatekeeper
Going upwards again from the valley, one comes to the gate to Purgatory itself. At first this appears as a simple fissure in the wall of the path, but as one approaches it becomes clear that it is, in fact, a gateway entrance, with three steps before it that shine blindingly in three colours. The first is white marble, polished to a mirror finish. The second is basalt, coloured darker than purple with a rough finish and two cracks along its length and width forming the sign of the Cross. The third, and last, is flaming porphyry, brighter red then arterial blood. The gate itself is of solid banded iron.

In this blinding light sits an angelic gatekeeper, as glorious as the one bringing souls to the shore of Purgatory. He sits on a granite block, its feet on the third step, holding a drawn sword, with light reflecting from it like a bright flame, too near to the light of Heaven for mortal eyes. He wears a dusty-earth coloured robe.

The gatekeeper guards the gate into Purgatory proper well, but will allow those who are sufficiently devout, and who have a valid reason through. Pleading devoutly will help in this. When Dante comes to the gate, the gatekeeper inscribes seven 'P's on his forehead with the point of his sword, one for each mortal sin, and advises Dante that he does not fail to wash them all off as he ascends.

The gatekeeper has two keys in his robe, one of silver and one of gold. These were given to him by St Peter, who advised him to err on the side of generosity when using them. Both are needed to open the gate, first the silver then the gold. If the keys do not turn in the lock, then the person's entry to Purgatory is denied.

If the gate does open, which it does with a shrill shriek of rusty hinges, the gatekeeper advises those let in not to look back as they ascend further; those who do are brought back to ante-Purgatory.

When passing through the gate, one hears a distant 'Te Deum'. The gate clangs shut behind those who are let in. Beyond the gate, the way up is narrow and difficult, with the rocks to both sides being very irregular, the rocks receding back and protruding out a random. This makes the upward path slow to traverse...

1st Terrace: The Proud

Eventually one emerges on the first terrace of Purgatory proper. This is a flat area about six meters wide, with sheer rock rising before and falling away behind. The bare, flat rock of the first terrace stretches away to the left and right.

The rock face ahead has no visible way up to the next terrace, but is of clear white marble, carved with many wonderful life-like sculptures giving examples of humility - angels, the Ark of the Covenant on a car drawn by oxen with seven choirs the carvings of whom seem almost to sing going before it, and many others.

Around this terrace slowly move those purging their sins here, each weighed down and bent over by a heavy burden, praying as they go, for themselves and those on Earth who are still in danger of Hell.

On the pavement itself, placed where the penitents here cannot help but see them, bent under their loads as they are, are carvings as wondrous as those on the cliff-face, giving examples of the sin of Pride, which is the sin being purged on this terrace.

Around the curve of the first terrace from when one ascends to it one eventually nears the way up to the second terrace. An angel is stationed there, white-winged and white-robed, with an unthreatening visage, full of light.

For Dante, he beats his wings across Dante's forehead, erasing one of the seven 'P's the gatekeeper placed there and making the others fainter. Dante quickly discovers that the fewer and fainter the 'P's on his forehead, the easier his ascent. [The initial P stands for peccatum [sin] or poena [punishment]

Upwards, a neatly-cut but steep and narrow stair is carved into the rock, so narrow that ones elbows easily touch both sides at once as one ascends to the second terrace.

2nd Terrace: The Envious

This terrace is very similar to that below, but lacks the carvings, being very bare and empty, with no apparent penitent. However, as one walks along the second terrace, one begins to hear the wings of invisible entities sweeping past, and among other things they call the traveller to join them "in their courtesy to join the Table of Love" as they fly invisibly past.

On this terrace the sin of Envy is purged. The penitents here sit, dressed in hair-cloth, along the inner edge of the terrace, with their eyelids have been sewn closed with threads of iron, and they resemble blind beggars who constantly sigh and pray to the saints to be prayed for. They can and will talk to passing travellers, and warns of the dangers of Envy, though some do not like to relive the memories.

At this point, Dante is assailed by thunderous flying voices that are a warning to him to stay on the correct path, in the same way as a bit keeps a horse on the correct path. It seems that Dante is, at this point, paying too little attention to Heaven, which he can see above him, and too much to Hell and the Earth below.

On the way up, Dante is lectured by Virgil regarding the way in which, the more people who are accepted into Heaven, the more God likes it, as the larger the numbers there, the more they reinforce one another's praise and worship, to the greater glory of God. "The Eternal Good Is both ineffable and infinite. The more there are who in its rays unite, The more its conflagration heats. The more Of folk in Heaven whose souls have understood Each other, in the light of Love Divine, The more of love doth midst and round them shine, As mirrors, each to each, reflected light Cast to their own advantage."

Higher up the stairs, smoke begins to drift across the sun, darkening it more and more until sight is completely lost and there is no clear air. He stumbles on blindly.

3rd Terrace: The Wrathful

Through the smoke, one begins to hear the 'Agnus Dei', "Oh, lamb of God, who takes all sins away" coming from all sides. These are the voices of the penitent who are being purged of their Wrath on the third terrace and who are hidden in the smoke. They ask travelers to be mentioned in the prayers of those who pass.

Some of the light which seems to come from the sun, in fact, comes from an angel who guards the stairs upward, and who will point it out to travelers. His glory makes it impossible for mortals to look at him. The angel removed a third 'P' from Dante's forehead, sweeping his wings over Dante's face to do so, saying "Beati Pacifici who from evil wrath are free."

The stairs upwards from the third terrace are wide enough for two to walk abreast.

4th Terrace: The Slothful

The fourth terrace of purgatory expiates the sins which can be considered to arise from love defective, that is, love which, although directed towards the correct subjects is too weak to drive the sinner to act as they should. Those being purged here must have their love strengthened so as to drive them correctly.

This terrace is of plain undecorated flinty rock. As one goes along it in search of the way up to the fifth terrace, an outcry comes from a crowd of people running along the terrace, weeping and crying aloud as they go. "Swiftly they came, and voices cried aloud amid their weeping. Two in front proclaimed: 'How quickly Mary to the mountain ran!' and: 'Caesar once, Ilerda to subdue, struck at Marseilles, and ere his foemen knew had entered Spain.' And other of the crowd, jostling behind, cried: 'Hasten! Hasten all! From insufficient love let love's pursuit not slacken, and the power of grace recruit from strain to reach it.' ... In the rear they ran, and shouted: 'Those who saw the seas divide to give them passage, in their sloth they died before the chosen heirs to Canaan came.'

The members of the crowd are quite spread out, but still move quite fast, as a mass, passing anyone who is merely walking and racing off into the distance. There are many such crowds, each one racing around the terrace. They are not allowed to pause in their running through night and day.

Later, Dante was assailed by a dream of a Siren on this terrace, from which he was only rescued by the intervention of Virgil.

Continuing around the terrace, one arrives at the way upwards, at which is stationed an angel, who invites travelers to 'Come hither' with a voice far beyond those of mortals in its sweetness and benignity. He has white, swan-like wings, with which he fans those who ascend the stairway past him. For Dante, he removed one of the 'P's which had been inscribed on his forehead.

5th Terrace: The Avaricious

This terrace differs from the others in that the ground here is covered with people lying face-down, sobbing tears and lamentations. In between their tears they sigh, and speak words such as 'Adhaesit pavimento' and 'Anima mea.'

The souls here are those who turned their eyes to Earth and its goods, separating themselves from God by their own will, by either desire for earthly things, or too great a rejection of them. Now where, in life, they did not lift their eyes to Heaven, their avarice holding them from high pursuits, now they must lie with faces and bodies presses to the Earth until their sin is cleansed. Those doing so claim that there is no worse punishment in all of Purgatory.

There are so many people lying on the ground here that one must pick one's way carefully to avoid treading on them; the easiest way is along the very edge of the terrace.

When Dante was here, he felt Mount Purgatory shake as if in a mighty earthquake. When this happened, a cry of 'To God be Glory in Excelsis' rose up from all those in Purgatory. The mountain quakes in this way when someone at last ends the expiation of their sins and is freed to ascend, and all of those in Purgatory hail their release. Dante and Virgil learned this from Statius, the former sinner whose release caused the shaking of the mountain in the first place.

The way up from the fifth terrace lies to the right of the place where one climbs up onto the terrace. Another angel stands watch at the entrance of the way up, and when Dante passed erased another of the 'P's from his forehead. The way up to the sixth terrace is a steep one.

6th Terrace: The Gluttonous

As one goes around the sixth terrace, in the middle of it an apple tree becomes visible. It branches hold ripe, sweet-smelling applies. In shape it brings to mind an inverted fir tree, growing broader the higher one goes, making it impossible to climb. A stream falls from the mountain above onto the tree, drenching all of its leaves.

Approaching the tree, a voice from out of the branches warns one not to eat of the fruit of the tree, as if one does, ones food will lack as if it were no food at all. There is no sign of the source of the voice.

Those on this terrace are expiating the sin of gluttony. As such, they are starved skeletons, with chalk-white cavernous faces, hollow eyes, skin tight to their bones and all the other signs of prolonged hunger. To those on this terrace, and indeed most likely to anyone who is at all hungry, the scent of the apples and the water falling on the tree is irresistible, and they cannot help but eat and drink of them. Unfortunately, that is part of their punishment, as in doing so they are left hungrier and thirstier than before.

A number of those on this ledge are former highly-placed members of the Church, now paying the price for their indulgences in life. At first reluctant to speak, as soon as one talks to a traveller, many those here will flock around visitors to speak to them, and tell their tale.

Continuing on around the terrace, one comes upon a second apple tree, with broad-spread fruit-laden branches bending low. This tree is concealed by the curve of the mountain so that one is close to it when it is first seen. Its fruit, although appearing to hang low, are in fact held up just too high to reach. There is a crowd of sinners around the tree, raising appealing hands towards its fruit, until they become disillusioned and depart.

A voice from the branches of this tree warns passers-by not to come too close, as the tree is one grown from a seed of the apple tree from which Eve plucked that fateful apple. Having spoken its warning, the voice from the tree will continue on, speaking of the dangers of gluttony and the punishments awaiting those who succumb to it.

A thousand paces or so beyond this second tree a voice hails travellers. It comes from an angel, glowing with a fierce, bright clear red light. He points out the way up to next terrace.

When Dante passed, a wind smelling of sweet graces and a million flowers brushed his forehead, as the angel's wings, shedding an ambrosial fragrance, erased the penultimate 'P' from his forehead.

The staircase up to the seventh terrace is narrow, so that travellers must go in single file. As Dante ascended he was lectured by Statius on generation, the infusion of the Soul into the body, and the corporeal semblance of Souls after death.

7th Terrace: The Lustful

One emerges onto the seventh terrace to face a field of tall, clear, flames, held back from a narrow path along the edge of the terrace by a strong wind rising from below.

There is a sound of voices from out of the fire, singing hymns, 'Summae' and 'Deus Clementiae', and those expiating their sins here can be seen moving in the fire, burning as they chant. They also cry of the virtues of husbands and wives, the obligations of marriage, and repeat their hymns again. Those on this terrace are expiating the sin of lust, having their excessive passion burned away in fire.

Around the terrace, one comes upon the angel who guards the way up to the Earthly Paradise, as glorious as all the others. He tells travellers that they may not ascend unless they submit themselves to the fire - the way up lies on the inner edge of the terrace, through the flames, towards the chanting which comes from the other side. "O ye spirits purified, you may not enter by this stair except the fire hath licked you." This angel removed the last 'P' from Dante's forehead.

A chant is heard from the other side as one makes one's way through the flames. "Venite, benedicti Patris," it says. It from a blinding white glow which is present at the bottom of the steep ascent to the Earthly Paradise, where one emerges from the flames. It encourages those who emerge to carry on upwards while there is light to do so.

The ascent, though steep, runs straight between the rock faces to either side, and lies so that the light of the setting sun illuminates it along its whole length until the sun is entirely set.

Dante, Virgil and Statius slept on the stairs rather than ascend all the way to the Earthly Paradise after emerging from the flames. While he slept, Dante dreamed. "I dreamed a dame I saw youthful and fair. Amid a field of flowers she pluckt, and wandered singing."

And continuing up the stairs, one emerges in the Earthly Paradise...

The very top of Mount Purgatory is a flat, circular land. This land is the Garden of Eden, from which Adam and Eve were exiled so long ago.

The Earthly Paradise is like a beautiful lush garden, the place where human life began, before the Fall. The sun shines, the sky is blue, grass and shrubs grow, flowers bloom. None of them show any signs of disease or death, as if carefully tended. The trees are beautiful. Everything smells fresh, fragrant and lovely. The breeze sings gently through the trees, accompanied by a great deal of birdsong, strong enough to be pleasant, but not so strong as to be annoying. It is very easy to walk through the place, though there are no obvious paths. In some places there are meadows, the lush grass dotted with many beautiful flowers. It seems a place of eternal peace. All of the living things there are eternal, made so by God, and inclement conditions never trouble the place.

Dante encountered a beautiful damsel, Matilda, picking flowers in one such meadow, singing as she went. She explained to Dante about the Garden, its creation and maintenance, and the two clear, beautiful streams which flow through it. The first (the one by which Dante finds her) is the Lethe, which empties the minds of those who drink of it of all cancelled sins.

The second one, the Eunoe, when drunk enhances ones recollection of the good which one has accomplished. The Lethe must be drunk of before the Eunoe, though. The water in the two streams flows eternally.

The Mystic Procession

As Dante walked with Matilda, on the other side of the Lethe to where he was (the same side as Matilda), a bright white light burst through the woods all around them, as fierce and sudden as lightning, but constant. The light proved to come from seven candles, their flames so pure and steady that they could be confused with golden masts, leaving long rainbow trails through the air behind them. They moved of themselves, unsupported. Behind them came twenty-four Elders, prophets and evangelists, robed in a white which shines beyond the whites seen on Earth come, going two-by-two, garlanded with lilies. In unison they sing "Of Adam's daughters blest be thou, and ever blest thy beauties".

Following the Elders came four six-winged angels, moving in a square formation, their wings crowded with eyes, each one crowned with a garland of green leaves, like the angels seen by Ezekiel and John. In the square delineated by the angels moves a two-wheeled chariot, drawn by a griffin whose high-raised wings (raised up too high for Dante to see their tips) pass through the rainbow trails left by the candles, but do not break them. The bird-like forelimbs of the griffin are golden; the rest of it is white and vermilion red. The chariot it drew is beautiful, but simple in construction. To the right of the chariot three damsels (actually nymphs) danced a whirling dance, the first glowing as red as the heart of fire, the second glowing an emerald green, the third a white as pure as the new-drifted snow. On the left of the chariot another four nymphs dance, all draped in purple. The leader of the purple-dressed nymphs has three eyes.

After the chariot and its attendants came two more elders, wearing different clothing to those who went before, sober and grave of mien. One held a caduceus, the other a bright and naked blade, seeming to be so keen that even though he is out of its reach it inspires fear in Dante. One is a healer; the other is not.

Next came four more Elders in humbler clothes, and behind them an old man with undimmed eyes, but who is blinded by an inward dream.

Lastly come seven garbed in the same style as those following the candles but rather than being garlanded in lilies, these are garlanded in fire-red roses and other scarlet flowers so that they seem crowned in fire.

When the chariot was level with Dante, the entire procession halted at the sound of a crack of thunder, and all of those in it gathered around the chariot and sang. A woman appeared out of the cloud of flowers, crowned with olive branches, from which a white veil hung, wearing a green mantle over a flame-red gown. This is Beatrice, Dante's new guide.

Dante recognizes Beatrice from when she was alive on Earth. By now the procession has ceased strewing flowers over Beatrice, and Dante is almost hypnotized by her, suddenly finding himself immersed in the stream (the Lethe) up to his neck. Beatrice baptizes him in the stream, and he drinks of it before emerging on the far side. Statius has accompanied Dante across the stream and to the chariot.

Three bow-shots later, the procession halts at the base of a huge tree, bare of fruit, flower or foliage, which looms huge overhead. This is the apple tree from which Eve plucked the fatal fruit, so long ago. Dante is told that anyone who strips the Tree of its leaves or fruit is committing blasphemy against God by doing so.

Upon arrival, everyone in the procession cries out to the griffin. When it does this, the tree bursts into life again, leaves and flowers appearing all over it, accompanied by a heavenly tune which entranced Dante into sleep.

Dante woke to find Matilda bending over him. Of the procession, only Beatrice, the chariot and the seven nymphs remain, the other having risen up into heaven while Dante slept. Beatrice tells him to write of what has been revealed to him on his journeys when he returns to Earth.