Dear Friends,
Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati is a spiritual hero and one of my favorite saints. Born to influential, yet nominal and non-Catholic, parents in Turin, Pier Giorgio displayed a great devotion to God, the Faith, and those in need from a young age. He decided to study mining engineering in order to work with miners, whom he believed to be the poorest and unhappiest. He wanted to bring Jesus Christ to them. A life of tremendous joy, Pier Giorgio loved hiking and spending time with friends. His days were filled with studying and caring for those in need, and his nights were spent in prayer, often before the Blessed Sacrament in churches or falling asleep praying the Rosary at home. Because of his close contact with the sick and needy, he contracted an aggressive form of polio and died quickly at the age of 24. When Pope St. John Paul II beatified Pier Giorgio, he called Frassati “the Man of the Beatitudes.”
Pier Giorgio's father was at one point the Italian Ambassador to Germany. In a letter to a friend, Pier Giorgio laments that reading the works of the great Italian poet Dante Alighieri in German just isn't the same as reading them in Italian. This ignited a curiosity and sparked an interest in me about Dante. Perhaps the greatest poet of Western Civilization, along with Shakespeare, he is legendary enough to be known simply by his first name, Dante. You may have heard of Dante's Inferno, but that is only the first part of his masterpiece, The Divine Comedy. Curious and interested, I decided to read the The Divine Comedy about five years ago, and since then, it is something I've re-read every year.
The Divine Comedy is a comedy, which in a classical sense means it is a story that ends well, ends happily; it is divine in that it delves into matters divine, the things of God and into how to journey toward God. It is divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. In many ways, The Divine Comedy is a tremendous observation of and commentary on human nature. Dante places himself as the narrator and pilgrim of the poem. In the beginning, he finds himself lost and essentially in a midlife crisis. Attempting to reorient himself and get back on the right path, his way is blocked by vicious wild beasts. A hero of Dante's, the poet Virgil, appears to guide him back to sanity and safety.
They must go through the Inferno, which details all of human dysfunction and sinfulness. There are two brief lessons we can learn. Firstly, sometimes we have to hit rock bottom and face our own dysfunctions before we can ascend up to the heights of holiness and toward God. Secondly, Dante's descent into the Inferno—into hell—teaches us that sin is constricting, cold, and isolating. After going through hell, Dante, still guided by Virgil, is able to ascend up Mount Purgatorio, divided into seven terraces, according to the seven “deadly” or “capital” sins: pride, envy, avarice, greed, sloth, gluttony, and lust. Here, the souls of purgatory must do penance that “goes against” the specific sin. Within one of the terraces, it is explained that love can be excessive, deficient, or directed in the wrong place, and therefore, our love must be purified to be like God's love. Dante gains a new guide in the Paradiso, where he is given greater clarity of reality as he ascends the heights of Heaven.
I write all of this because the 700
th anniversary of Dante's death was last month. For 700 years, popes have written about, extolled, and honored Dante, including Pope Francis in his apostolic letter Candor lucis aeternae. Dante wrote one of the greatest works of Christian and Western poetry, and I recommend you try—it's not easy reading before bed—reading The Divine Comedy. Mark Musa and Anthony Esolen have the best translation, unless you know 13th Century Italian. With his work at Word on Fire, Bishop Barron has helpful commentary on Dante, which may be a good place to start.
We are saints under construction, using great poetry and beautiful art to lead us deeper into the mystery of God and of our faith. Have a great week and happy Easter!
In Christ,
Fr. Matt