The fame of the saints is not only good but should be proclaimed from the hilltops. The fortunes of the rich, if used charitably, are goods that can do a lot of good in alleviating suffering and edifying souls. It is not fame or fortune that is the problem but the prideful pursuit of fame [...]
It would seem that we are not free in heaven. If there is not even a possibility of falling from heaven, then can we say that we are there freely or are we there against our will? To navigate this paradox, we can look to Dante Alighieri’s masterpiece, The Divine Comedy. In the poem, Dante’s guide, [...]
Mary's example of humility guides us in strange times like ours, when the ancient sins have lost their shame. This month’s Wyoming School of Catholic Thought (June 12-17) took on a topic of universal importance: mortality and eternity. Our participants, who were deeply engaged in the week-long conversation, repeatedly wrestled with the primordial relation between [...]
Together, the corrupting sins of pride and envy destroyed the democracies of ancient Athens and Rome. But what lies at the root of these two greatest of sins? And is there any remedy or antidote that can cure us, and our society, once we give way to them? Fr. Dwight Longenecker’s “Immortal Combat” offers answers. [...]
During this Holy Week, perhaps we can pray that the uncanny pull so many feel toward the ever-after will lead to a deeper reflection on the paradises, earthly and heavenly, from which the fairy stories we enjoy get their point and purpose. One of my favorites passages in Dante’s Purgatorio is when Dante finally reaches [...]
In taking his autobiographical protagonist through hell, Winston Brady does many things that would, I believe, have pleased Dante Alighieri. Like Dante’s "Inferno," Brady’s "Inferno" tests the will and courage of its hero, forcing him to wrestle with his American identity and legacy, to understand the grave nature of sin, and to seek repentance from [...]
If the "Vita Nuova" had been the only major work Dante had made, this work alone would have earned him the reputation as a great poet of Western Civilization. It is well-known that Dante is one of the greatest poets in Western Civilization. His magnum opus, The Divine Comedy, is considered one of the crowning [...]
“The Trial by Existence” is an example of Robert Frost’s strong and brilliant reworking of Dante’s poetic tradition in his own work. He incorporates many of Dante’s images, but he also pushes past the ending silence of "Paradiso" by making the incarnate Christ the sight at the top of the mountain. But God's own descent [...]
Set in Yorkshire, England on Christmas Eve, Russell Kirk’s short story “Saviourgate” is a story about the soul’s journey through the afterlife. Whereas many ghost stories explore only the diabolical imagination, “Saviourgate” opens up creative possibilities for thinking about life’s timeless moments and how they may be glimpses of paradise. Ghost stories were standard Christmas [...]
In light of the beatific vision, "The Divine Comedy" should be read as an avenue for personal formation because it is a deeply interactive work. As Dante learns to reorder his affections, readers are challenged to reorder theirs along with him. Readers are meant to learn by doing, by going on the journey with Dante. [...]
As medieval Christendom plunged into the abyss, a cry went up, stronger, perhaps, and more moving than any that had yet been heard. This voice gave utterance in immortal language to the sublimity of the Christian ideal and to the age-long Christian message. He whose cry was to echo down the centuries and bear witness, [...]
Great poetry can come from deep engagement with the problems of politics, but it is especially moving to see how exile—often the consequence of that engagement—subtly becomes the symbol of the condition of fallen man. Students at Wyoming Catholic College memorize many poems in the four years of the humanities curriculum, but few of the [...]
It was there, in the first circle of Hell, that I first understood what it meant to be a virtuous pagan. It meant to be led by the dim but true light of reason, to seek continually after the higher things, to pursue with courage and devotion a life of virtue. Author’s Introduction: Imagine if [...]
One value of reading truly great works of literature, works that have stood the test of time for decades or even centuries, is the opportunity such reading affords for exploring the tradition that has since built up around them. Any such truly great work—the Iliad, the Aeneid, Paradise Lost, Shakespeare’s Hamlet—will have accrued innumerable allusions [...]