3/22/2015

GiovanniBattistaMontiniandhispassionforDanteThepoetoftheologiansandthetheologianofpoets

Giovanni Battista Montini

and his passion for Dante The poet of theologians
and the theologian of
poets
20150317LOsservatoreRomano
PaulVIoftenaskedhisprivatesecretary,MsgrPasqualeMacchi,toreadaloudto
himeitheracantofromDantesDivineComedyorachapterfromManzonisThe
Betrothed.
Cardinal Paul Poupard, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Culture
andthePontificalCouncilforInterreligiousDialogue,recalledthishabitofBlessed
PaulVIduringameetingintheFranciscancenacoloattheChurchofSantaCroce
in Florence on 17 March to commemorate the 750th anniversary of Dante
Alighieris birth and the fiftieth anniversary of the Apostolic Letter Motu Proprio
written by Paul VI entitled Altissimi Cantus. It is no accident that this document
was preceded by two letters, one written to the Archbishop of Ravenna and the
othertotheArchbishopofFlorence,followedbyPaulVIspersonalgreetingtothe
directors and associates of the Dante Alighieri Society given at a General
AudienceinRomeon21January1966.
Cardinal Poupard noted that Paul VI, just like his
predecessor Benedict XV, believed that the beauty of
Dantes work consists in both the manifold way it
brilliantlyrevealstruth,andinitsuseofawiderangeof
artistic devices. Paul VI even set up an endowed chair
forDantestudiesattheCatholicUniversityoftheSacred
Heart in Milan, emphasizing the ecumenical aspect of his work. Dante is a
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GiovanniBattistaMontiniandhispassionforDanteThepoetoftheologiansandthetheologianofpoets

universalpoetforallpeopleandalltimes.Infact,hisgrandeurembracesheaven
and earth, eternity and time, the mystery of God and the affairs of men, both
sacred and profane teaching, as well as the understanding made possible by
divinerevelationandthelightofnaturalreason.Atthesametime,PaulVInoted
thatthegoaloftheDivineComedyispreeminentlypracticalandtransformative,
the objective being to help man pass from disorder to wisdom, sin to holiness,
miserytohappiness.
Paul VI thus celebrates Dante as the poet of theologians and the theologian of
poets,amasterofexaltedlyricisminsofarashissubtletyofmindrendershima
sharptheologian,theperfectguidewithinthesanctuaryofpoetry.Aclearsignof
PaulVIspassionforDanteisthegifthegavetotheconciliarFathersatVaticanII:
aspecialeditionoftheDivineComedy.
Benedict XV, paying tribute to Dante in his encyclical letter In praeclara
summorum copia hominum (1921), wrote, who can deny that, at that time, the
behaviorofsomemembersoftheclergywasreprehensible,deeplydisturbingtoa
soulasdevotedtotheChurchasDantes?IntheencyclicalthePopeoffersDante
as an exemplary witness to the religious values that contribute to the promotion
humanlearningand,consequently,howtheirabsencefromtheformationofyoung
people undermines their maturation and intellectual growth as well as their
acquisition of civil virtue. Benedict XV thus wishes Dante to be taken up as a
teacher of Christian doctrine, both in the practice of the fine arts and in the
developmentofvirtue.Inanotherpassageoftheencyclical,BenedictXVremarks
that the greatest praise that can be given to Dante is that he was a Christian
poet,inotherwords,someonewhosangChristiandoctrineinanalmostangelic
voice a doctrine whose beauty and splendor Dante contemplated with his entire
soul.CallingtheCommediatheFifthGospel,BenedictXVdeclaredthatDanteis
the most eloquent bard to sing and announce Christian wisdom. (Gabriele
Nicol)

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GiovanniBattistaMontiniandhispassionforDanteThepoetoftheologiansandthetheologianofpoets

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