Paradiso, Canto 26

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Summary

To Dante, bewildered and alarmed by his sudden blindness, come the reassuring words of St John: his sight will be restored to him by the healing gaze of Beatrice. Meanwhile the Apostle questions him concerning love. Dante declares that God is the beginning and end of all his loves and, in response to further questioning, indicates the sources whence he has derived the knowledge that God is the ultimate good, and hence the supreme object of love. Replying still further, he enumerates the blessings by which God manifests His goodness to man. As he concludes, a hymn of praise is sung by all the assembled saints and Dante’s vision is restored. The soul of Adam joins the three Apostles and replies to Dante’s unspoken questions concerning the Fall, the duration of his stay in Eden and of his life on earth, and the language which he spoke.

The Prepatory Lecture

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Questions for Reflection

• Why does Dante begin his exam on love while he is blind? Why is he examined on love by St. John?
• How does Dante tie the carnal and the theological dimensions of love together (26.13-15)?
• How do created goods participate in the Supreme Good (26.28-36)? And how does human love figure into the equation? How is Dante’s theological love manifested in the three central movements of Christian theology (26.58-60)?
• When Dante regains his sight, how has his sight refined (26.76-81)?
• Why might Dante choose to meet Adam in this canto? What does Dante want to learn from Adam and why might this be appropriate for the narrative of this canto? How does Adam echo Ulysses (from Inferno 26) in lines 115-117? Why would Dante draw this connection between them?

Paradiso, Canto 26 © Jan Hearn

The Images

The Heaven of the Fixed Stars: See Canto xxii, under Images.

Dante’s Examination in Faith, Hope and Love: See Canto xxiv, under Images.

Dante’s temporary blindness: Before being examined in the third theological virtue, love, Dante, peering with inquisitive eagerness into the burning depths of the light that is St John, goes blind. There was a legend that St John, of whom Our Lord said “He shall not die”, was taken up bodily into Heaven, and it is to satisfy his curiosity as to this that Dante strains his vision in the blinding radiance of the saint. The allegorical meaning of this incident has been much disputed. The general significance seems to be that irrelevant and superstitious curiosity can blind one, temporarily, to the truth of God. Whether there is any more specific, personal significance to be attached to the image is not certain. In the story, Dante experiences a setback; does it correspond to a setback in his spiritual progress? It may, perhaps, signify a period of discouragement or imperception. Faith he has, and hope, but the wells of his love have run dry. Response to St John’s questioning as to the object and nature of love precede the restoration of his sight. The mystical significance which seems to be adumbrated here is that vision and love of God are interrelated in a way that the soul cannot apprehend without experience. Vision, in the Thomist system, precedes love, but without love there cannot be vision.

​Adam: When Dante’s sight is restored to him, he sees the soul of Adam, who has joined St Peter, St James, and St John. Within the image of the Church Triumphant, Adam, who brought sin into the world, is the universal type of redeemed humanity.

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