Simoniacs, Sept. 17, 2008 - Giuseppe Prigiotti

A presentation of Canto 19
from the Divine Comedy’s
Inferno
William Blake (1824)
Simoniacs
8th circle - simple fraud - 3rd bolgia
By Giuseppe Prigiotti for UIUC ITAL 413 (Prof. Nora Stoppino)
http://www.giuprigio.altervista.org/uiuc
‘Copyleft’ GPL 2008, version 1.2 (Sept. 17, 2008)
Three popes are sentenced
by the poet in the 3rd bolgia of the
8th circle, because of simony,
the selling of church offices
and spiritual graces
Nicholas III Orsini
(1277-1280)
Boniface VIII Caetani
(1294-1303)
Clement V de Gouth (1305-1314)
Nicholas III
Orsini
(1277-1280)
Ed el gridò: “Se’ tu già costì ritto,
se’ tu già costì ritto, Bonifazio?
Di parecchi anni mi mentì lo scritto.
Se’ tu sì tosto di quell’aver sazio
per lo qual non temesti tòrre a ‘nganno
la bella donna, e poi di farne strazio?
And he cried out: “Are you already standing
there, are you already standing there, Boniface?
The writing lied to me by several years.
Are you so soon sated by the wealth for which
you did not fear to marrry the lovely lady
fraudulently, and then to tear her apart?
Inferno XIX, 52-57
Boniface VIII
Caetani
(1294-1303)
Dopo lui verrà di più laida opra,
di ver’ ponente,un pastor sanza legge
After him will come, from towards the west,
a lawless Shepherd of even uglier deeds
Boniface VIII
Caetani
(1294-1303)
Inferno XIX, 82-83
Clement V
de Gouth
(1305-1314)
O Simon mago, o miseri seguaci…
Simon Magus, O wretched followers…
(Inferno XIX,1)
Fatto v’avete dio d’oro e d’argento
You have made gold and silver yours god
(Inferno XIX, 112)
What kind of sin is so bad to obtain the only apostrophe
in the opening of a Canto, which remembers the trumpet
of the prophet Hosea and of the book of Revelation?
The word simoniac derives from Simon Magus,
but the meaning has changed.
Simon Magus, in the Bible (Acts 8), is a sorcerer,
who is attracted by the spiritual power of Jesus Christ’s
disciples. He would like to buy the Holy Spirit, who can
only be shared as a gift.
In a Church strictly related to the Roman Empire, since
the Edict of Milan (313) of Emperor Costantine,
simoniacs are clergy men, including bishops and
popes, who, rather than share the grace received, want
to speculate on the administration of the sacraments.
“Now for some time a man named Simon
had practiced sorcery…
sorcery
he offered them [to the apostles Peter and John]
money and said, "Give me also this ability so that
everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the
Holy Spirit.
"Peter answered: "May your money perish with you,
because you thought you could buy the gift of God
with money! You have no part or share in this ministry,
because your heart is not right before God. Repent of
this wickedness and pray to the Lord.”
Lord
(Bible, Acts 8,9a.18b-25, New International Version).
O Simon mago, o miseri seguaci / Simon Magus, O wretched followers… (Inferno XIX,1)
Fatto v’avete dio d’oro e d’argento / You have made gold and silver yours god (v.112)
The dispute with Simon Mago and the crucifixion of Simon Peter,
Filippino Lippi (1456/7-1504), Brancacci chapel, Florence
Simon Peter, the leader of twelve apostoles
of Jesus, according to extra biblical
tradition, was crucified upside down
Simon Mago denounced
Simon Peter and St. Paul to
Nero (tradition), but…
From the mouth of each protuded
We have a DANTE’s portrait!
the feet and legs of a sinner,
The punishment of simoniac in the Comedy
as far as the thighs, and the rest
parodies the crucifixion of Peter (see Durling, 297)
was inside (Canto XIX, 22-24)
Ahi, Costantin, di quanto mal fu matre, non la tua conversion,
ma quella dote che da te prese il primo ricco patre”
Ah, Costantine, not your conversion, but that dowry which the first rich
father took from you, has been the mother of so much evil! (vv.115-117)
Dante knows that the Church changed when it received
power from Costantine. One century after Dante, Lorenzo
Valla demonstrated that the Costantine’s Donation was a
false document.
Emperor Costantine,
Edict of Milan,
Jesus, the good Shepherd,
313 d.C
catacomb of Callixtus,
Jesus Christ Pantocrator (Ruler of all),
Rome, III century
Monreal Cathedral (Palermo), XII century,
The sacraments,
to which Dante alludes
in this canto,
are powerful signs
of divine grace,
but are reversed by simoniacs
The baptistry, which symbolized the begin
of the new spiritual life, is the model of the
place in which simoniacs are punished.
Baptistry of Pisa (Source: www.stilepisano.it)
simoniacs, Nicolò III,
incision of Gustavo Dorè
(1832-1883)
Christians, are anointed in the baptism, in the
confirmation, in the ordination and in the anointment of
the sick: the sacred oil is a symbol of the presence
and of the strength of God. In Dante’s Inferno, these
fraudolent sinners, ironicly, keep the sign of the oil:
Qual suole il fiammeggiar de le cose unte
muoversi pur su la strema buccia:
tal era lì dai calcagni a le punte
As the flaming of oily things moves over just
the outer rind: so did there from heel t toes
(Inferno XIX, 28-30)
Io stava come ’l frate che confessa
Lo perfido assessin, che poi ch’è fitto,
Richiama lui perché la morte cessa
I was standing like the friar that confess
the treacherous assassin who, once he is
fixed in the earth, calls him back so as to
put off his death
(Inferno XIX, 49-51)
A reference to spiritual wedding
In the day of consecration the bishop receives a ring,
symbol of the marital love which the church needs,
but simoniacs fraudulently abused
of the lovely lady, the church of Christ
Se’ tu sì tosto di quell’aver sazio
Per lo qual non temesti tòrre a ‘nganno
La bella donna, e poi di farne strazio?
Are you so soon sated by the wealth for which
you did not fear to marrry the lovely lady
fraudulently, and then to tear her apart?
Inferno XIX, 52-57
What kind of Church
does Dante want?
Deh, or mi dì: quanto tesoro volle
Nostro Segnore in prima da san Pietro
Domenico da Michelino,
Ch’ei ponesse le chiavi in sua balìa?
Divine Comedy, 1465, Firenze
Certo non chiese se non ‘Vienimi retro’.
Né Pier né li altri tolsero a Matia
Oro ed argento, quando fu sortito
Al loco che perde l’anima ria.
Ah, now tell me: how much treasure did
our Lord demand from Saint Peter, before he gave
the keys into his keeping? Surely he asked only, ‘Follow me’.
Neither Peter nor the others took from Matthias
gold or silver, when he was chosen for the place lost
By the wicked soul.
(Inferno XIX, 90-96)
Does Dante refuse papacy and clergy?
No, but he, who knows very well the ancient and
New Testament, cannot keep silent in front of such
abuses, like the prophets of the first covenant.
E se non fosse ch’ancor me lo vieta
La reverenza delle somme chiavi
Che tu tenesti ne la vita lieta,
Io userei parole ancor più gravi;
che la vostra avarizia il mondo attrista,
calcando i buoni e sollevando i pravi.
Di voi pastor s’accorse il Vangelista
quando colei che siede sopra l’acque
puttaneggiar coi regi a lui fu vista,
quella che con le sette teste nacque,
e de le dieci corna ebbe argomento
fin che virtute al suo marito piacque
Gospel of Mathew 16:14-18
And were it not that I am forbidden
by my reverence for the highest keys,
which you held in happy life,
I would use still heavier words; for yours
avarice afflicts the world, trampling the
good and raising up the wicked.
Of you shepherds the Evangelist took note,
when he saw her who sits upon the waters
whoring with the kings;
she who was born with seven heads,
and took strength from her ten horns as
long as virtue pleased her husband.
(Inferno XIX, 100-111)
What kind of church does Dante want?
The church of Francis of Assisi
and Dominic of Guzman,
but not the church of several
franciscans and dominicans
(order of Preachers).
Cimabue, XII century
Francis of Assisi
A Church of contemplation and action
represented by St. Bernard, Dante’s
last guide in Paradiso, not the hypocrisy
of the jolly friars condemned in Inferno 23.
In the Canto XI of Paradiso,
St. Thomas from Aquino,the dominican
theologian who merged the patristic
tradition with the philosophy of Aristotle,
commends the humility of Francis of
Assisi, but he complains about the
decadence of the dominican
religious order
Anonymus,
Dominicus of Guzman
In the Canto XII of Paradiso,
St. Bonaventura from Bagnoregio,
franciscan theologian, cardinal and
bishop, commends the wisdom of
Dominic of Guzman, but he
complains about the decadence of
the franciscan religious order
In conclusion, Dante condemns symoniacs like
fraudolent sinners, because they betrayed the real
treasure, Jesus Christ and his total love, preferring
gold and silver, rather than following His steps
“ Christ Jesus, being in very nature God, did not
consider equality with God something to be
grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the
very nature of a servant, being made in human
likeness” (New Testament, Letter to Philippians, 2,5-7)
Andrea Mantegna,
Dead Christ, XV sec.
Ah, now tell me: how much treasure did our
Lord demand from Saint Peter, before he gave
the keys into his keeping?
Surely he asked only, ‘Follow me’.
Neither Peter nor the others took from Matthias
gold or silver, when he was chosen for the place
lost by the wicked soul.
(Inferno XIX, 90-96)
References
The quoted tests are from R. M. Durling, The Divine
Comedy of Dante Alighieri, vol. 1, Inferno, Oxford
University Press, New York - Oxford, 1996, which
adopts the Italian edition of Giorgio Petrocchi.
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