Undusted Texts

 Introduction In keeping with today's Roman Catholic reading regarding the various gifts given by the Spirit for varied tasks (1 Cor 12), I decided to post this little essay I wrote back in 2015, about the variety of vocations.  I may have gone a bit overboard in my quotations, and perhaps the style and precise formulations are not how I would word them now, but, overall, I think it's still a decent piece of writing. The Many-Lighted Stars of Vocation “One [is the] glory of [the] sun, and another [the] glory of [the] moon, and another [the] glory of [the] stars: therefore star differs from star in glory” (1 Cor 15:41).  Each of these has its own role, and usurping another’s role leads to chaos.  So if the sun were the moon, the earth would be consumed like a dry leaf in a bonfire; if the moon were the sun, the earth would be frozen.  Even having any other star replace the sun could have disastrous results: the star could be too large and engulf the solar system,...

Dante's Divine Comedy quickly attracted commentaries on its intricacies, beginning with Dante himself (in his Epistle to Can Grande , often labelled Epistle XIII).  The earliest commentary was by Dante's son Jacopo (1285-1348), in Italian; a Latin commentary was later written by another son, Pietro (d. 1364). Pietro kept revising his commentary throughout his life, becoming a miniature of the Renaissance, in a way.  The earliest version—out of the three distinct ones that have been preserved—is rich in Patristic and theological references; as time went on, these references gave way to classical references, as the burgeoning Renaissance spurred an increase in studies of and love for the classics.   In 2002, Massimiliano Chiamenti edited the third version of Pietro's Commentary ; from that edition, I have translated the introduction, which serves as both an introduction to the whole Comedy as well as to the Inferno in particular. Academia.edu Direct Download