Dante and the Wound of Sacred Authority

In 1301, Florence was a city divided by opposing factions. The White Guelphs, a party which opposed papal interference, were at war with the Black Guelphs, who supported control by the Papacy.  Under the guise of peacemaking, Pope Boniface VIII summoned Dante, who served as Prior of the White Guelphs, to Rome. While he was away, his political opponents, along with French prince, Charles of Valois, seized Florence, condemned Dante, and sentenced him to death if he ever returned.

Exile dismantled Dante’s life. He was not only humiliated and financially destroyed, but he was also cut off from his city. This meant not only separation from family and friends but it shook the very foundation of his identity.

What psychological wound would Dante have suffered by being condemned by those who spoke with ecclesial authority, yet acted for political gain?

When those who are entrusted with sacred responsibilities do not embody the values that they preach, the damage they inflict is not simply psychological. It is also spiritual because it feels like the damage is inflicted with the power of the divine (albeit in a cruel way), and therefore can threaten one’s entire meaning-making system.

While studying theology, my homiletics professor, The Reverend Paul Scott Wilson, taught that a preacher holds a sacred trust. What accompanies this trust is responsibility. Therefore, in his sermons, he must appeal to the person at the back of the church who might have come to mass with a last bit of hope. The preacher must do everything he can, to the best of his ability, to reach the parishioners with his sermon, to preach the gospel with care, and to embody what he preaches.

How did Dante survive betrayal by those who spoke with Church authority?

Dante neither submits to them, nor collapses under such a wound. He transcends corrupt clergy and finds the truth from within. And he does so in a way that is historically extraordinary: he appeals to Virgil, a pagan poet, for moral instruction; to Beatrice, a woman and a layperson, for theological vision. With the help of his moral conscience and imagination, he finds salvation through beauty, intellect, and love. 

The Divine Comedy provides a glimpse of Dante’s journey from rage in the Inferno, to moral clarity and hope in Purgatory, and ultimately to love and peace in Paradise. 

Who would have his strength when sacred authority wounds?

Perhaps few. Dante was resilient because he never outsourced his ethics and had a fierce moral conscience. He refused any pardon that required him to admit guilt for corruption he never committed. Ultimately, he transcended the pain through his imagination, and built a cathedral with poetry where love reigns.