Pride and Humility According to Dante’s Purgatorio
Mike Schramm
About the Author: Mike Schramm lives with his wife and seven children in southeastern Minnesota, where he teaches theology and philosophy. His writing can be found at https://substack.com/@mikeschramm.
I tell my students every Spring as we begin, with the Pilgrim himself, our walk through the three stages of the afterlife as presented in Dante’s Divine Comedy, that my favorite leg of this journey is Purgatorio, though it is likely the least popular of the three. While Purgatorio does not share the horrifyingly evocative imagery of Inferno, nor the inspirational, conclusive beauty of Paradiso, its content stands as the most spiritually practical of the three. This is because the focus of Purgatorio, in contrast to Inferno and Paradiso which highlight the nature of sin and virtue themselves respectively, focuses on the movement from sin to virtue. Conversion from sin to virtue is the focus of the Christian life here on earth. Dante presents this conversion in a unique, engaging, and provocative way.
The primary theme throughout the Divine Comedy is a concept called the contrapasso. This word translates directly to English as “to suffer the opposite.” This is primarily applied to the punishments Dante inflicts on sinners in his Inferno. These punishments are fitting not because of the pain they inflict, but because of how they uniquely reflect the nature of the sin itself. While most often identified with the punishments of Inferno, the contrapasso applies just as readily to the purifications of the souls on Dante’s Purgatorio. These images, like their Infernal predecessors, uniquely reflect the nature of the sin being purified as well as reflect the nature of the purification itself. This purification takes the form of a corresponding virtue, which is not only practiced by the penitents but modelled in the lives of Jesus and Mary. Sinners are meant to contemplate these stories much like one contemplates the mysteries of the Rosary. It is in contemplating these models, specifically the details of their lives that show their virtues, that Dante begins his treatment of pride.
“Ecce ancilla Dei,” (Canto X, line 44)
As Virgil and Dante ascend the mountain of Purgatory to the terrace of the proud, they hear the Latin phrase, “Ecce ancilla Dei,” which translates to “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord,” a reference to Luke 1:38. This story recounts the Annunciation, when St. Gabriel reveals to Mary God’s plan of salvation and she graciously accepts. Her willingness to be God’s “handmaid” is highlighted by Dante to illustrate Mary’s humility. It is also in this moment whereupon she conceived Jesus, which was the ultimate act of humility in God’s kenotic lowering of himself to the level of creatures in taking on human nature. Dante gives us this model first as it is this humility that will purify sinners of their pride as they walk this circle. This walk will carry its own lessons as well.
“their heavy torment bends them to the ground” (Canto X, line 116)
Dante describes the punishment of these sinners as one representative of pride, which seeks to lift oneself up above others, as one that must bring them low. Heavy boulders lay across the shoulders of these sinners as they walk up this level of Mount Purgatory. The instructive irony of this punishment is that the very thing they thought lifted them up, or Dante says, their “mind presume to flight,” turns out to be the very thing that weighs them down, that keeps them from truly ascending (Canto X, line 127–8).
Dante describes how, “They were indeed bent down—some less, some more— // according to the weights their backs now bore” (Canto X, line 136–7). This implies that the size of the weights differ according to the pride they carried in their lives, which Dante will confirm when he declares that “each [sinner has] his own degree of suffering” (Canto XI, line 28). Pride puffs oneself up, so that one cannot bow because they are superior. Now, they are forcibly bent low. Those who exalted themselves, are finally being humbled (cf. Matthew 23:12). These weights, and their struggle, are not their only education.
“Look downward … pay // attention to the pavement at your feet.” (Canto XII, line 13–15)
As previously stated, the purpose of Purgatorio is not to punish for sin, but to be healed from it. This healing comes from a conversion of the heart from sin to virtue. For these souls, it is less about punishment for pride and more about movement, however slow, from pride to humility. Dante provides just such an opportunity for development of this virtue and does so in a remarkably creative way. By necessity, these souls carrying large boulders on their backs must look down as they march. This follows from their position as prideful in life when they looked down upon others. Now, they can only look down at the ground. They looked down upon everyone in life, now they can only look down at the ground.
The ground, for its part, has a twofold education itself for these souls. First, their path is strewn with the tombstones of “great men,” showing these proud souls where their pride will ultimately bring them. This is Dante’s subtle nod to memento mori, “remember your death,” a humbling epithet of the great equalizer for rich, poor, beautiful, ugly, healthy, and sickly. Second, the ground itself is a reminder of humility, as “humble” derives from the Latin humus, which means “ground.” Humus is also the root of the word, “human,” showing us that we best remember that we are in relationship to God as contingent creatures in need of his grace. It brings together two great truths of the Christian spiritual life that we are “dust” and “to dust” we will return (cf. Gen 3:19) and that humility reflects authentic humanity as being created in the image, but also still in need, of God.
“Walk humbly with your God” is Micah 6:8
The Divine Comedy is a masterclass in spiritual theology and Purgatorio especially is a step-by-step walk through the stages of the spiritual life. Dante understood that the Christian life is not simply transcendental Truth, but also Goodness and Beauty as well. His poem incorporates all three of these transcendentals as it seeks to instruct us more deeply about the nature and work of God in our lives, provide us models for how to know and live out this will, and presents it in a way that is breathtaking in its harmony, clarity and integrity. One can only respond with profound humility.