The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-06-18

pleasure by the pen of Others" (De
Monarchia III, ~ Magnificent ex-
preston of Great Truth! Thus al
so, when he affirmes that the Old and
theNeW Testament, which are pre-
scribed forever as the Prophet says,
contain spiritual teachings which tran
scend human reason, impaired by the
Holy Ghost, who, through the Prophets
and the sacred writers, by Jesus Christ
co-eternaI Son of God, and by His dis
cipies, revealed the truth supernatural
and necessary to US. (De Monarchia
III, 8, 16). And very justly he says
regarding the future life "he accepts
for it the most true doctrine Of Christ,
which is Way, Truth, and Light; Way,
because through it we 90 without him
drance to the happiness Of that i'm
mortality; Truth, because it does not
suffer any error; Light because it H.
Eliminates US in the darkness of the
worlds ignorance. (Convivio II, 81.
Scarcely less reverence does he
show to those venerable principal
councils at which no faithful Catholic
doubts that Christ was present; and he
holds in great esteem the writings Of
the Doctors, Of Augustine and others,
of whom, he who doubts that they
were assisted by the Holy Ghost, new
er saw their fruits, or, if he saw them,
never tasted Of them. (De Monarchia,
III, -.
His Respect for the Church
''It is not necessary to recall the
consideration in which Alighieri held
the authority of the Catholic Church,
and how he respected the power of
the Roman Pontiff, as that on which
every law and institution of the Ca
tholic Church itself is founded. Hence
the emphatic admonition to Christ
ians: You have the Old and the New
Testament and the Pastor of the
Church who guides you; let this be
enough for your salvation
"He felt the evils of the church, as
if they were his own, and while he
deplored and execrated all rebellion
against her Supreme Chief, he thus
wrote to the Italian Cardinals during
the stay of the Popes in Avignon:
we therefore, who, confess the same
Father and Son, the same e-God and
Man, the same Virgin and Mother; we
for whom it was said to him who was
thrice fnterrogated on charity: Go
Peter and feed the sacred fold we,
who on Rome, Ton that Rome, to
which after the pomp Of so many
triumphs, Christ with words and acts
confirmed the empire of universe, and
which Peter and Paul, the Apostles of
the peoples, consecrated with their
own blood as apostolic see) are oblig-
ed with Jeremias, not complaining for
the future but for the present, to
weep as on a widow and dereIict, we
are sorcly grieved in seeing her re-
dueed in such a condition, no less
than in contemplating the depIorabIe
sores of the heresies, (Epistle IID.
For him the Roman Church is the
most pious mother, the Bride of the
Crucified; and to Peter, the infallible
judge of revealed truth, the most per-
feet submission is due on every mat
ter of faith and morality. Therefore,
although he believes that the author
ity of the Emperor is derived directly
from God, he asserts, however, that
this truth must not be SO strictly un-
derstood, that the Roman Prince be
not subject in any thing subordinate
to the immortal felicity. (De Mon
archia II, 16). Excellent, indeed, and
wise principle, which, if it were still
observed as it ought to be, would GER
tainly bring to the States rich fruits
of civil prosperity
The Man Battered by Fate
"But, it will be said, he rallied with
insulting acrimony against the Sow
ereign Pontiffs of his time. 1t is true;
but against those who differed from
him in politics and whom he believed
to be on the side of others who had
driven him out of his own country
But one must pity a man, SO battered
by fate, if sometime, with liberated
mind, he broke into invectives which
exceeded all limits, and more SO, as,
to exasperate his anger, false state
ments were artfully spread, as it often
happens, by political adversaries, ever
inclined to interpret Indignantly ev-
cry happening. On the other side,
who can deny that in those times there
was much to be blamed in the clergy
and spirit SO devoted to the Church
as Dante's was, could not but be dis
gusted; and we know that other men,
eminent for holiness, loudly reproved
them.
"But although in his violent invec-
tives he fell, rightly or wrongly, on
ecclesiastical personages, he never
failed in the respect due to the Church
and in the reverence to the Supreme
Keys; wherefore in his own opinion
with that obsequiousness that must be
used by son pious towards his own
Father, pious towards the mother,
pious towards Christ, pious towards
the Church, pious towards the Pastor,
pious towards all those who profess
the Christian religion, for the protec-
tion of truth. (De Monarchia III, 81.
Therefore, having based on these
strong religious principles all the
structure of his poem, it is not to be
wondered If in it a treasure of Cath
olic doctrine is to be found; that is to
say, not only the essence of philosophy
and of Christian theology, but also the