The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-09-30
FINE CHOICE
 OF DATE FOR
 CELEBRATION
To Have Triple Significance
 Tablet Honoring Dante To Be Unveiled. .

The committee in charge has made a fortunate selection of dates in de- ciding to hold the local celebration in honor of Dante on October 12. On the evening of that day exercises will be held in the High School auditorium and a tablet, the gift of a group of Bridgeport Italians, will be unveiled and presented to the school. The cele- ~bration will have triple significance. Italians on that day always pay re- spect to the the 5nemory of Columbus. cans observe ;Rle day because it is the anniversary 6 the discovery of this country, and sn addition the principal event here will be the observance of the sixth centenary of the death of Dante, Italy's greatest poet, a man whose work is read all over the civil
 Six hundret years ago Dante died. at Ravenna, having completed: in the 7 Devine Comedy. work which sums Knowledge of his day, and which is above all a masterpiece which has ever since ranked the author among the Throughout the world his memory is being honoreds this year and the an niversary of lis death is being used to revive intefest in the Comedy.
 tackled the Po1tiffs of his time he was In fact one d the most complete euIogies yet to sappear has come from the pen of Pope Benedict XIV who says that his attacks were prompted by his deep religious feeling and were quite merited ty the deplorab1e con .ditions which existed in Rome in his day.
 Most of Dante's life was spent in travel and he was an active parti- cipant in the political activities of his time. His last years were spent at Ravenna whereuhe died. At the time of his death he Was recognized by his fellow country men being the great "a ho 1xxToxy hno in ha literary history of the world. For many ensuing years he was only well Rn1Wn Nan"1aoni by sfholars ,ha until dar the spirit of Italy and the bitter struggle for Italian independence and liberty commenced. Then the teachings of popular and his writings were the source from which such leaders as Mazzini and Garibaldi drew their fire. Italians are particularly gratified that Dante's death finds their country united within those very frontiers which the poet prophesied would some day be the rightfuI domain of his native land.
 And not only is Dante the embodi- ment of the culture and learning of the middle ages, but he is completely typical of Italy, while at the same time he has something of universal greatness; a personality that has lived along with his works. His is the figure of an upright, inf1exible, noble, and .withal very human man which has made the name of Dante conjure up the great poetic work and the picture of the author at the same time.
 | Throughout the country celebrations are being held this year largely as a result of the work of the Italy-America Society which has taken the occasion of this centenary to stimulate public interest in the poet. Because of the fact that the date of his death coin- cided with the opening of the schools in most sections, the exercises to be held in all parts of the country have been postponed until next month, as they were in Bridgeport,
 On October 12 Professor William Lyon Phelps will be the principal speaker here in addressing those who will pay homage to the memory of Dante at the High School. The com mittee, of which Chief Justice Wheeler is the chairman, is completing ar prominence speak we'll. The loca committee contains the names ot about 20 prominent Italians an6 Americans who have all of the ar. engagements in charge.
 Dante A1ighieri died on the four. teenth day of September in the veal of Christ one thousand three hundred and twenty-one; on the day whereor the eXaltation of the holy cross i. celebrated by the church as Boc caccio tells. And he adds that the great hearted knight Guido NovellC da Pclenta, placed the body of Dante adorned with the insignia of a poet upon a fu9sral bier and caused it tc