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CANTO XII - Divine Comedy| Set Display | Please Turn On Your Virtual Bookmarks | You Can Help This Site | Table of Contents | Dante Alighieri |
Page 208 of 240
CANTO XII - Divine Comedy
v. 1. The blessed flame.] Thomas Aquinas
v. 12. That voice.] The nymph Echo, transformed into the repercussion of the voice.
v. 25. One.] Saint Buonaventura, general of the Franciscan order, in which he effected some reformation, and one of the most profound divines of his age. "He refused the archbishopric of York, which was offered him by Clement IV, but afterwards was prevailed on to accept the bishopric of Albano and a cardinal's hat. He was born at Bagnoregio or Bagnorea, in Tuscany, A.D. 1221, and died in 1274." Dict. Histor. par Chaudon et Delandine. Ed. Lyon. 1804.
v. 28. The love.] By an act of mutual courtesy, Buonaventura, a Franciscan, is made to proclaim the praises of St. Dominic, as Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican, has celebrated those of St. Francis.
v. 42. In that clime.] Spain.
v. 48. Callaroga.] Between Osma and Aranda, in Old Castile, designated by the royal coat of arms.
v. 51. The loving minion of the Christian faith.] Dominic was born April 5, 1170, and died August 6, 1221. His birthplace, Callaroga; his father and mother's names, Felix and Joanna, his mother's dream; his name of Dominic, given him in consequence of a vision by a noble matron, who stood sponsor to him, are all told in an anonymous life of the saint, said to be written in the thirteenth century, and published by Quetif and Echard, Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum. Par. 1719. fol. t 1. p. 25. These writers deny his having been an inquisitor, and indeed the establishment of the inquisition itself before the fourth Lateran council. Ibid. p. 88.
v. 55. In the mother's womb.] His mother, when pregnant with him, is said to have dreamt that she should bring forth a white and black dog, with a lighted torch in its mouth.
v. 59. The dame.] His godmother's dream was, that he had one star in his forehead, and another in the nape of his neck, from which he communicated light to the east and the west.
v. 73. Felix.] Felix Gusman.
v. 75. As men interpret it.] Grace or gift of the Lord.
v. 77. Ostiense.] A cardinal, who explained the decretals.
v. 77. Taddeo.] A physician, of Florence.
v. 82. The see.] "The apostolic see, which no longer continues its wonted liberality towards the indigent and deserving; not indeed through its own fault, as its doctrines are still the same, but through the fault of the pontiff, who is seated in it."
v. 85. No dispensation.] Dominic did not ask license to compound for the use of unjust acquisitions, by dedicating a part of them to pious purposes.
v. 89. In favour of that seed.] "For that seed of the divine word, from which have sprung up these four-and-twenty plants, that now environ thee."
v. 101. But the track.] "But the rule of St. Francis is already deserted and the lees of the wine are turned into mouldiness." 
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