Dante's prophetic vision becoming clearer to some: Dante inspires a wine and gets a welcome (?) home after 700 years

Dante's tomb Ravenna
The following piece I just stumbled upon, it was written June 30th 2008 by Mr. Jeremy Parzen Ph.D. His blog “Do Bianchi” it was written in response to the news reports of June 17, 2008 that Florence's city council revoked the death sentence put on Dante if he ever stepped foot in Florence. News article Telegraph.co.uk Dante's infernal crimes forgiven

Here is Mr Jeremy Parzen's Ph.D piece: Dante inspires a wine and gets a welcome (?) home after 700 years

Good to see someone else out there who has a similar take on Dante's impending return to Florence, both of us using the following Paradiso canto 25 to come to the same conclusion, but I would contend that Dante was prophectically speaking of his return to Florence. My initial reaction to the lifting of Dante's death sentence was reading the event of his return into Paradiso canto 25 which I posted on apologia fish eaters fourm June 18, 2008. I think this is the best way to explain the Divine Poet's words in canto 25. The following is from Jeremy Parzen Ph.D although he comes at it from a different perspective (wine) :

'In the light of this news, I was all the more intrigued by a wine I came across the other day called “Bello Ovile.” The expression il bello ovile (the fairsheepfold) comes from Canto 25 of the Paradiso, and is a metaphorical referenceto Dante’s youth in Florence:

Should it ever come to pass that this sacred poem,
to which both Heaven and earth have set their hand
so that it has made me lean for many years,

should overcome the cruelty that locks me out
of the fair sheepfold where I slept as a lamb,
foe of the wolves at war with it,

with another voice then, with another fleece,
shall I return a poet and, at the font
where I was baptized, take the laurel crown.
Paradiso 25, 1-9)

Dante described himself as Florentinus et exul inmeritus (a Florentine and an undeserving exile)In this canto Dante is describing the lifting of the death sentence and forced exile by applying the words to the city of Florence: 'win over the cruel hearts which keep me in exile' In issuing the pardon 700 years later Dante's prophecy has been fulfilled. Their cruel hearts were final won over. These words from Dante: 'then with a new voice and a new fleece I shall return, a poet, and be crowned with the laurel wreath at the font of my baptism.' will only be fulfilled when the body of Dante is translated to Florence. The following canto foretells of the help Dante will receive from the benefactor who will help to bring Dante’s remains back to Florence:

How quick that noble soul was to respond
to the mere sound of his sweet city’s name,
by welcoming his fellow citizen
pur. vi

That someone is most likely mentioned here:

Thy first refuge and first hostelry shall be the courtesy
of the great Lombard, who on the ladder beareth the sacred bird,
for he shall cast so benign regard on thee that of doing
and demanding, that shall be first betwixt you two,
which betwixt others most doth lag.
paradiso xvii

Is this great Lombard, a future pope maybe? I don’t know, but the ordering of events has started, now the next event is the Divine Poet’s canonization and the translation of Dante's remains to Florence. Now maybe the Dante scholars out there will think twice on the merit that the Sacred Poem is more than just a mere poem and a historical piece, but also a prophetic vision as well. As Mr. Jeremy Parzen has said 'It will be interesting to see how the fight over Dante’s remains plays out and in the meantime'

Comments

  1. Thank you for the shout out and for taking the time to read Do Bianchi. I write about Dante (and Petrarch) whenever I can and actually recently did this post on Dante and winemaking (that I thought you might find interesting, although not related to Dante's political views).

    http://dobianchi.wordpress.com/2009/06/28/sunday-poetry-dante-and-wine/

    Happy blogging! Thanks again, J

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