Archangels

Profile

In Canto XXVIII of the Paradiso, dedicated to the description of the angelic hierarchies that revolve in the Crystalline Heaven, Dante names the Archangels as part of the third angelic triad, together with Principalities and Thrones, singing «Osanna» to the triune and one-in-three God (vv. 121-123). Their choir is recalled in v. 125, where it is mentioned that «Principalities and Archangels turn», moved by their ardor of love and by the vision of God. According to the Dionysian order adopted by Beatrice, in the third hierarchy succeed Thrones, Dominions, and Principalities, while Archangels and Angels belong to the ninth and last choir. The critical notes recall that Gregory the Great, in the Moralia, ordered instead Principalities, Virtues, and Dominions in the second triad, placing Archangels and Angels at the base of the last hierarchy, an order that Dante himself had followed in the Convivio and which here is poetically corrected in homage to Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. The presence of the Archangels in the Crystalline Heaven is thus part of the direct contemplation of the celestial hierarchies that Dante carries out with Beatrice.