Deity

Holy Spirit

Third person of the Christian Trinity, indicated by Dante as the divine love that inflames the blessed souls and inspires sacred song. His presence is still recalled in the Heaven of the Sun and in the Heaven of the Fixed Stars.

Profile

The Holy Spirit is mentioned by Dante in the Paradiso as the fire of love that ignites the soul of the blessed. In Canto III, Piccarda declares herself to be inflamed by divine charity, identified by commentators with the flame of the Holy Spirit, defined as the primal love in the poem. In Canto XIX of the Paradiso, within the Heaven of the Fixed Stars, the mystical eagle that fixes its gaze on Dante is presented with a simile of reciprocal affection comparable to that which binds the faithful to God, symbolizing the intensity of the divine love that the Holy Spirit spreads. In Canto XX, again in the Heaven of the Fixed Stars, David is recalled as the earthly poet of the Holy Spirit, singer of the Psalms and central figure of the Davidic tradition. The occurrences in Paradiso XXI 128 and XXIV 92 also confirm the presence of the phrase «de lo Spirito Santo» within the subsequent cantos of the paradisiacal canticle.

In the text

Linked verses

8 verses