Dantes Portrayal of Church Rituals in Purgatorio - Essay Example

Dante’s Portrayal of Church Rituals in Purgatorio Church ritual is an important aspect of Dante’s Purgatorio because it allows for the development of an essentially feudal perspective of the world. Moreover, church rituals are presented as being important in ensuring that Christians avoid the punishments that they would otherwise undergo when they are sent to hell for their sins. Purgatorio can be considered to be a representation of Christianity as it is in the world and how church doctrines can be used for the purpose of ensuring that Christians live a righteous life.

Rituals of purification are highly symbolic of the way that despite people sinning, they are able to attain forgiveness. Therefore, the expression of church rituals in Purgatorio such as singing hymns and conducting constant prayers is an important factor in the redemption of sinners (Alighieri, 2006, Canto II, line 45). Moreover, these activities are extremely positive expression of the way that the church should be since it brings about the redemption of sinners in Purgatorio. However, it is also a criticism of how the church has developed in the world through the numerous scandals that it has had to undergo as well as the massive corruption within it.

The church during Dante’s time was immersed in the politics of Europe and it was increasingly failing to take care of the people who really needed it; the sinners. Through a depiction of the way that those in purgatory interacted with one another in peace without any concern about worldly wealth suggests that it is an ideal that Dante believed the church should emulate. In purgatory, there are rituals connected to the church such as punishment and purification. As has been seen before, there is mention of such religious activities as hymns, prayers, and psalms are a basic activity in Purgatorio (Alighieri, 2006, Canto II, line 115).

Moreover, all of these activities are conducted in a place which has many church-like features which are used for the purpose of connecting the events taking place in Purgatorio and those that take place in the church on earth. Hymns are an essential aspect of church ritual which is conducted in almost every meeting and this is emphasized by Dante in hell as a means of showing that the church has essentially neglected its duties. This is especially the case where there is a comment that a singer is so completely dedicated to his task to such an extent that he ends up not being distracted by anything other than the task at hand.

The ritual of singing hymns in the church allows for the development of absolute dedication to Christ and the way that Dante describes this process is highly critical of the church because it seems that during his lifetime, the church had been distracted from its main task and had instead descended into worldly materialism and corruption. The loss of devotion towards the ideals set by Christ had made the church cease being a moral compass for Christians and Dante’s description of Purgatorio is an ideal which he wishes the church to emulate in order to advance it purpose on earth.

Reference Alighieri, D. (2006). The Divine Comedy: Purgatorio. Web Edition by Charles Franco. Translated by James Finn Cotter. New York: Center for Italian Studies. Retrieved from http://www.italianstudies.org/comedy/index.htm