2 - The image of St Bernard in medieval culture

Summary

Almost midway through canto XXXI of Paradiso, Dante-character turns once again to his guide Beatrice, confident, as ever, that she will be able to resolve his intellectual perplexity – which has been inspired, on this occasion, by the astonishing sight of ‘la forma general di paradiso’ (Par., XXXI. 51–7). She is no longer there. Instead Dante finds himself in the presence of a saintly old man (58–60), who smiles cheerfully at him (61–3), reassures him that Beatrice has only left his side to take her place ‘nel trono che suoi merti le sortiro’ (65–9), stands by him while he pays moving tribute to her in prayer (79–90), and only then, after this extensive preamble, declares his own identity and the purpose of his unexpected intervention in Dante's celestial pilgrimage. He has come, he announces, to ensure that Dante's journey reaches its destined and perfect conclusion in a vision of God under the auspices of the Virgin Mary; and he promises that the grace necessary for this altogether exceptional experience will be granted – because he is the Queen of Heaven's faithful subject, ‘Bernardo’ (94–102).

Dante's response to this revelation is as remarkable as the events that provoke it. An extended simile in the poem's narrating voice (103–11) compares the wonderment he feels, gazing at his interlocutor, to that of a traveller from some unimaginably wild and distant land – perhaps Croatia (103) – who has come to Rome to see the visage of Christ miraculously imprinted on St Veronica's sudarium.