Professor Mazzotta continues his discussion of the Heaven of the Sun (Paradise X-IV), where the earthly disputes between the Franciscan and Dominican orders give way to mutual praise. The tribute St. Thomas pays to the founder of the Franciscan order (Paradise XI) is repaid by St. Bonaventure through his homage to St. Dominic (Paradise XII). The chiasmic structure of these cantos is reinforced by the presence of Nathan and Joachim of Flora, the counterweights to Solomon and Siger, among the second ring of sages. Special attention is then paid to the lives St. Francis and St. Dominic presented in Paradise XI and XII, where the former's marriage to Lady Poverty finds its poetic counterpart in the latter's marriage to theology. The critique of the world and its values shared by these religious founders is explored in light of the "ludic theology" that pervades these cantos.

Reading assignment:

Dante, Paradise: XI, XII

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