Saturday, September 09, 2023


 Dante getting salty about preachers in his day. 

“‘Down there, when you philosophize, you fail to follow one true path, so does the love of show preoccupy your mind and carry you away, ‘and even this is tolerated here with less wrath than when holy Scripture is neglected or its doctrines are mistaught. 

‘There is no thought among you of the blood it costs to sow the world with it, or how acceptable he is who humbly makes his way to it. ‘Each strives to gain attention by inventing new ideas, expounded by the preachers at some length—but the Gospel remains silent…”

“‘Christ did not say to His first congregation: “Go preach idle nonsense to the world,” but gave to them a sound foundation. ‘And that alone resounded from their lips, so that, in their warfare to ignite the faith, they used the Gospel as their shield and lance. 

‘Now preachers ply their trade with buffoonery and jokes, their cowls inflating if they get a laugh and the people ask for nothing more.”

— Paradiso XXIX by Dante

No comments: