HIST-308 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Beatific Vision, Theotokos, Petal
Document Summary
It begins to dawn upon dante that this rose is a mystical symbol of predestination. Each petal represents a soul of one of the elect: beatrice as a petal. Upon this realization, dante observes beatrice transform into a petal and take her place in the rose. She can take him no further on his journey to god: beyond beatrice. With her gone, dante is in need of a guide as well as an explanation of predestination: bernard of clairvaux. Dante"s new guide is not augustine but instead bernard of clairvaux. Bernard, abelard"s enemy in the 12th century, mystically explains the logic of predestination: bernard and mary. The main reason for bernard"s selection is that he"s the greatest mystical theologian of. We can see this in his sermons on mary"s intercession: mary"s intercession. If we call upon mary, she can intercede on our behalf with her son, jesus christ. This high medieval mariology harkens back to the theotokos: the beatific vision.