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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - Luke 1:26 - 1:26
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Gabriel
The annunciation and the angel Gabriel are favorite themes with Dante, and he pictures them with exquisite beauty. Thus both appear on the sculptured wall which flanks the inner side of the purgatorial ascent.
“The angel who came down to earth with tidings
Of peace that had been wept for many a year,
And opened heaven from its long interdict,
In front of us appeared so truthfully
There sculptured in a gracious attitude,
He did not seem an image that is silent.
One would have sworn that he was saying Ave!
For she was there in effigy portrayed
Who turned the key to ope the exalted love,
And in her mien this language had impressed,
Ecce ancilla Dei! as distinctly
As any figure stamps itself in wax.”
Purgatory, x., 34-35
In Paradise Gabriel appears as a light circling round the Virgin and singing:
“I am angelic love, that circle round
The joy sublime which breathes out from the womb
That was the hostelry of our desire;
And I shall circle, Lady of heaven, while
Thou followest thy Son, and mak'st diviner
The sphere supreme, because thou enterest there.”
Paradise, xxiii., 103-108.
And again:
“And the same love that first descended then,
Ave Maria gratia plena singing,
In front of her his wings expanded wide.”
Paradise, xxxii., 94-96.