Purgatorio

Purgatorio is the second part of Dante's Divine Comedy, written in the early 1300s, following Inferno and preceding Paradiso. It tells the allegorical story of Dante climbing Mount Purgatory, guided by the Roman poet Virgil—except for the final four cantos, where Beatrice takes over.

Allegorically, the poem represents the penitent Christian life. As Dante climbs, he explores the nature of sin, examples of vice and virtue, and moral issues in politics and the Church. The poem proposes that all sin stems from love: either perverted love that harms others, deficient love, or disordered or excessive love of good things.

Overview of Purgatory

Dante imagines Purgatory as an island-mountain in the Southern Hemisphere. It has three main parts. The lower slopes (Cantos I–IX) are called Ante-Purgatory by commentators. Purgatory proper has seven terraces (Cantos X–XXVII) for suffering and spiritual growth, each linked to one of the seven deadly sins. At the top lies the Earthly Paradise (Cantos XXVIII–XXXIII).

Passage of time

Time in the poem follows a precise schedule. The first day of Dante’s journey began on Earth the evening of Maundy Thursday, 24 March (or 7 April) 1300. The next full day (Good Friday) was spent exploring Hell with Virgil. The following day they climbed out of Hell to see the stars.

They reach the shore of Mount Purgatory—the only land in the Southern Hemisphere—at 6 am on Easter Sunday, which is 6 pm in Jerusalem (the two points are antipodal). Hell lies beneath Jerusalem, created by Lucifer’s fall; the mountain was formed by rock displaced in that same event. Purgatorio picks up where Inferno ends, describing Dante’s three-and-a-quarter-day climb, ending in the Earthly Paradise at noon on Wednesday, 30 March (or 13 April).

Prayer

Prayer is a major theme. Many souls Dante meets are shown praying, with many references to psalms and hymns across the terraces. Prayers from the living on behalf of the dead also matter greatly; some souls ask Dante or his living relatives for prayers. Manfred of Sicily explains that prayers shorten the wait before entering Purgatory proper and speed up the climb.

Forese Donati, for example, passed through Ante-Purgatory and most terraces only five years after his death because of his wife Nella’s prayers. Compared to Statius, who spent over 500 years on the mountain, this shows prayer’s power. Dante receives eleven distinct requests for prayer, mostly from souls in Ante-Purgatory, with fewer requests as he climbs higher.

Ante-Purgatory

Ante-Purgatory lies below the entrance to Purgatory proper. It holds two main groups: the excommunicated and the late-repentant—those whose penitent Christian life was delayed or deficient.

This transitional space parallels similar sections in Inferno (for the lukewarm and neutral angels) and Paradiso (the heavens under Earth’s shadow). Souls here still cling to earthly life and affairs, and they marvel at Dante’s living body. As Statius later explains, Ante-Purgatory is the only part of the mountain affected by earthly weather.

At the shore (Cantos I–II), with the sun rising on Easter Sunday, Dante announces his intent to describe Purgatory by invoking the Muses. He and Virgil meet Cato, a pagan appointed by God as guardian of the mountain’s approach (his symbolic meaning is debated).

The poem reflects medieval knowledge of a spherical Earth: Dante notes different stars in the Southern Hemisphere, the sun’s altered position, and various time zones. For instance, at dawn in Purgatory, it is sunset in Jerusalem (antipodal to the mountain), midnight over India on the Ganges (with Libra overhead), and noon over Spain. The journey occurs during the vernal equinox, when days and nights are equal.