Dante and Virgil have stepped onto the third terrace of Purgatory proper and our pilgrim is hit with an ecstatic vision. In fact, the first one in a poem that may itself seem like an ecstatic vision. And one of the few anywhere in COMEDY.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at the first vision on the third terrace of Purgatory, the opening salvo to the true middle of the great poem COMEDY.

Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:49] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XV, lines 85 - 93. If you'd like to read along to continue the conversation, please scroll down this page.

[03:07] A vision of the Virgin Mary at the door, speaking in medieval Florentine.

[06:14] The changes in the Biblical story of Mary's leaving the young Jesus behind in Jerusalem and returning to find him.

[09:29] The importance of the possessive pronoun she uses: "my son."

[11:52] The paradox with "ecstatic visions" in COMEDY.

[16:16] The light of an ecstatic vision in transparent or empty space.

[21:43] Two little boys in Canto XV: the sun in the sky and Jesus in Mary's eyes.

And here’s my English translation of Purgatorio, Canto XV, Lines 85 – 93

Then it seemed as if I were pulled into

An ecstatic vision of sudden immediacy.

I saw many people in a temple

And at the door, a lady [who was] just about to step inside.

She had the sweet expression of a mother. She said, “My son,

Why have you treated us like this?

“Behold, in sorrow, your father and I

Have searched for you.” And just as she went silent,

Her original appearance before me disappeared.