Men have ye known who thus desired in vain
And whose desires, that might at rest have been,
Now constitute a source of endless pain.
Plato, the Stagerite, and many more
I here allude to. Then his head he bent,
Was silent and a troubled aspect wore."
(Purg., III, 34.)
Guided by the wisdom he thus enunciated Dante from youth to death
maintained a child-like faith that satisfied his intellect and animated
his sentiments. His faith really grew into a passion. His fidelity to
the truth of the doctrines of the Church or to the sacred offices of the
papacy was never shaken either by the scandals of clerical life or the
opposition of different popes to his political ideals. Frequently he
raised his voice in protest yet, notwithstanding his censures against
what he considered abuses in the external administration of the Church
and the policy of her popes, on his part there was not the least
suspicion of unsettled faith or revolutionary design. Strongly convinced
of the divinity of the Church, his passionate nature could not help
execrating the human element that would weaken her influence. "He
teaches that the mystical Vine of the Church still grows and Peter and
Paul who died for it, still live.
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