f a state of peace"
(XXVI, 54). And when the day of release comes on which a soul attains
perfect peace, the whole mountain of Purgatory literally thrills with
joy and every voice is raised to join the harmonious concert of the
angelic hymn first sung at Bethlehem, _Gloria in Excelsis Deo_. In this
way does the poet teach us the lesson that both Purgatory proper and the
penitential discipline of life give us a peace wholly in contrast with
the uproar of sin whether heard in the halls of conscience or in the
eternal Hereafter. "How different are those openings from those in
Hell," he says, "for here we enter through songs and down there through
fierce wailings" (XII, 112).

Although our poet, imbued with the Catholic doctrine, teaches that
intercessory prayer helps the soul to shorten its term in Purgatory--a
doctrine bound up with the doctrine of the Communion of Saints--it must
never be forgotten that Dante is a Catholic preacher when he insists
that personal effort aided by God's grace, is the thing of supreme
importance in the matter of salvation and purification. Neither
lip-sorrow nor the sacraments themselves unless accompanied by true
sorrow and repentance, can profit the soul. "He cannot be absolved who
doth not first repent, nor can he repent the sin and will it at the same
time, for this were contradiction to which reason cannot assent" (Inf.,
XXVII, 118.) Prayer can help the soul struggling in life or in Purgatory
proper, but the assistance derived from prayer can never do away with
the necessity of personal penance. "Conquer thy panting with the soul
that conquers every battle if with its heavy body it sinks not down."

Let us now hear how Dante sings "of that second realm in which the human
soul is purified and becomes worthy to ascend to Heaven" (I, 5). Coming
out of the blackness of Hell just before dawn on Easter Sunday, Virgil
and Dante are entranced at the beautiful scene before them. Through a
cloudless sky of that deep blue for which the sapphire is noted, shines
Venus, the morning star; in the south appear four wonderful stars of
still greater brilliancy, seen before only by our first parents.

"Sweet sheen of oriental sapphire hue
That, mantling in the aspect calm and bright
Of the pure air, to the primal circle grew,
Began afresh to give my eyes delight
Soon as I issued from the deathful air
That had cast sadness o'er my mind and sight,
The beauteous planet that for love takes ca