Pilgrim Citations in Dante's Commedia

Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510)
Dante's Paradiso I: Ascent to Heaven
Paradiso I.49-51— Beatrice tells Dante
that his real home is the stars as he
begins his pilgrimage to Paradise

Preface: On October 27, 2009, I saw a flyer at Stanford Art Library about a 7 pm lecture "Medieval Matters— Pilgrimage to the End of the World: The Road to Santiago de Compostela" by Professor Conrad Rudolph. He went on this pilgrimage walking 2-1/2 months and 1000 miles from central France to Spain over the Pyrenees. During the Middle Ages, half a million pilgrims flocked to this holy place believed to be the burial place of the Apostle James. I recalled Dante's epic pilgrimage from Inferno to Purgatory to Paradise in his Commedia and the story of Romeo of Villeneuve, a pilgrim to Rome. So I went to Conrad's illuminating lecture that day. Afterwards I looked up A Concordance to the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri (Edited by Ernest Hatch Wilkins & Thomas Goddard Bergin, Harvard University Press, 1966, p. 404).

There are nine citations of peregrino (pilgrim) listed below. Translations are by Allen Mandelbaum. I've added Paradiso XXXI.101-106 since Mandelbaum comments in Paradiso Notes (p. 422): "Dante contemplates St. Bernard with the same eagerness with which a pilgrim from the remote outback of Christendom might contemplate Veronica's Veil— the image of Christ's face imprinted on a cloth."

Purgatorio II.61-66

E Virgilio rispuose: "Voi credete
forse che siamo esperti d'esto loco;
ma noi siam peregrin come voi siete.

Dianzi venimmo, innanzi a voi un poco,
per altra via, che fu sì aspra e forte,
che lo salire omai ne parrà gioco."
And Virgil answered: "You may be convinced
that we are quite familiar with this shore;
but we are pilgrims here, just as you are;

we came but now, a little while before you,
though by another path, so difficult
and dense that this ascent seems sport to us."

Purgatorio VIII.4-6

e che lo novo peregrin d'amore
punge, se ode squilla di lontano
che paia il giorno pianger che si more;
the hour that pierces the new traveler
with love when he has heard, far off, the bell
that seems to mourn the dying of the day;

Purgatorio IX.16-18

e che la mente nostra, peregrina
più da la carne e men da' pensier presa,
a le sue vision quasi è divina,
when, free to wander farther from the flesh
and less held fast by cares, our intellect's
envisionings become almost divine—

Purgatorio XIII.94-96

“O frate mio, ciascuna è cittadina
d'una vera città; ma tu vuo' dire
che vivesse in Italia peregrina”
“My brother, each of us is citizen
of one true city: what you meant to say
was 'one who lived in Italy as pilgrim.'”

Purgatorio XXIII.16-18

Sì come i peregrin pensosi fanno,
giugnendo per cammin gente non nota,
che si volgono ad essa e non restanno,
Even as pensive pilgrims do, who when
they've overtaken folk unknown to them
along the way, will turn but will not stop,

Purgatorio XXVII.109-111

E già per li splendori antelucani,
che tanto a' pellegrin surgon più grati,
quanto, tornando, albergan men lontani,
And now, with the reflected lights that glow
before the dawn and, rising, are most welcome
to pilgrims as, returning, they near home,

Paradiso I.49-51

E sì come secondo raggio suole
uscir del primo e risalire in suso,
pur come pelegrin che tornar vuole,
And as a second ray will issue from the
first and reascend, much like a pilgrim
who seeks his home again, so on her action,

Paradiso VI.43-48

Quattro figlie ebbe, e ciascuna reina,
Ramondo Beringhiere, e ciò li fece
Romeo, persona umìle e peregrina.
takes the wrong path. Of Raymond Berenger's
four daughters, each became a queen—and this,
humble pilgrim, Romeo accomplished.

Paradiso XXXI.43-48

E quasi peregrin che si ricrea
nel tempio del suo voto riguardando,
e spera già ridir com'ello stea,

su per la viva luce passeggiando,
menava io li occhi per li gradi,
mo sù, mo giù e mo recirculando.
And as a pilgrim, in the temple he
had vowed to reach, renews himself-he looks
and hopes he can describe what it was like—

so did I journey through the living light,
guiding my eyes, from rank to rank, along
a path now up, now down, now circling round.

Paradiso XXXI.100-105

E la regina del cielo, ond'io ardo
tutto d'amor, ne farà ogne grazia,
però ch'i' sono il suo fedel Bernardo".

Qual è colui che forse di Croazia
viene a veder la Veronica nostra,
che per l'antica fame non sen sazia,
The Queen of Heaven, for whom I am all
aflame with love, will grant us every grace:
I am her faithful Bernard." Just as one

who, from Croatia perhaps, has come
to visit our Veronica— one whose
old hunger is not sated, who, as long

Purgatorio II.61-66
E Virgilio rispuose: "Voi credete forse che siamo esperti d'esto loco; ma noi siam peregrin come voi siete. Dianzi venimmo, innanzi a voi un poco, per altra via, che fu sì aspra e forte, che lo salire omai ne parrà gioco."	And Virgil answered: "You may be convinced that we are quite familiar with this shore; but we are pilgrims here, just as you are; we came but now, a little while before you, though by another path, so difficult and dense that this ascent seems sport to us."
Purgatorio VIII.4-6
e che lo novo peregrin d'amore punge, se ode squilla di lontano che paia il giorno pianger che si more;	the hour that pierces the new traveler with love when he has heard, far off, the bell that seems to mourn the dying of the day;
Purgatorio IX.16-18
e che la mente nostra, peregrina più da la carne e men da' pensier presa, a le sue vision quasi è divina,	when, free to wander farther from the flesh and less held fast by cares, our intellect's envisionings become almost divine—
Purgatorio XIII.94-96
“O frate mio, ciascuna è cittadina d'una vera città; ma tu vuo' dire che vivesse in Italia peregrina”	“My brother, each of us is citizen of one true city: what you meant to say was 'one who lived in Italy as pilgrim.'”
Purgatorio XXIII.16-18
Sì come i peregrin pensosi fanno, giugnendo per cammin gente non nota, che si volgono ad essa e non restanno,	Even as pensive pilgrims do, who when they've overtaken folk unknown to them along the way, will turn but will not stop,
Purgatorio XXVII.109-111
E già per li splendori antelucani, che tanto a' pellegrin surgon più grati, quanto, tornando, albergan men lontani,	And now, with the reflected lights that glow before the dawn and, rising, are most welcome to pilgrims as, returning, they near home,
Paradiso I.49-51
E sì come secondo raggio suole uscir del primo e risalire in suso, pur come pelegrin che tornar vuole,	And as a second ray will issue from the first and reascend, much like a pilgrim who seeks his home again, so on her action,
Paradiso VI.43-48
Quattro figlie ebbe, e ciascuna reina, Ramondo Beringhiere, e ciò li fece Romeo, persona umìle e peregrina.	takes the wrong path. Of Raymond Berenger's four daughters, each became a queen—and this, humble pilgrim, Romeo accomplished.
Paradiso XXXI.43-48
E quasi peregrin che si ricrea nel tempio del suo voto riguardando, e spera già ridir com'ello stea, su per la viva luce passeggiando, menava io li occhi per li gradi, mo sù, mo giù e mo recirculando.	And as a pilgrim, in the temple he had vowed to reach, renews himself-he looks and hopes he can describe what it was like— so did I journey through the living light, guiding my eyes, from rank to rank, along a path now up, now down, now circling round.
Paradiso XXXI.100-105
E la regina del cielo, ond'io ardo tutto d'amor, ne farà ogne grazia, però ch'i' sono il suo fedel Bernardo". Qual è colui che forse di Croazia viene a veder la Veronica nostra, che per l'antica fame non sen sazia,	The Queen of Heaven, for whom I am all aflame with love, will grant us every grace: I am her faithful Bernard." Just as one who, from Croatia perhaps, has come to visit our Veronica— one whose old hunger is not sated, who, as long