In Paradiso 14-18, in the realm of Mars, Dante sees a great cross. As that object assumes full clarity, he sees Christ upon it (14.103-108). The vision then transforms into bright gems who are the souls appearing and singing in that sphere (14.109-129). This particular concept of a cross formed by elect souls is generally considered the poet's invention.[1] Jeffrey T. Schnapp has plausibly demonstrated that this invention may have been guided by the visual program of the mosaics in Ravenna's Sant' Apollinare in Classe. This thesis does not, though, preclude the role of additional sources, and Schnapp himself also rightly considers liturgical and literary traditions involving the exaltation of the cross, and the concept of martyrs as gemstones.[2] Given Dante's wide-ranging study, the source-field for the Mars cross therefore remains a mosaic of possibilities, and some pieces may still be missing. One such potential piece is a very close literary precedent involving two related texts. In his Office of St. Victor (mid-12 th -century), Bernard of Clairvaux refers to a gem-studded cross appearing in the heavens; the jewels are said to be souls who had suffered like Christ.[3] This passage was based on similar imagery contained in an older and anonymous Vita of St. Victor, who was a contemplative hermit in 6 th -7 th -century Gaul.[4] One segment from the Vita and two from the Office resonate closely in some ways with the descriptions of the Mars cross in Par. 14.109-129. As far as I know, neither text has previously been considered as a possible source for Paradiso 14.

Bernard composed the Office in response to a request from Abbot Guy of Montiéramey, a Benedictine monastery where St. Victor's remains were kept. The situation is documented in a letter Bernard wrote to Guy when he had completed the task.[5] Abbot Guy had sent him a copy of the Vita , which Bernard subsequently used as a basis for two sermons as well as the liturgical composition.[6] The date of the Office has not been fixed; since Guy became Abbot in 1137, it must then have been written after that date, and before Bernard's death in 1153.

Bernard's composition incorporates several elements from the Vita . Victor, renowned as an ascetic hermit, was visited by the (unidentified) King of the Franks. Having no suitable luxuries with which to entertain such a guest, Victor changed some spring water into wine. On another occasion, a thief stole wheat from the saint, and that robber subsequently became ill. Victor was graced with heavenly visions, and often heard the angels' melodious songs. The relevant passage from the Vita describing a cross formed by the souls of martyrs reads as follows: "vidit caelum apertum, et Crucem Domini aureo coruscantem fulgore, et ex utraque parte lapidibus pretiosis ornatam: et audivit vocem sibi dicentem: Haec quae cernis, animae sunt Sanctorum, qui pro Christo Domino stolas suas in sanguine agni laverunt" ( Acta Sanctorum , Feb. III, p. 666, Col 0666E) ["he saw Heaven open and the cross of the Lord gleaming from a golden flash of lightning, and adorned on both beams with precious stones; and he heard a voice saying to him: 'These (gems) you see are the souls of the Saints, who, for Christ the Lord, washed their garments in the blood of the lamb' "] (all the translations in this essay are my own).

In the Office of St. Victor , Bernard places the various facets from the Vita within the thematic framework of the aptly named Victor's life as a victorious battle against demonic temptation and sin. The phrases draw upon military terminology, referring to virtues and strenuous ascetic discipline as weapons against evil. This recourse to military metaphors for the monastic life was typical in Bernard's writings. Moreover, Bernard conceptualizes the saint's life as a form of martyrdom, based on a traditional interpretation of asceticism. In his second sermon based on the Vita , he explicitly justifies placing Victor among "the victorious choirs of martyrs" ("victoriosis Martyrum choris") since he was one "qui duro et diuturno martyrio viventem sui corporis hostiam immolavit" (SBO VI, 1, p. 34:15-16) (who, by a harsh and continual martyrdom, made a living sacrifice of his body).

With regard to Paradiso 14, there are two especially relevant passages in the Office . The first one (the 12 th responsory) recounts the vision Victor saw, and is clearly based on the above cited excerpt from the Vita . It reads as follows: "Suspiciens Victor, vidit caelos apertos et crucem auream gemmis ornatam, et vox ad eum: Gemmae animae sunt, crucis gloriam assecutae, cuius ignominiam portaverunt" (SBO III, 505:28-29; 506:1) ("Victor looked up and saw the heavens opened and a golden cross adorned with jewels; and a voice said to him: 'The jewels are souls who share the glory of the cross because they bore its ignominy' "). In a later passage (the 4 th antiphon), which has no comparable parallel in the Vita , the singers address Victor, whose soul has been placed on that cross: "Vere anima tua, Victor, una ex gemmis quae tibi in cruce apparuerunt, vere infixa cruci, cum divinae inserta gloriae..." (SBO III, 506:12-13) ("Truly Victor, your soul is now one of the jewels which appeared to you on the cross; truly it was affixed to that cross, secured to its divine glory..."). The exact same passage (but not the first one) also appears in the second sermon (SBO VI, 1, 36:4-6).

In Par. 14.109-129, Dante's description contains several facets that closely relate to the Vita and the Bernardine passages, and the latters' presence in a liturgical piece. The bright, gem-like moving lights he sees on the cross are the martyr-souls appearing to him in Mars. Music is a prominent aspect as well, and the entrancing song he hears from those elect souls is a triumphal one, proclaiming " 'Resurgi' e 'Vinci' " (14.125). Victor's name hovers in the background of the chorus celebrating victorious achievement of salvation, based on having suffered in some heroic way comparable to Christ's sacrifice of his life. The rigorously ascetic life Victor led had long been established as a form of martyrdom. Bernard's use of military terminology for such discipline is also pertinent here. The principle of some form of valorous endurance motivated by faith is indeed specified by the poet himself when he first sees Christ on that cross – "ma chi prende sua croce e segue Cristo" (14.106); and his ancestor Cacciaguida later refers to his own martyrdom in the crusades as the way he earned his own place in Mars (15.145-148). In addition, Dante's preliminary depiction of the cross (14.94-102) suggests a sort of lightning effect from the two beams of radiant light ("ché con tanto lucore e tanto robbi / m'apparvero splendor dentro i due raggi" – 14.94-95); and soon after he refers to Christ flaming/flashing forth upon it ("ché quella croce lampeggiava Cristo" – 14.104). These lines do resonate somewhat with the Vita passage which explicitly describes a flash of lightning ("et Crucem Domini aureo coruscantem fulgore"). However, unlike either the Vita or Bernard's Office , the Paradiso segment features the actual appearance of Christ on the cross in Mars. My own research indicates that, until Dante's era, such direct evocation of the crucifixion was rare among major literary descriptions of the Savior seen in a heavenly region. In this regard, the poet was working independently from possible ancestral written sources.[7]

Neither Bernard's Office nor the Vita had wide circulation, based on the rarity of surviving manuscripts. Given Bernard's immense prestige in later centuries, though, even a minor work like the Office may have been known; St. Victor's life, celebrated by Bernard himself, may also have found its way into 14 th -century sermons. If Dante did know of either or both of these sources, then his inventiveness when composing the Mars segment was of a different order than basic origination. As elsewhere in the Paradiso , he took a germinal concept and revitalized it as a dramatic visionary experience, conveyed through the sublime music of his poetry.

[2] Jeffrey T. Schnapp, The Transfiguration of History at the Center of Dante's Paradise (Princeton, 1986). On the possible influence of the Ravenna mosaics, see especially the fifth chapter, pp. 170-238. On the matter of the relevant literary and liturgical tradition, see especially pp. 84-86; 194-200.

[3] The Latin text of the Officium de Sancto Victore is reproduced in the Sancti Bernardi Opera (SBO), Volume III, J. Leclercq and H. M. Rochais, eds. (Rome, 1963), pp. 501-508; for a discussion of dating and manuscript issues, see the introductory essay by J. Leclercq, pp. 497-499. Additional historical background was obtained from a more extensive article by Leclercq, "Saint Bernard Écrivain d'après l'Office de Saint Victor" in Revue Bénédictine , 74 (1964), pp. 155-169.

[4] Vita S. Victoris, in Acta Sanctorum , Feb. III, (1863 edition), pp. 665-667. This Vita may date fairly close to the era of Victor's life; the heading in the ms. reads "auctore anonymo, sed antiquo" (p. 665); and Bernard refers to this work's antiquity in a letter – see Note #4.

[5] This letter is in the PL , 182:609-612.

[6] These two sermons, In natali Sancti Victoris , are in SBO Volume VI, 1, Leclercq/Rochais, eds. (Rome, 1970), pp. 29-37.

[7] Schnapp's contention (see Note # 2) about the cross depicted above the altar in Sant' Apollinare, which bears Christ's visage, is naturally relevant here. However, in my view, the Christ image on that Ravenna cross is not necessarily exactly what Dante had in mind for Paradiso 14. I have explored that issue in a dissertation I am now completing.