Readers of Paradiso
Canto 1: Dante transhumanised as he rises towards
the heavens with Beatrice
Patrizio Salvadori
Reading in Italian
Canto 2: Moon (First Heaven), scientific explanation
of its visible markings
Victor Dixon
Canto 3: Encounter with Piccarda, forced to leave her
convent; heaven is totality of joy
Phyllis Gaffney
Canto 4 & Canto 5: Answers to Dante’s doubts on
beatitude, heavenly justice, unfulfilled vows
Canto 6: Heaven of Mercury: Emperor Justinian
condemns political factions; Romeo the exile
Canto 7: Beatrice on Incarnation, Crucifixion,
Redemption, Resurrection of the body
Canto 8: Heaven of Venus: lovers, Charles Martel and
diversity of natural attributes
Canto 9: Cunizza, serial wife & mistress,
Folquet of Marseille, troubadour poet and bishop,
Rahab the harlot
Canto 10: Heaven of the Sun: philosophers opposed on
earth are now united in harmony
Canto 11: Thomas Aquinas praises Francis and his
love of poverty, condemns corrupt Dominicans
Canto 12: Bonaventure praises Dominic and his
preachers, condemns corrupt Franciscans
Spanish
Italian
Anna Chahoud &
Eric Haywood
Italian
Paolo Acquaviva
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16:00
Italian
Eric Finch &
Rev. Julian Hamilton
English
Ester Tossi
Italian
Ruth Whelan
French
Kenneth Clarke
Italian
Terence Crotty, O.P.
Italian
Hugh McKenna, O.F.M
Italian
Canto 13: Wisdom of Solomon, warning against hasty
judgements, intellectual or moral
Caitríona Leahy
Canto 14: Solomon on the risen body; Christ’s vision;
ascent to the Heaven of Mars, defenders of the faith
Daragh O’Connell
Canto 15: Dante welcomed by his 12th-century
ancestor, Cacciaguida, who praises a Florence that
never was
Catherine O’Brien
Canto 16: Cacciaguida contrasts his old Florence with
the commerce-driven depraved city of Dante’s time
14:30
German
Italian
Italian
Senator
Marie-Louise O’Donnell
English
16:00
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18:00
Canto 17: Cacciaguida foretells Dante’s bitter exile:
he must not flinch from telling the truth seen on his
journey
Canto 18: Ascent to Jupiter (6th Heaven); souls who
championed Justice form an Imperial eagle
Canto 19 & Canto 20: Souls reply in unison to Dante
on God’s inscrutable justice; some virtuous pagans are
in fact saved
Canto 21: Saturn (7th Heaven): the golden ladder;
contemplative souls; Peter Damian on predestination
and corrupt monks
Canto 22: Benedict on the decline of his order; the 8th
Heaven (Fixed Stars); our tiny world
Canto 23: Dante sees Christ, and Mary who, in
answer to his prayers, had sent Beatrice to save him in
the dark wood
Liam Ó Broin
English
Věra Čapková
Czech
Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin &
Macdara Woods
Italian
Julia Tomkin
Hungarian
Renata Sperandio
Director IIC
Italian
Canto 25: Dante hopes his poem, written by heaven
and earth, may enable his return to Florence.
Examined by James on hope
Edward McParland
English
Pro-Chancellor (TCD)
English
Archbishop Charles J.Brown
Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland
Italian
Cormac Ó Cuilleanáin
Italian
Canto 28: Primum Mobile (9th Heaven), closest to
God; Dante’s vision of angelic hierarchies
Sarah Smyth
Canto 29: Creation of the universe, fall of Lucifer,
attack on preachers who discard Scripture
Mary Keating
Canto 30: Empyrean (10th Heaven), where all saved
souls are gathered; Beatrice’s final speech, against
greed
Canto 31: The saved in the form of a pure white rose;
Bernard replaces Beatrice as guide, Dante’s farewell to
her
Canto 32: Bernard shows Mary at the top of the rose;
through her the final vision will be reached
Canto 33: Bernard intercedes on behalf of Dante,
whose vision of God overwhelms him completely
18:00]
Robert Wilson
Joseph O’Gorman
Canto 27: Peter condemns corrupt popes, betrayers of
the early martyrs; Dante’s gaze on Beatrice raises him
up
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Italian
Canto 24: Examined by Peter on the virtue of faith,
Dante asserts his belief in God’s word transmitted in
writing
Canto 26: Dante examined by John the Evangelist on
the virtue of love; Adam on the Garden of Eden
[16:00
Russian
Italian
Amanda Piesse
English
Gunilla Westerlund
Finnish
Giovanni Adorni Braccesi
Ambassador of Italy to
Ireland
Italian
Corinna Salvadori Lonergan
Italian
18:00
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20:00