Dante Alighieri Bows Before Archangel St. Michael Who Is Sent As Help To Restore The Divinely Ordained Authority Of The Holy Roman Emperor!

And behold Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me..But I will tell thee what is set down in the scripture of truth: and none is my helper in all these things, but Michael your prince. Daniel 10:13,21 

But at that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people: and a time shall come such as never was from the time that nations began even until that time…. And there was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels:… And at that time shall thy people be saved, every one that shall be found written in the book. Daniel 12:1 Apoc 12:7

That this agent of good is 'sent from heaven' indicates clearly enough that he is an angel, although debate over his identity still continues. See Silvio Pasquazi, 'Messo celeste' (ED.1971.3), pp. 919-921, making a strong case for his angelic status and giving a summary of the debate. Pasquazi also argues for one traditional further identification, making the messo specifically the archangel Michael, who led the forces of the good angels against the rebellious ones in the war in heaven (Apoc. 12:7-9) -- see C.Inf.VII.10-12 -- exactly the forces he now must combat once more in the netherworld. (Pasquazi's final argument, that Michael dwells in Limbo, is probably simply unacceptable.) Over the centuries there has been a continuing argument between those who believe that the messo is Mercury and those who believe that he is an angel, and, in some cases, specifically Michael. It seems highly likely that Dante here gives us an archangel Michael 'dressed up' as Mercury, a fused identity that is not problematic in any way, given Dante's practice of combining pagan and Christian materials. For a recent discussion that again confirms the most likely hypothesis, that this creature is indeed an angel from heaven, see Seriacopi (Seri.1999.1). For a return to the central hypothesis of Pasquazi (Michael as Mercury), see Barsella (Bars.2003.1). Dante Princeton Project


61 O you who have sound intellects,
62 consider the teaching that is hidden
63 behind the veil of these strange verses.
64 And now there came, over the turbid waves,
65 a dreadful, crashing sound
66 that set both shores to trembling.
67 It sounded like a mighty wind,
68 made violent by waves of heat,
69 that strikes the forest and with unchecked force
70 shatters the branches, hurls them away, and,
71 magnificent in its roiling cloud of dust, drives on,
72 putting beast and shepherd to flight.
73 He freed my eyes and said: 'Now look
74 across the scum of that primeval swamp
75 to where the vapor is most dense and harsh.'
76 As frogs, before their enemy the snake,
77 all scatter through the water
78 till each sits huddled on the bank,
79 I saw more than a thousand lost souls flee
80 before one who so lightly passed across the Styx
81 he did not touch the water with his feet.
82 He cleared the thick air from his face,
83 his left hand moving it away,
84 as if that murky air alone had wearied him.
85 It was clear that he was sent from Heaven,
86 and I turned to the master, who signaled me
87 to keep silent and bow down before him.
88 Ah, how full of high disdain he seemed to me!
89 He came up to the gate and with a wand
90 he opened it, and there was no resistance.
91 'O outcasts of Heaven, race despised,'
92 he began on the terrible threshold, 'whence
93 comes this insolence you harbor in your souls?
94 'Why do you kick against that will
95 which never can be severed from its purpose,
96 and has so many times increased your pain?
97 'What profits it to fight against the fates?
98 Remember your own Cerberus still bears
99 the wounds of that around his chin and neck.'
100 Then he turned back along the wretched way
101 without a word for us, and he seemed pressed,
102 spurred on by greater cares
103 than those of the man who stands before him.
104 We turned our steps toward the city,
105 emboldened by his holy words.
106 We entered without further struggle.
Inferno Canto IX