And faintly trust the larger hope."

Not thus does Dante speak. As the voice of his age he begins with faith,
continues with faith and leads us to the unveiled vision of God. He
both shows us his unwavering adherence to Christian doctrine in that
scene in Paradiso where he is examined as to his faith by St. Peter and
he teaches us that the seen is only a stepping stone into the unseen. It
has been said of him in reference to his Divina Commedia, "The light of
faith guides the poet's steps through the hopeless chambers of Hell with
a firmness of conviction that knows no wavering. It bears him through
the sufferings of Purgatory, believing strongly fits reality: it raises
him on the wings of love and contemplation into Heaven's Empyrean, where
he really hopes to enjoy bliss far beyond that whereof he says."
(Brother Azarias.)

Leading the religious awakening of the thirteenth century and making
possible Dante's work at the end of the century were two of the world's
greatest exponents of the spiritual life, both signalized in the
Paradiso. St. Dominic characterized by Dante (Par. XII, 56) as "a
jealous lover of the Christian faith with mildness toward his disciples
but formidable to his foes," founded an order to be "the champions of
Faith and the true lights of the world." Even in its early days it gave
to the world eminent scholars such as Albertus Magnus and St. Thomas
Aquinas, and it has never ceased to number among its members great
thinkers, ardent apostles, stern ascetics and profound mystics. In
Dante's time it was the only order specially charged with the office of
preaching and from its founder's time down to the present day the one
who acts as the Pope's Theologian has been taken from the ranks of this
order. Besides preaching to all classes of Christian society and
evangelizing the heathen, the Dominicans in Dante's day fought against