From Passio to Compassio: Marian Beatrice and Dante in the Vita Nuova

In this essay on the Vita Nuova, I will first analyze both the resemblance of the person of Beatrice to that of Mary and the likeness between two actions of Beatrice and Mary. Second, I will observe the resemblance and likeness of the person and action of Dante-actor and Mary. After recognizing Dante-actor reenacting in part Mary at the Incarnation and the Passion, I will thirdly point out the resemblance and likeness between Dante-author and Marian commentators of the Song of the Songs such as Honorius Augustodunensis (1080-1154), who comments on the Gospels, Epistles, and verses of the Song selected for the Feast of the Assumption, and Rupert of Deutz (c. 1075-1129), who was inspired by dream visions and produced the first commentary that interprets the entire mystical and prophetic Song of Solomon in relation to the historia Mary should have fulfilled.1