Categories: Dante

A Monk Gone Bad


Another sinner in a flame approaches Dante and Virgil. This sinner is Guido Da Montefeltro. Guido was a captain in a rival army to Dante’s party, who later became a monk. As a monk, Guido conspired with Pope Boniface VIII in fraudulent Italian politics. Dante compares the voice of Guido coming out of the flames to that of the cries coming out of an Italian instrument of torture where the victim was roasted alive inside a bronze bull.

When Pope Boniface plotted with Guido, the Pope agreed to absolve him of the sins he was about to commit. Since absolution cannot be done ahead of time, and the sinner must be repentant (which Guido was not), Guido was condemned to Hell. Guido tells Dante that he was originally destined to Heaven when he died since he was a Franciscan Friar, but Satan snatched him away from Saint Francis at the last minute for his lack of repentance.

Dante and Virgil leave the valley for the next group of sinners, a site of horror.

 

Next- Carnage in Hell

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Dave

Creator of Dante Explorer

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