Catholic News Service Features Three Articles by Professor Nancy Enright on Dante  

In January 2021, an editor of Catholic News Service (Anna Cappizzi, SHU alum of ICSST) reached out to Professor Nancy Enright, Director of the University Core and Professor of English, asking her to complete three articles on Dante, one on each section of his Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso).

The articles would be in honor of the 700th anniversary of Dante's death. The completed articles are now published on the Catholic News Services website, under Editor's Choice, and available to be picked up by their various clients. Catholic News Service is an international wire service and the news agency for the U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops. The articles on SNS are picked up by diocesan newspapers, websites and other Catholic publications.

Professor Enright has taught and written on Dante for many years and was "very happy to take on this project." In the past her articles on Dante have been geared toward a scholarly audience: "Dante and the Scandals of a Beloved Church" (Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, 2004) and "Dante and Augustine and the Redemption of Beauty" (Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, 2007). More recently, she presented a paper at the Catholic Studies Conference at Duquesne University (July 2021) on the topic of "Dante and America's Race Problem."

This year in honor of Dante's anniversary, the Core is co-sponsoring with the Catholic Studies Program and Center, a series of events in honor of Dante, the details of which have and will be published on the Core and Catholic Studies websites. Dante is one of several authors in "Core I: Journey of Transformation." His journey through the worlds of the afterlife reflect his inner journey from spiritual loss to salvation.

In his apostolic letter, "Candor Lucis Aeternae by the Holy Father, on the Seventh Centenary of the Death of Dante Alighieri," Pope Francis says,

Dante, pondering his life of exile, radical uncertainty, fragility, and constant moving from place to place, sublimated and transformed his personal experience, making it a paradigm of the human condition, viewed as a journey – spiritual and physical – that continues until it reaches its goal. Here two fundamental themes of Dante’s entire work come to the fore, namely, that every existential journey begins with an innate desire in the human heart and that this desire attains fulfilment in the happiness bestowed by the vision of the Love who is God. (section 2)

To access Dr. Enright's reflections on the three sections of Dante's great work, please click here!

Categories: Education, Faith and Service