Gabriel

The annunciation and the angel Gabriel are favorite themes with Dante, and he pictures them with exquisite beauty. Thus both appear on the sculptured wall which flanks the inner side of the purgatorial ascent.

"The angel who came down to earth with tidings

Of peace that had been wept for many a year,

And opened heaven from its long interdict,

In front of us appeared so truthfully

There sculptured in a gracious attitude,

He did not seem an image that is silent.

One would have sworn that he was saying Ave!

For she was there in effigy portrayed

Who turned the key to ope the exalted love,

And in her mien this language had impressed,

Ecce ancilla Dei! as distinctly

As any figure stamps itself in wax."

continued...

Luke 1:26 Parallel Commentaries

the sixth.

Luke 1:24 And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying,

the angel.

Luke 1:19 And the angel answering said to him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak to you...

a city.

Luke 2:4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem...

Matthew 2:23 And he came and dwelled in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets...

John 1:45,46 Philip finds Nathanael, and said to him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth...

John 7:41 Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?