Dante was the first major writer in Christendom to pen lofty literature in everyday language rather than in formal Latin. Coming ‘Round the Mountain Behind Dante sits multi-tiered Mount Purgatory. An angel guards the gate, which stands atop three steps: white marble for confession, cracked black stone for contrition, and red porphyry for Christ’s blood sacrifice. With his sword, the angel marks each penitent’s forehead with seven p’s (from Latin peccatum, “sin”) for the Seven Deadly Sins. When these