Una nota sulle emozioni nei Dialoghi di Gregorio Magno

Gregory the Great's ambivalent attitude towards the emotions, oscillating between a purely spiritual dimension and the concrete pastoral action of the clergy, finds eloquent testimony in the Dialogues. The present work aims to focus on the significant role of the emotions in this work, in which the pope tells stories of saints to illustrate to his flock of faithful the highest form of Christian life. This research, in particular, examines the extent to which in the Dialogues the saints are portrayed as personally experiencing emotions, including joy in particular. Three figures of saints are analysed, Constantius, Severus and Isaac.

Their miracles were intended by Gregory to make understandable theological concepts otherwise completely inaccessible to simple people. As it is made clear, emotions play a not at all secondary role in the events concerning the three uiri Dei, from whose conduct of life as well as from whose miracula an example of great virtues can be drawn. Then, the emotions aroused by the exempla set by the saints represent an effective means to reach the soul and heart of God's people. The Church, as Gregory states, is shaken by a fierce battle between good and evil, the heavenly and the worldly, a battle in which the work of the saints is crucial in order to rightly direct the emotions of the faithful towards God. [Publisher's text]