Mortals, remain contented at the Quia; Canto 3

Canto 3 is one of the canti that has a division into two parts. The first part is devoted to Virgil and the virtuous pagans and the second half is about Dante's meeting with Manfred.

                                     Band of souls around the wall of rock by Doré, Gustave
                               https://www.taringa.net/+imagenes/imagenes-de-la-divina-comedia-el-purgatorio_12oaqt

Virgil  makes a dialectical meditation on the fruitlessness of classical culture and shows the pathetic fate of  Aristotle and Plato and many others.. Virgil is thus reminding Dante that human knowledge is finite. They should just be content with the "quia", the 'what, of things and should not aspire to know the 'why' s.

Insane is he who hopeth that our reason 

                            Can traverse the illimitable way,   

Which the one Substance in three Persons follows!

Mortals, remain contented at the Quia;

For if ye had been able to see all,

No need there were for Mary to give birth;

After this Dante meets Manfred, the once chivalrous warrior son of King Frederic II. The wounded beauty of Manfred and the lack of shadows of the souls fill Dante with many insightful thoughts.
Manfred requests Dante that when returns to earth to tell his daughter about his condition so she can pray for him. manfred then explains to Dante how he made last-minute repentance and asked pardon from God, Who in His unfathomable Mercy did pardon him and allowed him to enter purgatory.
Although Pope Clement had excommunicated him and even removed his body from his territory. Then he makes his plea

See now if thou hast power to make me happy,

By making known unto my good Costanza

How thou hast seen me, and this ban beside,

For those on earth can much advance us here."

Prayer Point

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen.