After the Pilgrim enters through the main Gate of Purgatory and reaches the first terrace, we suddenly see the Archangel Gabriel appearing in marble engravings alongside the walking path. A part of this is that the Pilgrim’s soul has made an indirect connection with God, through His mediating structures and chief messenger.
In the very first scene of Purgatory Proper, even before we have met the blessed Virgin Mary, we encounter the Archangel Gabriel (literally “source messenger” in Greek) in the carvings on the marble mountainside:
The Angel that came to Earth with the decree
of the long yearned for peace
that opened the Heavens from its long closurein front of us seemed so authentic
there encarved in an act so gentle
that it did not seem the image was silent
The symbolism here is hard to overstate: Dante is evoking the messenger of God as the main contact point to the Heavens, the mediator between God and our Soul. And this image appears as the first experience after the brief disorientation after the Pilgrim crossed the main Gate to Purgatory.
Meaning: We are on a big journey through 100 cantos from separation to unity, from misery to happiness – but this is the point where the inner connection to the infinite spiritual realm is being ignited. The Annunciation of Gabriel of the birth of Christ, seen as the birth of the spiritual life and eventually the unity of the material and spiritual life, is in many ways sparked at right this moment.
We have been through the Inferno and the preparations of Ante-Purgatory, but here in canto 44 of the whole Divine Comedy a major threshold is being passed. The Pilgrim’s inner life and spirit is making contact with God, through His messenger the Archangel Gabriel.