Commentary Par XXIX 37-45

As Scripture (e.g., Genesis 1:1, Ecclesiasticus 18:1, Psalm 101:26 [102:25]) and reason (for Dante's own contribution under this heading, see [Par XXIX 43-45]) attest, God created the angels, not as St. Jerome asseverated (in his commentary on Paul's Epistle to Titus [1:2]), many, many centuries before He created the heavens and the earth, but simultaneously with them.  Dante's disagreement with Jerome is confrontational and dismissive, all the more so since it issues from the mouth of Beatrice, and we cannot lay the blame on a somewhat intemperate protagonist.  (For the text of Thomas's far more conciliatory packaging of his own dissent [ST I, q. 61, a. 3], see Singleton [DDP Singleton.Par.XXIX.37-39]).