Faces appear in the lunar sphere — so faint and pale that Dante first takes them for reflections, turning to look behind him for the objects they mirror. Beatrice smiles at his error: these are real souls, though their light is dim by Heaven's standards. The mistake is a gentle lesson: Dante must learn to read the new world he is in. What looks like reflection is substance; what looks like shadow is presence.
Piccarda Donati steps forward — the sister of Dante's close friend Forese, whom he met on the terrace of the gluttons in Purgatorio. She was a nun, devoted to Clare of Assisi's order, when her brother Corso Donati (the same corrupt politician Forese had condemned) had her forcibly removed from her convent and married off for political purposes. Her vow was broken against her will. She died soon after — some said of grief, others of illness. Here she is, in the lowest place of Heaven.
Dante asks: does she not desire a higher station? Her answer is one of the great speeches of the poem, and one of the most important theological statements in the whole Commedia. She smiles — a smile of charity — and says that if she desired to be elsewhere, her will would be out of harmony with the will of God, which is impossible for a soul in this state. The essence of beatitude is to dwell within God's will; to want a different place would be to introduce discord into the harmony of Heaven. Her happiness is complete where she is because her will is perfectly conformed to where God has placed her. "In His will is our peace" — E 'n la sua volontade è nostra pace — is perhaps the single most quoted line from the Paradiso, a compressed summary of the whole canticle's theology.
Piccarda also identifies the luminous form beside her: Constance of Sicily, the empress who was also said to have been drawn from a convent to a royal marriage. Two holy women taken from their vows by force — and both at peace.