Daniel — Chapter 6

The presidents and satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel: Lapide reads the persecution of Daniel by his political rivals as a type of the Church's persecution by civil authorities and heretics. The inability to find fault in Daniel images the Church's spiritual integrity — her enemies must fabricate charges, as they did against Christ (Mt. 26:59).

Daniel prays three times daily toward Jerusalem with his windows open: Lapide reads the three daily prayers as a type of the canonical hours (Lauds, Sext/None, Vespers), arguing for the antiquity of liturgical prayer. The open windows toward Jerusalem are a type of the Church's eastward-facing prayer toward the Risen Christ.

He cried out in anguished voice: O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God been able to deliver you from the lions? Lapide reads Darius's anxious question as an image of the tension between worldly power and faith — the king who signed the unjust decree is shown to be less powerful than the God he ignorantly persecutes. He connects to Pilate's anxious conversation with Christ (Jn. 19:9-10).

The angel shut the lions' mouths: Lapide reads the miraculous preservation as a type of Christ's harrowing of hell — the lion is the devil (1 Pet. 5:8), whose mouth is shut by the angel of the Lord (Christ). He cites Augustine's Enchiridion and Gregory's Moralia on the typology.

Then Darius wrote to all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: Lapide reads Darius's edict commanding reverence for Daniel's God as a type of the edicts of Christian emperors enforcing Catholic faith — Constantine's Edict of Milan, Theodosius's anti-heresy legislation. He connects this to the Catholic theology of Christendom.