It will be observed that Dante makes Beatrice appear clothed in the colors of the three Theological Virtues described in Canto XXIX 121. The white veil is the symbol of Faith; the green mantle, of Hope; the red tunic, of Charity. The crown of olive denotes wisdom. This attire somewhat resembles that given by artists to the Virgin. “The proper dress of the Virgin,” says Mrs. Jameson, Legends of the Madonna , Introd. , LIII , “is a close, red tunic, with long sleeves, and over this a blue robe or mantle.⁠ ⁠… Her head ought to be veiled.” ↩

Beatrice had been dead ten years at the date of the poem, 1300. ↩