Caput LXVIII. Mors justo felicitatis principium est.
Death as the Door to Blessedness
Death is presented as the blessed end of earthly toils, supported by the scriptural promise that those who die in the Lord rest from their labors.
And see how death is the beginning of blessedness, the goal of toils, the destruction of vices.1 For so it is written: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.✦2 From now on, the Spirit says, that they may rest from their labors (Apoc.✦3 XIV, 13).
The Contrast Between the Elect and the Reprobate
Drawing on Isaiah, the passage contrasts the honorable rest of kings with the disgraced fate of the wicked, underscoring the difference between the death of the elect and that of the reprobate.
Hence the prophet, distinguishing the death of the reprobate from that of the elect, says: All kings will sleep in glory, each in his own house; but you are cast out from your tomb like a useless branch, defiled and wrapped up (Isai.✦45 XIV, 18, 19).
Read the original Latin
Et vide quomodo mors beatitudinis principium est, laborum meta, peremptoria vitiorum. Sic enim scriptum est: Beati mortui, qui in Domino moriuntur. Amodo enim jam dicit Spiritus, ut requiescant a laboribus suis (Apoc. XIV, 13). Unde propheta reproborum ab electorum morte discernens, Omnes, inquit, reges dormient in gloria in domo sua: tu autem projectus es de sepulcro tuo, quasi stirps inutilis, pollutus et obvolutus (Isai. XIV, 18, 19).
Scripture echoes
- ↩Rev.14.13 — And I heard a voice from heaven saying, 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.' 'Yes,' says the Spirit, 'so that they may rest from their labors, for their works follow with them.'
- ↩Rev.14.13 — And I heard a voice from heaven saying, 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.' 'Yes,' says the Spirit, 'so that they may rest from their labors, for their works follow with them.'
- ↩Isa.14.18-Isa.14.19 — All the kings of the nations, all of them, lie in glory, each in his own house. Isa.14.19 — But you are cast out, away from your grave, like a rejected shoot, clothed with the slain, pierced by the sword, going down to the stones of the pit like a trampled corpse." The added comma after "cast out" improves oral pacing.
Notes
- 1 ↩peremptoria: agreement uncertain in the source; rendered as 'destruction' to convey the sense of vices being done away with.
- 2 ↩Quotation from Rev. 14:13 (Apoc. XIV, 13).
- 3 ↩Continuation of Rev. 14:13.
- 4 ↩stirps inutilis: 'branch' or 'stock/offspring' — rendered as 'branch' to preserve the image of something cut off and worthless.
- 5 ↩pollutus and obvolutus show gender discord with stirps if taken as predicate adjectives; the sense is clear despite the grammatical tension.
De institutione inclusarum (A Rule of Life for a Recluse) companion
A rule only lives if you keep it daily
Chosen Portion gives your new rule its anchor: one free devotional portion every day.
Aelred built his sister's day around fixed times of prayer and meditation; Chosen Portion supplies the fixed daily portion that makes a modern rule of life keepable.
- Anchor your rule with a fixed 10-minute daily portion
- Practice Aelred's threefold meditation with guided daily prompts
- Review and adjust your one-page rule after 30 days of tracked practice