VISIO DECIMA, cap. XII
The Lord's Hidden Judgments and the Unfinished Number of Martyrs
The Lord declares that though He may overlook sins for repentance, He does not forget the times of evil but will correct them, and reveals that the golden number of martyrs from the early Church is not yet complete, for more will suffer in the last days.
And those days that fall short of what righteousness requires — the one who stands as a strong champion against the devil's battle-lines and against all wickedness sees them in the unfailing light of his own glory, and does not hand them over to forgetfulness, even though he may overlook people's sins so that they repent. He says: 'This time that turns away from good and falls into evil, I know in my hidden judgments; because the iniquities of people that run their course through the shifting seasons as time succeeds time — these I do not pass over fleetingly, but I will examine them with the scourges of righteous correction.'12 But the golden number — namely those martyrs who, gleaming like gold in the glow of their own blood, were slain in the early Church for the sake of true faith — is not yet complete, because other martyrs await it, who in the last time, on account of error's ruin and for the disgrace inflicted on my name, will hand their bodies over to the suffering of martyrdom, as my beloved John testifies, saying:34
John's Apocalypse as Fitting Testimony
The vision points to the Apocalypse of John as a fitting testimony on these matters and indicates how it is to be understood.
A fitting testimony from the Apocalypse of John the Apostle on these matters, and in what sense it is to be understood.
Read the original Latin
Et istos incongruentes dies detrimenti totius aequitatis vir ille qui contra diabolicas acies, et contra omnem nequitiam fortis praeliator existit, in indeficienti lumine claritatis suae videt, nec oblivioni tradit, quamvis dissimulet peccata hominum, quatenus poenitentiam agant, et dicit: « Hoc tempus quod a bono declinat, et in malum cadit, in occultis judiciis meis scio; quoniam iniquitates hominum quae per diversa curricula succedentium sibi temporum discurrunt, ita transitorie non negligo, quin illas flagellis justae correctionis examinem. Sed aureus numerus, scilicet martyres illi, qui in rubore sanguinis sui velut aurum fulgentes, in primitiva Ecclesia propter veram fidem occisi sunt, nondum est plenus, quia martyres illos exspectant, qui in novissimo tempore perditi erroris ob confusionem nominis mei corpora sua ad passionem martyrii tradent, quemadmodum Joannes dilectus meus testatur dicens:
Testimonium de Apocalypsi Joannis apostoli ad ista competens, et quo sensu accipienda sint.
Notes
- 1 ↩The speaker here is Christ in vision. 'Quamvis dissimulet peccata hominum, quatenus poenitentiam agant' is concessive: God may appear to overlook sins, but the purpose is that people repent, not that sin goes unaddressed. The closing clause confirms that God will examine iniquities with righteous correction.
- 2 ↩'Quatenus' here is purposive ('so that they repent') rather than merely extent ('to the extent that'). The gloss flags ambiguity, but the devotional logic of the passage favors purpose: God's apparent forbearance aims at repentance, not mere tolerance.
- 3 ↩'Aureus numerus' (golden number) is a symbolic collective: the full company of martyrs, figured as a number that is not yet filled up. 'Ob confusionem nominis mei' — 'for the confusion/disgrace of my name' — likely means the shame and reproach brought upon Christ's name by the persecutors, under which the martyrs suffer.
- 4 ↩The citation attributed to 'my beloved John' is not yet resolved to a specific canonical text. It may echo Revelation or Johannine tradition; final resolution belongs to a later stage.
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