SR
← Meditationes Vitae Christi (Pseudo-Bonaventure), Castilian court context/Book 1 · Meditationes Vitae Christi
Chapter 89MedVC.1.89

Quod Dominus apparuit Joseph, Jacobo minori, et Petro

The Lord Appears to Joseph and James

After his resurrection, the Lord appears to Joseph, freeing him miraculously from his sealed prison, and then to James the younger, who had vowed not to eat until he saw the risen Lord, sharing bread with him in blessing.

After the Lord Jesus had departed from them, he appeared to Joseph, who had buried him. For Joseph had been seized and locked up by the Jews for that reason, in a certain chamber carefully sealed, and after the sabbath they intended to kill him.1 The Lord Jesus therefore appeared to him, and wiped his face; and he gave him a kiss, and from there, with the seals unbroken, carried him back to his own house.2 The Lord Jesus also appeared to James the younger, who had vowed not to eat unless he should see the Lord risen.3 He said therefore to him and to those who were with him: Set a table. Then taking bread, he blessed it and gave it to him, saying: Eat, beloved brother of mine, because the Son of Man has risen from the dead.✦ These things are indeed reported by Jerome.

Peter's Grief and the Risen Lord's Mercy

Peter, consumed by grief and restless love for his Lord, goes alone to the tomb; the risen Christ appears to him, receives his confession of denial, grants him peace and forgiveness, and sends him to strengthen the brethren.

When however Magdalene and her companions return home and report to the disciples that the Lord had risen, Peter, grieving that he had not seen his Lord, and unable to rest on account of the vehemence of his love, departed from them and went alone toward the tomb: for he did not know where else he might seek him.4 As the Lord Jesus was making his way, he appeared to Peter, saying: "Peace, [unclear], Simon."✦ Then Peter, striking his breast and falling to the ground with tears, said: "Lord, I confess my fault, because I abandoned you and denied you three times."✦ And he kissed his feet. The Lord, however, raised him up and kissed him, saying: "Peace be with you. Do not be afraid. All your sins are forgiven you. I knew it well, and I told you beforehand."✦✦ "Now then, go and strengthen your brothers, and trust that I have conquered death and all your enemies and adversaries."✦✦ Here, then, in the same way a great Passover is celebrated.✦ They stand and talk with one another, and Peter looks at him carefully, noting every detail. And so, having received his blessing, Peter returned to the Lady and to the disciples and related everything.

Editorial Note on Sources and the Marian Apparition

The author explains that the apparition to the Blessed Virgin is not recorded in the Gospels but is included here on the authority of the Church's tradition, and identifies the liturgical and textual sources drawn upon for the chapter's material.

You should know, however, that nothing is contained in the Gospel about the apparition made to the Lady. I have included it here, and placed it earlier, because the Church seems to hold to it, so that in the lection on the Lord's resurrection a fuller account is given.56 From the writers —7 Ecclesiastes.8 — in James.9 HcBC, and the following things, most of which are drawn from —10 from the liturgical office, both of the Circumcision of the Lord and of the day of Easter.11

Read the original Latin

Discedens ergo Dominus Jesus ab eis, apparuit Josepli, qui eum sepelierat. Captus enim crat propterea a Judiieis, et reclusus in quodam cubiculo diligenter sigillato, et post sabbatum eum interficere volebant. Apparuit ergo ei Dominus Jesus, et iaciem ejus extersit; et osculum dedit, et inde salvis sigillis in propriam domum reportavit. Apparuit eliam Dominus Jesus ' Jacobo minori, qui voverat se non comesturum, nisi videret Dominum resuscitatum. Dixit ergo ei, et his qui cum eo erant: Ponite mensam. Deinde panem accipiens, benedixit, et dedit ei, dicens: Comede, dilecte frater mi, quia filius hominis resurrexit a mortuis. Ista vero refert Hieronymus*. Cum autem Magdalena et sociae redeunt domum, et narrant discipuhs resurrexisse Dominum, Pctrus moerens quod Dominum suum non viderat, nec quiescere valens propter amoris vehementiam, discessit ab eis, et solus ibat versus sepulcriim: nesciebat enim, ubi eum alibi quaereret.

Dum ergo pergeret, Dominus Jesus apparuit ei, dicens: Pax hbi, Simon. Tunc Petrus percutiens pectus suum, et procidens in terram cum lacrymis, dixit: Domine, dico meam culpam, quia te dereliqui, et pluries negavi. Et osculatus est pedes ejus. Dominus autem ipsum erigens, osculatus est eum, dicens: Pax tibi, noli timere, omnia peccata sunt tibi dimissa: ego bene sciebam, et prcsdixi tibi. Nunc ergo vade, et confirma fratres tuos, et confide^ quia mortem, et omnes inimicos vestros et adversarios devici. Hic ergo similiter fit magnum Pascha. Stant et colloquuntur ad invicem, et diligenter Petrus aspicit eum, et singula notat. Benedicfione vero accepta, rediens ad Dominam et ad discipulos, omnia narravit.

Scire autem debes quod de apparitione facta Domiuae nihil continetur in Evangeiio: ideo autem ipsam posui, et ante praemisi, quia de ipsa videtur tenere Ecclesia, ut in legenda de resurrectione Domini plenius habetur. de Scriplor. ecdes. , in Jacobo. HcBC, et quee sequuntur, pleraque desumpta sunt e. x Officio lilurgico, lum Circumcisionis Domini, tum diei Paschae

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Matt.28.7;Mark.16.7;Luke.24.6-Luke.24.7 — And go quickly and tell his disciples that he has been raised from the dead. And behold, he is going ahead of you into Galilee; there you will see him. Behold, I have told you. Mark.16.7 — But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you. Luke.24.6 — He is not here, but has been raised. Remember how he spoke to you while he was still in Galilee, Luke.24.7 — saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.
  2. ↩Luke.24.36;John.20.19-John.20.26 — While they were saying these things, he himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace to you." John.20.19 — On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." John.20.20 — And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. John.20.21 — So Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.' John.20.22 — And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." John.20.23 — If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. John.20.24 — Thomas, one of the Twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. John.20.25 — So the other disciples told him, 'We have seen the Lord.' But he said to them, 'Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.' John.20.26 — And after eight days his disciples were again inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being locked, and he stood in the midst and said, 'Peace be to you.'
  3. ↩Luke.22.54-Luke.22.62;John.18.15-John.18.27 — Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house. But Peter was following at a distance. Luke.22.55 — When they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Luke.22.56 — But a certain servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light of the fire, looked intently at him and said, "This man also was with him." Luke.22.57 — But he denied it, saying, "I do not know him, woman." Luke.22.58 — After a little while, another person, seeing him, said, "You also are one of them." But Peter said, "Man, I am not." Luke.22.59 — And after about an hour had passed, another man began insisting, saying, 'Truly this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean too.' Luke.22.60 — But Peter said, 'Man, I do not know what you are saying.' And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. Luke.22.61 — And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had told him, 'Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.' Luke.22.62 — And he went out and wept bitterly. John.18.15 — Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. That disciple was known to the high priest, and he entered the courtyard of the high priest along with Jesus. John.18.16 — But the other disciple, the one known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the gatekeeper and brought Peter in. John.18.17 — Then the doorkeeper said to Peter, "You are not also one of this man's disciples, are you?" He said, "I am not." John.18.18 — The servants and the officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were warming themselves. Peter also was standing with them and warming himself. John.18.19 — The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching. John.18.20 — Jesus answered him, "I have spoken openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews gather, and I have said nothing in secret. John.18.21 — Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard what I said to them. Look, these ones know what I said. John.18.22 — When he said these things, one of the officers standing nearby struck Jesus with his hand, saying, "Is that how you answer the high priest?" John.18.23 — Jesus answered him, 'If I have spoken wrongly, testify about the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike me?' John.18.24 — So Annas sent him, bound, to Caiaphas the high priest. John.18.25 — Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, "You are not also one of his disciples, are you?" He denied it and said, "I am not." John.18.26 — One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the one whose ear Peter had cut off, said, 'Did I not see you in the garden with him?' John.18.27 — Peter denied again, and immediately a rooster crowed.
  4. ↩Luke.24.36;John.20.19-John.20.21 — While they were saying these things, he himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace to you." John.20.19 — On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." John.20.20 — And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. John.20.21 — So Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.'
  5. ↩John.20.22-John.20.23 — And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." John.20.23 — If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.
  6. ↩Luke.22.32 — But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.
  7. ↩1Cor.15.54-1Cor.15.57;Rom.8.37 — But when this perishable puts on imperishability, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.' 1Cor.15.55 — Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? 1Cor.15.56 — The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 1Cor.15.57 — But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Rom.8.37 — No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
  8. ↩1Cor.5.7 — Clean out the old leaven, so that you may be a new batch, just as you are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Manuscript reads 'crat' (likely erat) and 'Judiieis' (likely Judaeis); translated from the normalized/corrected reading.
  2. 2 ↩Manuscript reads 'iaciem' (likely faciem) and 'extersit' (likely extersit/extersuit); translated from the normalized reading.
  3. 3 ↩Manuscript reads 'eliam' (likely etiam) and 'comesturum' (likely comesturum); translated from the normalized reading.
  4. 4 ↩Manuscript reads 'discipuhs' (likely discipulis), 'Pctrus' (likely Petrus), and 'sepulcriim' (likely sepulcrum); translated from the normalized/corrected reading.
  5. 5 ↩Dominae (the Lady) refers to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The author notes this apparition is not found in the canonical Gospels but is drawn from tradition and liturgical reading.
  6. 6 ↩Evangeiio is a medieval spelling of evangelio; Domiuae is a medieval spelling of dominae. Both normalized in translation.
  7. 7 ↩Scriplor. is an abbreviated form, likely Scriptorum (of the writers/authors). The abbreviation is preserved as a source note.
  8. 8 ↩ecdes. is an abbreviated form; uncertain expansion — possibly ecclesiastes (the book) or ecclesiae (of the church). Left as-is pending manuscript clarification.
  9. 9 ↩Refers to the apparition to James (Jacobus), likely James the Less, mentioned in the preceding chapter context.
  10. 10 ↩HcBC is a manuscript siglum or abbreviation of uncertain expansion. quee is a medieval spelling of quae. e. is an abbreviated preposition, likely ex (from/out of).
  11. 11 ↩x is likely an abbreviation for ex (from). lilurgico is a medieval spelling of liturgico. tum...lum is a correlative pair meaning both...and.

Meditationes Vitae Christi (Pseudo-Bonaventure), Castilian court context companion

A scene a day, for life

Chosen Portion continues this rhythm: one short reading and prayer every morning, free on iOS

The Meditationes portioned Christ's life into daily scenes for lay meditation — the exact daily-portion model Chosen Portion delivers to your phone.

  • Keep the one-scene-a-day habit going after day 30, automatically
  • 10 minutes each morning: reading, meditation prompt, closing prayer
  • Free iOS install; your day-31 portion is ready when the plan ends
Chosen Portion — Daily Prayer (free iOS app) →