Visio ammirabilis et terribilis sponse de quadam anima ante iudicem presentata et de opposicionibus Dei et libri iudicii contra animam et de responsionibus anime contra se ipsam et de diuersis penis stupendis sibi ad purgacionem latis.
The Soul Before the Judge
A soul is presented for judgment, accompanied by the spiritual witnesses of its life.
It seemed to me as if a soul were being presented before the Judge by the soldier and the Ethiopian I had seen earlier, and it was said to me: "What you see happening now," he said, "is exactly what took place over this soul at the moment it was being released from the body." Once the soul had been presented to the Judge, it stood alone, for it was in the hands of neither of those who had brought it; it stood there naked and sorrowful, not knowing what would become of it. Then it seemed to me that every word in the book answered for itself, addressing everything the soul said. So, with the Judge and all His host listening, the armed soldier spoke first: "It isn't justice," he said, "for those sins to be brought up against the soul for its shame when they have already been set right through confession." Yet I, who saw these things, knew clearly and perfectly at the time that the armed soldier who was speaking knew everything in God, but was speaking so that I might understand.
The Accusations of Justice
The book of justice details the soul's failures, prompting the soul to confess its pride and lack of love.
Then, from the book of justice, the answer came: "When this soul performed penance, it wasn't followed by compunction worthy of such sins, nor by true satisfaction." Therefore, it must now grieve for the things it failed to amend back then, when it had the chance." At these words, the soul began to weep so violently that it seemed as if it were being torn apart; yet, though the tears were visible, no voice could be heard. Then the King spoke to the soul, saying, "Conscience, declare now those sins for which no worthy satisfaction followed." Then the soul raised its voice so loudly that it seemed it could be heard throughout the whole world, crying out, "Woe is me, for I didn't act according to the commands of God that I heard and knew!" And accusing itself, it added, "I didn't fear the judgment of God." To which the answer came from the book: "That is why you must fear the Devil now." The soul, fearful and trembling, as if it were completely falling apart, said at once: "I had almost no love for God; that is why I did so little good." The answer came to it immediately from the book: "Therefore, it is justice that you draw closer to the Devil than to God, because the Devil himself lured and enticed you to himself with his temptations." The soul replied, "I understand now that everything I did was at the devil's prompting." The book responded, "Justice dictates that it's the devil's right to repay you for what you've done with pain and tribulation." The soul said, "There was nothing from the crown of my head to the sole of my foot that I didn't dress in pride." I invented some vain and arrogant behaviors myself, while others I followed simply because they were the custom of my country. I also washed my hands and face, not just so they would be clean, but so that they would be praised as beautiful by others. An answer came from the book: "Justice says it's the devil’s right to repay you according to your merits, because you adorned and composed yourself exactly as he inspired and dictated to you." The soul said again: "My mouth was often open to vulgar talk, because I wanted to please others, and my heart longed for all those things that the world's shame and disgrace did not follow."1 The answer came from the book: "Therefore, your tongue must be pulled out and stretched, and your teeth bent; things that you find utterly repulsive will be set before you, and everything you find pleasing must be taken away from you." The soul replied: "I took great pleasure in the fact that many people used my actions as an example and an opportunity, and that many followed my ways." The answer came from the book: "It is justice that everyone caught in the same sin for which you are being punished will suffer the same penalty and be brought to you; and then, because of the arrival of each person who imitated your inventions, your own punishment will be increased."
The Suffering of Purification
The soul undergoes a terrifying and graphic purification, reflecting the consequences of its earthly life.
After these things were said, it seemed to me as if a kind of band were tied around the soul's head like a crown, and it was tightened so forcefully that the back of the head and the forehead were pulled together. The eyes fell from their sockets, hanging by their roots against the cheeks; the hair also withered as if scorched by fire; the brain ruptured, flowing out through the nose and ears; the tongue was stretched out, and the teeth were crushed together. The bones in the arms were broken and twisted like ropes; the hands were also skinned and tied to the neck; the chest and belly were pulled so tightly against the back that the ribs shattered, and the heart, along with all the internal organs, was forced out and burst; the thighs hung down at the sides, and the broken bones were pulled out just as a thin thread is wound into a ball.
Mercy and the Final Verdict
The soldier pleads for mercy based on the soul's final repentance, leading to a judgment of purification rather than eternal loss.
Seeing this, the Ethiopian replied, "O Judge, the soul's sins have now been punished according to justice." Join us both together now, then—me and this soul—so that we'll never be separated!" That armed soldier replied, "Listen, Judge, you who know all things!" It's now up to you to hear the final thought and affection that this soul had near the end of its life. For at that final moment, the soul thought this: 'Oh, if only God would grant me more time in this life, I would gladly make amends for my sins, serve Him for all the rest of my days, and never offend Him again.' These were the things, O Judge, that the soul was thinking and desiring. Remember also, Lord, that this person didn't live long enough to develop a fully mature conscience. Therefore, Lord, consider their youth and show mercy! Then, however, the response from the book of justice was this: "For such thoughts at the end, hell is not deserved." And the Judge then said: "Because of my passion," he said, "let heaven be opened to the soul, once it has received purification for its sins for as long as it is bound to suffer, unless it obtains help from the good works of others who are living." This woman had vowed her virginity into the hands of a priest, but later married; she subsequently faced complications in childbirth and died.
Read the original Latin
Michi videbatur quasi quod una anima per militem et Ethyopem, quos videram prius, ante iudicem presentaretur dictumque est michi: "Hoc," inquit, "quod tibi nunc videtur, hoc totum factum est super animam istam eo tempore, quo a corpore soluebatur."
Cumque anima presentata fuisset iudici, stabat sola, quia in neutrius manibus erat eorum qui eam presentabant; stabat quoque nuda et dolorosa ignorans, ad que deueniret.
Deinde videbatur michi, quod quodlibet verbum in libro respondebat per se ipsum ad omnia, quecumque anima loquebatur.
Igitur audiente iudice et omni exercitu eius miles ille armatus loquebatur primo sic: "Non est," inquit, "iusticia, quod illa peccata replicentur anime ad obprobrium, que confessione emendata sunt."
Verumptamen ego, que ista vidi, bene et perfecte tunc noui, quod miles ille, qui loquebatur, omnia nouit in Deo sed, ut ego intelligerem, loquebatur.
Tunc de libro iusticie responsum est: "Quando penitencia facta fuit ab ista anima, non subsequebatur contricio digna talibus peccatis nec vera satisfaccio. Ideo dolere debet nunc pro hiis, que tunc, cum potuit, non emendauit."
Quibus dictis anima incepit plorare ita vehementer, quod quasi tota confringeretur, attamen lacrime videbantur et vox non audiebatur. Deinde rex loquebatur anime dicens: "Consciencia," inquit, "tua declaret modo peccata illa, que satisfaccio digna non sequebatur."
Tunc anima extulit vocem suam ita alte, quod quasi posset audiri per totum mundum, dicens: "Ve," inquit, "quia non feci iuxta mandata Dei, que audiui et cognoui!" Et accusans se ipsam addidit: "Ego non timui iudicium Dei." Cui responsum est de libro: "Ideo nunc timere debes Dyabolum."
Et statim anima timens et contremiscens, ac si tota solueretur, dixit: "Ego quasi nullam caritatem habui ad Deum: ideo modica bona feci." Responsum est statim ei de libro: "Ideo iusticia est te vicinius appropinquare Dyabolo quam Deo, quia ipse Dyabolus te ad se temptacionibus suis allexit et illexit."
Et anima respondit: "Iam intelligo, quod omnia, quecumque feci, erant secundum dyabolicas infusiones." Responsum est de libro: "Iusticia dictat, quod iuris Dyaboli est retribuere secundum ea, que egisti, cum pena et tribulacione."
Anima dixit: "Nichil fuit a vertice capitis mei usque ad calcaneum, quod non cum superbia vestiui. Quedam enim vana et superba portamenta ego de nouo adinueni personaliter, quedam vero sequebar secundum patrie consuetudinem.
Laui quoque manus et faciem, non ut solum mundarentur sed ut ab homine pulchra laudarentur."
Responsum est de libro: "Iusticia dicit, quod iuris Dyaboli est retribuere tibi pro meritis, quia te ornasti et composuisti sicut ipse tibi inspirabat et dictabat."
Iterum dixit anima: "Os meum sepe aperiebatur ad scurilia, quia aliis placere volui et animus meus omnia illa desiderabat, que pudor et obprobrium mundi non sequebatur."
Responsum est de libro: "Ideo lingua tua extrahi et extendi debet dentesque tui incuruari; et illa tibi apponentur, que omnino tibi displicent; omniaque illa tolli debent a te, que tibi placent."
Dixit anima: "Ego vehementer gaudebam ex eo, quod multi receperunt exempla et occasionem de hiis, que ego feci, et quod multi imitabantur mores meos."
Responsum est de libro: "Ideo est iusticia, quod omnis, qui deprehensus fuerit in tali peccato, pro quo tu punieris, eandem penam ipse pacietur et ipse ad te adducetur; et tunc propter aduentum cuiuslibet, qui imitabatur adinuenciones tuas, pena tua augmentabitur."
Quibus dictis videbatur michi, quasi quod vinculum quoddam esset alligatum in capite anime ad modum corone et stringebatur ita fortiter, quod occiput et frons coniungebantur simul;
oculi vero deciderunt a sedibus suis dependentes per radices suas ad genas; crines quoque quasi ab igne combusti aruerunt; cerebrum autem rumpebatur defluens per nares et per aures; lingua extendebatur dentesque comprimebantur;
ossa vero in brachiis confringebantur et quasi funes contorquebantur; manus eciam decoriate ad collum alligabantur; pectus vero et venter ita fortiter dorso coniungebantur, quod costis confractis cor cum omnibus interioribus euersum crepuit; femora vero pendebant ad latera ossaque confracta extrahebantur eo modo, quo filum tenue solet in globum glomerari.
Hiis visis Ethyops respondit: "O, iudex, peccata anime iam sunt plagata secundum iusticiam. Coniunge ergo iam nos ambos, me scilicet et animam, ita quod nunquam separemur!"
Miles vero ille armatus respondit: "Audi, iudex, tu qui scis omnia! Ad te iam pertinet audire ultimam cogitacionem et affeccionem, quam ista anima habebat circa finem vite sue.
Ipsa quippe in ultimo puncto taliter cogitauit: 'O, si Deus vellet michi dare spacium vite, vellem utique libenter emendare peccata mea omnique tempore vite mee seruire ei nec unquam amplius ipsum offendere.' Talia, o, iudex, cogitabat et volebat.
Memento eciam, Domine, quod persona ista non tanto tempore vixit, quod obtineret plene intelligibilem conscienciam. Ideo, Domine, cogita iuuentutem eius et facito misericordiam!"
Tunc autem sic responsum est de libro iusticie: "Talibus cogitacionibus in fine non debetur infernus." Et iudex ait tunc: "Propter passionem," inquit, "meam aperiatur anime celum purgacione prius pro peccatis recepta tanto tempore, quanto tenetur pati, nisi obtinuerit auxilium ex bonis operibus aliorum viuencium."
Hec mulier vouit virginitatem in manu sacerdotis et postea nupsit; que in partu postea periclitata moriebatur.
Notes
- 1 ↩The term 'scurilia' refers to coarse, vulgar, or buffoonish speech. 'Animus' is rendered as 'heart' to reflect the interior desire mentioned in the context of the soul's self-accusation.
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