Visio terribilis sponse de quodam homine et de quadam muliere et de exposicione mirabili visionis sponse spiritualiter ab angelo facta, in qua multa mirabilia continentur.
The Vision of Deformed Souls
The visionary sees a man and a woman whose physical forms are hideously distorted to reflect their inner spiritual state.
I saw a man whose eyes had been gouged out, yet they still hung against his cheeks by two cords. He had ears like a dog, nostrils like a horse, a mouth like a savage wolf, hands like the feet of a massive ox, and feet like a vulture. A woman also seemed to be standing next to him; her hair was like briars, her eyes were in the back of her head, her ears were cut off, and her nostrils were full of pus and rot. Her lips were like a serpent's teeth, her tongue held a poisonous stinger, her hands were like two fox tails, and her feet were like two scorpions.
The Spiritual Meaning of the Man
An angelic voice explains that the man's deformities represent his failure to seek God, his vanity, his greed, and his lack of true repentance.
As I saw these things, wide awake and not sleeping, I asked, "Oh, what is this?" Immediately, a sweet-sounding voice spoke to me—so comforting that all my terror vanished—saying, "You who see these things, what do you think they are?" I answered, "I don't know whether those I see are devils, or beasts born of such a bestial nature, or even human beings formed by God in this way." A voice then answered me: "They aren't devils, because they don't have bodies like the ones you see here, nor are they beastly by nature, since they were born of the lineage of Adam." God didn't create them that way, but they appear so deformed in His sight because of the devil in their souls, and that's why they seem to you as if they were physical. I will, however, show you what they mean in a spiritual sense. That man's eyes look like they've been gouged out, hanging by two nerves. For by those two nerves you should understand two things: the first is that he believed God lives eternally; the second is that he believed his own soul would live eternally after the death of the body, whether in good or in evil. By those two eyes, you should also understand two things: first, that he ought to have considered how he might avoid sin, and second, how he could manage to perform good works. These two eyes were gouged out because he didn't perform good works out of a desire for heavenly glory, nor did he flee from sin out of a fear of the punishment of hell. He also has ears like a dog. For just as a dog cares no more for the name of its master or anyone else than it does for its own name—if it hears that called out—so this person cares less for the honor of God’s name than for the honor of his own. He also has the nostrils of a horse. For just as a horse, once it's free, delights in sniffing its own dung, so does he. For after committing a sin—which is the vilest dung in the sight of God—he finds it sweet to dwell on the stench of it. He has a mouth like a ferocious wolf, which, even when its belly and mouth are already full of what it has seen, still longs to swallow anything it hears of that is alive. It's the same with this person: even if he possessed everything he had seen with his own eyes, he would still crave whatever he heard that others possessed. He also has hands like the feet of a powerful ox. When he's angry, he uses his feet to tear apart any animal he's stronger than; driven by the intensity of his rage, he doesn't care about its insides or its flesh, as long as he can take its life. This one is the same. For when he's in a rage, he doesn't care if his enemy's soul goes to hell, nor how his body is tortured in death, if only he can take his life away. He also has feet like a vulture. For just as a vulture, when it has something between its talons that it enjoys taking, grips it so tightly with its foot that when the strength of its foot fails from the pain, it lets go of what it was holding, almost without realizing it. This is how he is, too. For whatever someone possesses unjustly, they intend to hold onto until death, when, with all their strength failing, they will be forced to let it go.
The Spiritual Meaning of the Woman
The vision explains the woman's deformities as signs of her disordered will, her rejection of divine teaching, and her role in leading others into sin.
That woman's hair, however, looked like briars. But the hair on the top of the head, which frames a person's face, signifies that will which desires above all else to please the Most High God. For this adorns the soul before God. But because this woman’s will is to please this world more than the most high God, her hair appears like briars. Her eyes appear on the back of her head because she turns her inner eyes away from everything the goodness of God has done for her—creating her, redeeming her, and providing for her in various ways for her own good. She intently watches things that are fleeting, things she is moving away from every day, until they vanish completely from her sight. Therefore, the ears appear spiritually severed. For she has no interest in hearing the teaching of the holy Gospel or any preaching. The nostrils, however, are full of rot, for just as a sweet scent is drawn delightfully through the nostrils to the brain so that the brain may be strengthened by it, so she, through her own attachments, draws whatever delights the decaying body delightfully to its effect, for the sake of its own strengthening. Her lips looked like a serpent's teeth, and her tongue held a poisonous stinger. For while a serpent clenches its teeth tightly to protect its stinger so that it won't be broken by any mishap, the filth from its mouth still leaks out between its teeth because they are set apart. In the same way, she keeps her lips closed against a true confession so that the pleasure of sin—which is the poisonous sting of her soul—won't be broken; yet the filth of that sin is clearly visible before God and His saints. I told you before about the judgment and rejection of a certain marriage, which they entered into against the statutes of the Church. Now I will tell you more fully about them. For you saw the woman's hands like the tails of foxes, and her feet like those of scorpions. This is because, just as she was disordered in all her members and affections, so too, by the lightness of her hands and the way she walked, she provoked the sweetness of the flesh and stung the man’s soul more severely than a scorpion.
The Judgment of the Unfaithful
The vision concludes with a dramatic judgment scene where the man and woman are condemned for their illicit union and their rejection of God's law.
And at that very moment, an Ethiopian appeared, holding a trident in his hand and having what looked like three extremely sharp claws on his foot, crying out and saying, "O Judge, my time has come." "I've waited and kept silent; now it's time to act!" And immediately, as the judge sat with an innumerable army, a man and a woman appeared to me, both naked. The judge said to them, "Tell me," he said, "even though I know everything, what have you done?" The man replied, "We heard and knew the bond of the Church, but we didn't care; in fact, we despised it." The judge answered, "Because you refused to follow the Lord, it's only just that you should feel the malice of the executioner." The Ethiopian immediately drove his claw into the hearts of both, pressing them so hard that they looked as if they were being crushed in a winepress. The judge said, "Look, daughter, this is what those deserve who knowingly distance themselves from their Creator for the sake of a creature." The judge asked them both again, "I gave you a sack so you could gather the fruit of my delights; what, then, are you bringing back now?" The woman replied, "O judge, we sought the delights of the belly, and we bring back nothing but shame." Then the judge said to the officer, "Give back what is just!" He immediately drove a second hook into the bellies of both, wounding them so severely that all their insides seemed to be torn open. And the judge said, "Look, this is what those deserve who break the law and thirst for poison instead of medicine." The judge asked them both again, "Where is my treasure, which I lent to you at interest?" They both answered, "We put it under our feet, because we were looking for earthly treasure, not eternal." Then the judge said to the executioner, "Give them what you know and what you owe!" He immediately drove a third hook into their hearts, bellies, and feet, so that they all seemed to be like a single mass. And the Ethiopian said, "Lord, where am I supposed to go with them?" The judge replied, "It isn't for you to ascend or to rejoice." Once this was said, the man and the woman immediately disappeared from the judge's sight, wailing. The judge said again, "Rejoice, daughter, because you have been set apart from such as these!"
Read the original Latin
Videbatur michi unus homo, cuius oculi eruti erant sed tamen dependebant ad maxillas cum duobus neruis. Hic habebat aures sicut canis, nares sicut equus, os sicut ferocissimus lupus, manus ad modum pedum maximi bouis, pedes sicut vultur.
Vna quoque mulier videbatur michi iuxta eum stare, cuius crines erant sicut vepres, oculi erant in occipite, aures abscise, nares plene sanie et putredine, labia sicut dentes serpentis; in lingua erat aculeus venenosus, manus erant sicut due caude vulpine, pedes sicut duo scorpiones.
Dum hec ego viderem non dormiens sed vigilans, dixi: "O, quid istud est?" Et statim quedam vox dulcisona loquebatur ad me, que tam consolatoria erat, quod omnis terror abscessit a me, dicens: "Tu ista videns, quidnam existimas illa esse?"
Ego respondi: "Ignoro, utrum isti quos video sint dyaboli aut bestie de tali bestiali natura progenite siue eciam homines a Deo sic formati."
Vox tunc respondit michi: "Non sunt dyaboli, quia ipsi non habent corpora, sicut istos habere vides, nec sunt de genere bestiali, quoniam de stirpe Adam geniti sunt,
nec eciam a Deo taliter sunt creati sed coram Deo apparent a Dyabolo in animabus suis taliter deformes facti et hoc tibi videntur quasi corporaliter. Ego tamem ostendam tibi, quid significent spiritualiter.
Illius hominis oculi videntur tibi eruti dependentes duobus neruis. Per duos enim neruos duo intelliges: primum est, quod Deum credidit eternaliter viuere, secundum est, quod credidit suam propriam animam post mortem corporis eternaliter siue in bono siue in malo victuram.
Per duos vero oculos eciam duo intelliges: primum est, quod debuit considerare, qualiter peccatum euitare posset, secundo, quomodo valeret bona opera perficere. Isti duo oculi ideo eruti sunt, quia non fecit opera bona pro desiderio celestis glorie nec fugit peccata pro timore gehennalis pene.
Habet eciam caninas aures. Nam sicut canis neque nomen sui domini neque alterius tantum curat quantum suum nomen proprium, si hoc nominari audierit, ita eciam iste non tantum curat de honore nominis Dei quantum de honore nominis proprii.
Habet eciam equinas nares. Nam sicut equus, qui solutus est eiecto stercore suo, delectatur nares illi apponere, similiter iste. Nam perpetrato peccato, quod coram Deo vilissimum est stercus, de ipsius fetore dulce sibi videtur cogitare.
Habet eciam os sicut lupus ferocissimus, qui ventre ac ore suo repleto ex illis que viderat adhuc, si aliquid aure viuum audierit, deglutire illud desiderat. Ita et iste, si omnia possideret, que oculis viderat, adhuc concupisceret illa que alios possidere audiret.
Habet eciam manus ad modum pedum fortissmi bouis. Qui cum iratus fuerit, animal cui preualet cum pedibus suis disrumpit propter ire vehemenciam non curans de intestinis vel de carnibus eius, dummodo vitam illi abstulerit. Similiter iste. Nam quando est in ira, non curat, quod anima inimici sui in infernum descenderet nec qualiter corpus eius torqueretur morte, si vitam eius auferre posset.
Habet eciam pedes sicut vultur. Nam sicut vultur aliquid habens inter ungues, quod sumere eum delectat, pedem super illud tam fortiter stringit, quod viribus pedis deficientibus pre dolore ipse quasi nesciens dimittit cadere, quod tenebat.
Ita et iste. Nam illa, que iniuste habet, intendit tenere usque ad mortem, quando omnibus viribus deficientibus illud dimittere coartabitur.
Mulieris vero illius crines videbantur sicut vepres. In crinibus autem, qui sunt in summitate verticis, ornantibus faciem hominis significatur illa voluntas, que summe summo Deo placere desiderat.
Hec enim animam coram Deo adornat. Sed quia huius mulieris voluntas est summe huic mundo placere plus quam summo Deo, ideo sui capilli apparent sicut vepres.
Oculi vero eius apparent in occipite, quia mentales oculos auertit ab hiis, que bonitas Dei sibi fecerat in creando eam, in redimendo et in diuersis sibi utiliter prouidendo. Illa vero que transitoria sunt intente respicit, a quibus cotidie discedit, donec ab aspectu suo penitus euanescant.
Aures igitur abscise spiritualiter apparent. Nam minime curat doctrinam sancti Euangelii seu predicaciones audire.
Nares vero plene putredine sunt, quoniam sicut per nares suauis odor ad cerebrum delectabiliter trahitur, ut cerebrum inde fortificetur, sic ipsa per affecciones suas, quidquid putrescibili corpori delectat ad ipsius fortificacionem, trahit delectabiliter ad effectum.
Labia vero illius sicut dentes serpentis videbantur et in lingua aculeus venenosus. Nam dum serpens dentes fortissime constringit propter defensionem aculei, ne ab aliquo euentu frangatur, tamen squalor de ore eius effluit inter dentes, quia separatim sunt locati.
Similiter et ipsa claudit labia a confessione vera, ne frangatur delectacio peccati, que est anime sue aculeus venenosus, squalor tamen peccati euidenter apparet coram Deo et sanctis eius."
"Dixi tibi prius de iudicio et abieccione unius matrimonii, quod contra statuta Ecclesie contraxerunt. Nunc indicabo tibi plenius de eis. Tu enim vidisti manus mulieris quasi caudas vulpium et pedes eius quasi scorpionum.
Hoc ideo est, quia sicut in omnibus membris et affeccionibus erat inordinata, sic et leuitate manuum suarum et incessu pedum dulcedinem carnis prouocando grauius scorpione animam viri pungebat."
Et ecce in eodem momento apparuit Ethyops habens in manu tridentem et in pede quasi tres ungulas acutissmias clamans et dicens: "O, iudex, iam hora mea est. Expectaui et silui; iam tempus est faciendi!"
Et statim sedente iudice cum exercitu innumerabili apparuit michi quasi vir unus et mulier nudi. Et dixit iudex ad eos: "Dicite," inquit, "quamuis omnia scio, quid fecistis!"
Respondit vir: "Audiuimus et sciuimus vinculum Ecclesie et non curauimus, ymo despeximus." Respondit iudex: "Quia noluistis sequi Dominum, iusticia est, ut senciatis maliciam lictoris."
Et statim Ethyops infixit ungulam in corda amborum et sic fortiter compressit eos, ut quasi in prelo positi viderentur. Et dixit iudex: "Ecce, filia, talia merentur, qui se scienter elongant a creatore suo propter creaturam."
Dixit iterum iudex ambobus: "Ego dedi vobis saccum, ut congregaretis fructum deliciarum mearum; quid ergo nunc apportatis?" Respondit mulier: "O, iudex, delicias ventris quesiuimus et non apportamus nisi confusionem."
Tunc dixit iudex lictori: "Redde quod iustum est!" Qui statim infixit ungulam secundam in ventres amborum et sic fortiter vulnerauit, quod omnia intestina viderentur perforata. Et dixit iudex: "Ecce talia merentur, qui legem transgrediuntur et pro medicamento siciunt venenum."
Iterum dixit iudex ambobus: "Vbi est thesaurus meus, quem accommodaui vobis ad usuram?" Responderunt ambo: "Posuimus eum sub pedibus nostris, quia quesiuimus thesaurum terrenum non eternum."
Tunc dixit iudex lictori: "Da quod scis et debes!" Qui statim infixit ungulam terciam in corda eorum et ventres et pedes ita, ut omnia quasi unus globus viderentur. Et dixit Ethyops: "Domine, quo vadam cum eis?"
Respondit iudex: "Tuum non est ascendere nec gaudere." Quo dicto a facie iudicis statim vir et mulier gementes disparuerunt. Iterum dixit iudex: "Gaude, filia, quia a talibus es segregata!"
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