Visio mirabilis et notanda de quadam anima iudicanda et de Dyaboli accusacionibus et virginis gloriose aduocacionibus et de exposicione ipsius visionis, in qua celum per palacium, Christus per solem, virgo per mulierem, Dyabolus per Ethiopem, angelus per militem designantur; et in qua duo loca penarum irremediabilia et tria remediabilia computantur et multa alia mirabilia et quam maxime de suffragiis.
The Judgment of the Soul
A visionary trial takes place in a heavenly palace where a soul is accused by the devil and defended by an angel.
While awake and in prayer, one person had a spiritual vision of an unimaginably large palace, filled with countless people dressed in white, shining robes, each appearing to have their own seat. In the palace, however, there stood a primary seat of judgment, in which there was something like a sun; and the splendor that flowed from that sun was incomprehensible in its length, depth, and breadth. A virgin also stood by the throne, wearing a precious crown on her head, and everyone was serving the one sitting on the throne, praising him with hymns and songs. Then there appeared a certain Ethiopian, terrible in appearance and manner, as if full of envy and inflamed with great anger, who cried out as he spoke: "O just Judge, judge this soul for me and hear her deeds!" For only a little of her life remains now. Permit me to punish the body along with the soul, until they are separated from one another." After this, it seemed to me that someone stood before the throne like an armed soldier—chaste and wise in his speech, and modest in his manner—who said, "O Judge, look, here are her good works, which she has performed up to this hour." And immediately a voice was heard from the sun sitting on the throne, saying, "Here, the vice is greater than the virtue, and it isn't justice for vice to be joined to supreme virtue." The Ethiopian replied, "Therefore, it's only just that this soul be joined to me." For if she has any vice in her, then all wickedness is in me." The angel replied, "God's mercy follows every person right up to death, and even to the very last moment; only after that does judgment take place." In this man we're talking about, however, soul and body are still joined, and the power of discernment remains in him." The Ethiopian replied, "Scripture says, and it cannot lie: 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself.'" See, then, that all this person's works were done out of fear, not out of love, as they should have been." And you'll find that all the sins they confessed were confessed with only a little compunction. Therefore, they earned hell because they forfeited the kingdom of heaven, and for that reason, their sins are laid bare here before divine justice. “...because he hasn't yet reached compunction for the sins he committed, born of divine love.” The angel replied, “He certainly hoped and believed he would reach true compunction before he died.” The Ethiopian replied, "You have gathered everything she did well, and you know every word and thought of hers that contributed to the salvation of her soul." "All these things, whatever they may be," he said, "cannot be compared to that grace which is compunction born of divine love, along with holy faith and hope; and they are even less capable of wiping away all one's sins."1 For justice has existed in God from eternity, such that no sinner enters heaven who has not had perfect compunction; and therefore, it is impossible for God to judge against the order foreordained from eternity.2 Therefore, this soul must be judged to hell and joined with me in eternal punishment. When he said this, the angel remained silent, offering no answer to his words.
The Demons' Challenge
Demons challenge the divine justice of God, arguing that even the Virgin Mary would be condemned if she had sinned without perfect compunction.
After this, countless demons appeared, like sparks flying from a blazing fire, and they cried out with one voice to the One who sat on the throne like the sun: "We know," they say, "that you are the one God in three persons; you had no beginning and have no end, and there is no other god but you." You are truly love itself, joined with mercy and justice. You existed within Yourself from the beginning, with nothing diminished in You and nothing subject to change, as befits God. There is nothing outside of You, and nothing outside of You possesses any joy. Therefore, your love made the angels out of nothing other than the power of your divinity; and you made them just as your mercy dictated. But after we were inwardly inflamed with pride, envy, and greed, your love—which cherishes justice—cast us out of heaven, along with the fire of our own malice, into an incomprehensible and dark abyss that is now called hell. That is how your love acted then, and it will never be separated from the judgment of your justice, whether it is carried out in mercy or in equity. We'll go further: if the person you love above all others—the Virgin who bore you and who never sinned—if, I say, she had sinned mortally and had died without divine compunction, You love justice so much that her soul should never reach heaven, but instead be with us in hell. Therefore, O Judge, why don't you hand this soul over to us, so that we may punish her according to her works?
The Virgin's Intercession
The Virgin Mary intervenes, presenting the prayers and good works of the faithful to secure mercy for the soul.
After this, a sound like a trumpet was heard; those who heard it fell silent, and immediately a voice spoke, saying: "Be silent and listen, all you angels, soul, and demons, to what the Mother of God is saying!" Immediately, the Virgin herself appeared before the judgment seat, and with something hidden under her mantle—some great thing—she said, "Oh, you enemies!" You persecute mercy, and you love justice without any charity at all. “Even if a lack appears here in her good works, for which this soul shouldn't gain heaven, look instead at what I have under my cloak!” And when the Virgin opened both sides of her cloak, there appeared beneath one of them something like a small church, where some monks were visible. Under the other fold of her mantle appeared women and men—friends of God, religious, and others—and they all cried out with one voice, "Have mercy, merciful Lord!" Then silence fell, and the Virgin spoke, saying: "Scripture says: Whoever has perfect faith can move mountains in this world through it." What, then, can and should the voices of these people accomplish—those who have held faith and served God with fervent love? But what will those friends of God do—those he asked to pray for him so he might be spared from hell and gain heaven, and who sought no reward for their good works other than the things of heaven? Can't all their tears and prayers reach him and lift him up, so that before he dies he might obtain divine compunction along with charity?3 Furthermore, I'll add my own prayers to the petitions of all the saints in heaven whom this person honored in a special way. And the Virgin added again, "O demons, I command you by the authority of the Judge to look at what you now see in justice." Then they all answered as if with one voice: "We see," they said, "that in the world a little water and a great wind appease the wrath of God." So too, through your prayer, God is appeased to show mercy when it is offered with love."4 After this, a voice was heard from the sun, saying: "Because of the prayers of my friends, he will now receive divine compunction before he dies, to such an extent that he won't go to hell, but will be purified along with those who are enduring a more severe penalty in purgatory." Once purified, the soul will receive its reward in heaven alongside those who, while on earth, held to faith and hope with only the smallest measure of charity. At these words, the demons fled.
The Vision of Purgatory
The bride witnesses the terrifying state of the soul in purgatory and hears its lamentations.
Then it seemed to the bride that a kind of terrifying and dark place was opening up, in which a furnace appeared, burning within. And that fire had nothing to consume but demons and living souls. Above that furnace, the soul whose judgment we heard about earlier appeared. The soul's feet were fixed to the furnace, and it stood upright like a single person. It didn't stand in the highest place, nor in the lowest, but off to the side of the furnace, which looked both terrible and wonderful. The fire of the furnace seemed to draw itself upward beneath the soul's feet. It was like water being drawn up through pipes, forced over the head with such violence that the pores stood out like veins running with burning fire. The ears looked like forge bellows, stirring the entire brain with a constant blast of air. The eyes, however, appeared turned inside out and sunken, and they seemed to be fixed deep within the back of the head. The mouth was open, and the tongue was pulled out through the nostrils, hanging down to the lips. The teeth, however, were like iron nails driven through the palate. The arms were so long that they reached down to the feet. Both hands also appeared to be holding and squeezing some kind of fatty substance mixed with burning pitch. The skin that appeared over the soul looked like a hide stretched over a body, resembling a linen garment soaked in semen. This garment was so cold that everyone who saw it shuddered, and from it oozed something like the discharge from a festering wound mixed with corrupt blood, along with a stench so foul that it couldn't be compared to any other terrible odor in the world. Seeing this tribulation, a voice was heard from that soul, which cried out five times, "Woe, woe," weeping with all its might. "First," it said, "woe to me, because I loved God so little, given His immense virtues and the grace He gave me." "Second, woe to me, because I didn't fear the justice of God as I should have." Third, woe to me, because I loved the pleasure of my sinful body and flesh. Fourth, woe to me because of the world's riches and my pride. Fifth, woe to me, because I ever saw you, Louis and Joanna.
The Angel's Explanation
The angel interprets the vision, detailing the three levels of purgatory and the efficacy of suffrages for the departed.
Then the angel said to me, "I want to explain this vision to you." The palace you saw is a likeness of heaven. The multitude of those on the seats, dressed in white and shining robes, are the angels and the souls of the saints. The sun represents Christ in His divinity; the woman, the Virgin who gave birth to God; the Ethiopian, the devil who accuses the soul; and the soldier, the angel who speaks to the soul about its good works. The furnace represents hell, which burns with such intensity that even if the entire world and everything in it were consumed by fire, it wouldn't compare to the magnitude of that furnace. In that furnace, however, various voices are heard, all speaking against God, and all beginning their cries with a shout of woe and ending them the same way. The souls appear like people whose limbs are stretched out in inconsolable agony, never finding any rest. Know also that the fire you saw in the furnace burns in eternal darkness, and the souls burning within it don't all suffer the same punishment. The darkness surrounding the furnace is called limbo, and it comes from the darkness inside the furnace; yet both are one place and one hell, and whoever arrives there will never have a dwelling with God. Above those shadows, however, is the greatest pain of purgatory that souls can endure; and beyond that place is another, where the pain is less, consisting of nothing other than a lack of strength in fortitude, beauty, and similar qualities. I'll explain it with a comparison: it's like someone who has been sick; even after the illness or pain has passed, they have no strength until they gradually recover it. The third place, however, is higher, where there is no pain other than the longing to reach God. So that you might understand this better in your own conscience, I'll give you a comparison: It's as if copper were mixed and burned with gold in a most intense fire, and had to be purified for so long that the copper was consumed and the gold remained pure. The stronger and thicker the dross, the more intense the fire it needs, until the gold becomes like running water and is entirely glowing. Then its master brings the gold to another place, where it can take on its true form in both sight and touch; afterward, he sends it to a third place, where it's kept and presented to its owner. It's the same way in the spiritual realm. First, above the darkness, is the greatest pain of purgatory, where you saw that soul I mentioned being purified. There is the touch of demons; there, by way of likeness, appear poisonous worms and the likeness of ferocious beasts. There is heat and cold; there is darkness and confusion, which flow from the punishment that exists in hell; there, some souls have a lesser punishment and others a greater one, according to how their sins were or were not amended during the time the soul remained with the body. Then the Master—that is, the justice of God—brings the gold, meaning the souls, into other places where there is nothing but a lack of strength, and in these places the souls will remain for as long as... They will remain there until they receive relief, either from their own special friends or from the ongoing works of the holy Church; for the more help a soul receives from friends, the sooner it recovers and is set free from that place. After this, however, the soul is carried to a third place, where the only pain is the longing to reach the presence of God and the vision of His blessedness. Many stay in this place for a very long time, except for those who, while they lived in the world, had a perfect desire to reach the presence of God and the vision of Him. Know also that many people die in this world so just and innocent that they immediately arrive at the presence and vision of God. Some, however, have so fully made amends for their sins through good works that their souls will feel no punishment; yet there are few who do not come to the place where there is a longing to reach God. Therefore, all souls dwelling in these three places share in the prayers and good works of the holy Church that are done in the world—especially those they performed while they were alive, and those done by their friends after their death. Know also that just as sins are multiform and diverse, so too are punishments manifold and varied. Therefore, just as a hungry person rejoices when a morsel reaches their mouth, Just as a thirsty person rejoices at a drink, a sad person at being cheered, a naked person at being clothed, or a weak person at being helped to bed, so too do souls rejoice and share in the good works done for them here in the world. Then the angel added: "Blessed is the one who helps souls in this world through prayers, good works, and the labor of their own body," God's justice cannot lie, and it states that souls must either be purified after death through the pain of purgatory, or be released sooner by the good works of their friends. After this, many voices were heard from purgatory saying: "O Lord Jesus Christ, just Judge, send your charity to those who hold spiritual authority in the world; then we'll be able to share more than we do now in their chanting, reading, and offerings."5 Above that space from which this cry was heard, there appeared something like a house, in which many voices were heard saying: "May they be rewarded by God, those who send us help in our needs!" In that same house, a dawn seemed to be breaking, yet beneath that dawn appeared a cloud that held nothing of the dawn's light; from it, a great voice came forth, saying: O Lord God, grant from your incomprehensible power a hundredfold reward in this world to those who lift us up with good works into the light of your divinity and the vision of your face!
Read the original Latin
Vni persone vigilanti in oracione et non dormienti videbatur in spirituali visione, quasi videret palacium incomprehensibile magnitudine, in quo erant innumerabiles vestiti vestibus albis et fulgidis, quorum quilibet videbatur habere sedem propriam.
In palacio vero principaliter stabat una sedes iudiciaria, in qua erat quasi sol; et splendor qui de sole procedebat erat incomprehensibilis in longitudine, profunditate et latitudine.
Virgo quoque una stabat iuxta sedem habens preciosam coronam in capite, omnesque seruiebant soli sedenti in sede, laudantes eum in hympnis et canticis.
Deinde videbatur quidam Ethiops, terribilis in aspectu et gestibus, quasi plenus inuidia et accensus ira magna, qui loquendo clamauit: "O, iuste iudex, iudica michi animam et audi opera eius! Modicum enim iam restat de vita eius. Permitte quoque michi punire corpus cum anima, donec abinuicem separentur."
Quibus dictis videbatur michi quod unus stabat coram sede quasi miles armatus, pudicus et sapiens in verbis modestusque in gestibus suis, qui dixit: "O, iudex, ecce hic sunt bona opera eius, que gessit usque ad hanc horam."
Et statim audiebatur vox de sole sedente in sede: "Hic," inquit, "vicium maius est quam virtus, nec est iusticia quod vicium summe virtuti coniungatur."
Respondit Ethiops: "Ergo," inquit, "iusticia est ut anima ista coniungatur michi. Si enim ipsa vicium aliquod habet in se, sic et in me nequicia est omnis."
Respondit miles: "Misericordia Dei quamlibet personam sequitur usque ad mortem et usque ad ultimum punctum et postea fit iudicium. In isto vero homine, de quo loquimur, adhuc coniuncta sunt anima et corpus et discrecio manet in eo."
Respondit Ethiops: "Scriptura dicit, que mentiri non potest: 'Diliges Deum super omnia et proximum tuum sicut te ipsum'. Vide ergo, quod omnia opera istius facta sunt ex timore non ex caritate, sicut debuit,
omniaque peccata eius, de quibus confessus est, inuenies confessa cum modica contricione. Ideo promeruit infernum, quia demeruit regnum celorum, et ideo peccata eius sunt hic manifesta apud iusticiam diuinam,
quia nunquam adhuc obtinuit contricionem ex diuina caritate peccatorum suorum commissorum." Respondit miles: "Ipse utique sperauit et credidit obtinere contricionem veram ante mortem."
Cui Ethiops: "Tu," inquit, "congregasti omnia, quecumque bene fecit, omniaque verba et cogitatus ad salutem anime eius nosti.
Omnia," inquit, "ista, quecumque sunt, non possunt assimilari gracie illi, que est contricio ex diuina dileccione cum sancta fide et spe, et minus delere possunt omnia peccata sua.
Nam iusticia ab eterno in Deo est, quod nullus peccator ingreditur celum, qui non habuerit perfectam contricionem, et ideo impossibile est quod Deus iudicet contra disposicionem prescitam ab eterno.
Ergo anima ista iudicanda est ad infernum et mecum ad eternam penam coniungenda." Quibus dictis miles tacuit nichil respondens ad eius verba.
Post hec videbantur demones innumerabiles, similes discurrentibus scintillis ex feruenti igne et clamabant una voce, dicentes ei qui sedebat in sede quasi sol:
"Nos," inquiunt, "scimus, quod tu unus es Deus in tribus personis et eras sine principio et es sine fine, nec est alius deus nisi tu. Tu vere es ipsa caritas cui coniuncta sunt misericordia et iusticia.
Tu fuisti in te ab inicio, nichil habens diminutum in te nec transmutabile sicut decet Deum. Extra te nichil est et nichil extra te, quod gaudium habeat.
Ideo caritas tua fecit angelos ex nulla alia materia nisi a deitatis tue potencia; et fecisti sicut misericordia dictabat.
Sed postquam nos intus accensi fuimus superbia, inuidia et cupiditate, tua caritas diligens iusticiam eiecit nos de celo cum igne malicie nostre in abissum incomprehensibilem et tenebrosam, que vocatur nunc infernus.
Sic fecit caritas tua tunc, que nec separabitur adhuc de iusticie tue iudicio, siue fiat secundum misericordiam siue secundum equitatem.
Plus dicimus: si res illa quam pre omnibus diligis, que est virgo que te genuit et que nunquam peccauit, si, inquam, illa peccasset mortaliter et sine contricione diuina mortua fuisset,
sic diligis iusticiam, quod anima eius nunquam obtineret celum sed esset nobiscum in inferno. Ergo, o iudex, cur non iudicas animam istam nobis, ut puniamus eam secundum opera sua?"
Post ista audiebatur sonitus quasi tube, quem qui audiebant tacuerunt, et statim quedam vox loquebatur dicens: "Silete et auscultate, omnes vos angeli et anima et demonia, quid mater Dei loquitur!"
Et statim ipsa virgo ante sedem iudicii apparens et habens sub mantello suo quasi occulte res aliquas magnas dixit: "O, o inimici! Vos persequimini misericordiam et cum nulla caritate diligitis iusticiam.
Licet in operibus bonis hic appareat defectus, pro quibus hec anima non debet obtinere celum; videte tamen quid ego habeo sub mantello meo!" Cumque virgo ambas aperuisset sinus mantelli, apparuit sub una quasi quedam modica ecclesia, in qua aliqui monachi videbantur.
Sub alia vero sinu apparuerunt mulieres et viri amicique Dei religiosi et alii; et omnes una voce clamabant dicentes: "Miserere, misericors Domine!"
Deinde factum est silencium, et virgo loquebatur dicens: "Scriptura dicit: Qui habet fidem perfectam potest per eam montes transferre in mundo. Quid ergo tunc possunt et debent voces istorum facere, qui et fidem habuerunt et seruierunt Deo cum feruenti caritate?
Quid vero illi amici Dei facturi sunt, quos iste rogauit orare pro se, ut posset separari ab inferno et obtinere celum, nec pro bonis operibus suis aliam remuneracionem quesiuit nisi celestia?
Numquid non possunt et valent omnes eorum lacrime et preces apprehendere et eleuare eum, ut obtineat ante mortem suam diuinam contricionem cum caritate?
Insuper et ego addam preces meas cum oracionibus omnium sanctorum qui in celo sunt, quos iste specialiter honorabat."
Et iterum adiecit virgo: "O," inquit, "demones, precipio vobis ex potestate iudicis attendere ad illa que in iusticia nunc videtis."
Tunc omnes responderunt quasi ex uno ore: "Nos," inquiunt, "videmus, quod in mundo modica aqua et aer magnus placant iram Dei. Sic et tua oracione placatur Deus ad misericordiam cum caritate."
Post hec audita est vox de sole dicens: "Propter preces amicorum meorum obtinebit iam ille diuinam contricionem ante mortem, in tantum quod non veniat in infernum, sed purgabitur cum illis qui grauiorem penam habent in purgatorio.
Purgata vero anima mercedem habebit in celis cum illis qui in terris fidem et spem habuerunt cum minima caritate." Quibus dictis demones fugierunt.
Deinde sponse videbatur quod quasi locus quidam terribilis et tenebrosus aperiebatur, in quo apparuit fornax ardens intus. Et ignis ille nichil aliud habebat ad comburendum nisi demones et viuentes animas.
Supra vero fornacem istam apparuit anima illa, cuius iudicium iam in superioribus auditum est. Pedes vero anime affixi fuerunt fornaci, et anima stabat erecta quasi persona una.
Non autem stabat in altissimo loco nec in infimo, sed quasi in latere fornacis, cuius forma erat terribilis et mirabilis. Ignis vero fornacis videbatur se trahere sursum infra pedes anime,
sicut quando aqua trahit se sursum per fistulas, et violenter comprimendo se ascendebat super caput, in tantum quod pori stabant sicut vene currentes cum ardenti igne.
Aures autem videbantur quasi sufflatoria fusorum, que cerebrum totum cum continuo flatu commouebant. Oculi vero euersi apparebant et immersi et videbantur ad occiput intus esse affixi.
Os quoque erat apertum et lingua extracta per aperturas narium et dependebat ad labia. Dentes autem erant quasi claui ferrei affixi per palatum. Brachia vero ita longa erant, quod tendebant ad pedes.
Manus quoque ambe videbantur habere et comprimere quandam pinguedinem cum ardenti pice. Cutis vero, que apparebat supra animam, videbatur habere formam pellis supra corpus et erat quasi linthea vestis circumfusa spermate.
Que quidem vestis sic erat frigida, quod omnis qui videbat eam contremuit, et de illa procedebat sicut sanies de ulcere cum corrupto sanguine et fetor ita malus, quod nulli pessimo fetori in mundo posset assimilari.
Visa itaque ista tribulacione audiebatur vox de illa anima, que dixit quinque vicibus ve ve, clamans cum lacrimis totis viribus suis.
"Primo," inquit, "ve michi, quia sic modicum dilexi Deum pro maximis virtutibus eius et gracia michi data. Secundo ve michi, quia non timui iusticiam Dei, sicut debui.
Tercio ve michi, quia dilexi corporis et carnis mee peccatricis voluptatem. Quarto ve michi propter mundi diuicias et superbiam meam. Quinto ve michi, quia unquam vidi vos, Lodouicum et Iohannam."
Et tunc dixit angelus michi: "Ego," inquit, "volo tibi exponere visionem istam. Palacium istud quod vidisti est similitudo celi. Multitudo vero illorum qui erant in sedibus vestiti vestibus albis et fulgidis sunt angeli et sanctorum anime.
Sol vero significat Christum in deitate sua; mulier autem virginem, que Deum genuit; Ethiops vero Dyabolum, qui animam accusat; miles angelum, qui bona opera anime dicit illi.
Fornax vero notat infernum, qui est intus sic ardens, quod si totus mundus arderet cum omnibus que in eo sunt, non esset simile magnitudini fornacis illius.
In isto vero fornace audiuntur voces diuerse, omnes loquentes contra Deum omnesque inchoantes voces suas cum ve et similiter finientes. Apparentque anime quasi persone, quarum membra extenduntur inconsolabiliter, nunquam habentes requiem.
Scito eciam, quod ignis, qui videbatur tibi in fornace, ardet in eternis tenebris, et anime in eo ardentes non habent omnes equalem penam.
Tenebre vero, que apparuerunt in circuitu fornacis, vocatur limbus et procedit de tenebris, que sunt in fornace; et sunt tamen ambo unus locus et unus infernus: quicumque illuc venerit nunquam habebit cum Deo mansionem.
Supra vero tenebras istas est pena maxima purgatorii, quam anime possunt sustinere; et ultra locum istum est locus alius, ubi minor est pena, que non est alia nisi defectus virium in fortitudine et pulchritudine et consimilibus,
sicut per simile dico, quasi si aliquis esset infirmus et cessante infirmitate vel pena nichil haberet de viribus, donec paulatim recuperaret.
Tercius vero locus superior est, ubi nulla alia pena est nisi desiderium perueniendi ad Deum. Et ut melius in consciencia tua intelligas, dico tibi per similitudinem,
quasi si es misceretur et arderet cum auro in igne ardentissimo, et tam diu deberet depurgari, donec es consumeretur et aurum remaneret purum.
Quanto vero es forcius et spissius esset, tanto ardenciori igne indigeret, donec aurum esset quasi aqua currens et totum ardens.
Deinde magister eius profert aurum in locum alium, ubi obtineat veram formam in visu et tactu; postea mittit in tercium locum, ubi custodiatur et presentetur possessori.
Sic est eciam spiritualiter. In primo loco supra tenebras est maxima pena purgatorii, ubi vidisti illam supradictam animam purgari. Ibi est demonum tactus; ibi per similitudinem apparent venenosi vermes et similitudo animalium ferocium;
ibi calor est et frigus; ibi tenebre et confusio, que procedunt de pena que est in inferno; ibi quedam anime habent minorem penam, quedam maiorem, iuxta quod peccata emendata erant vel non eo tempore, quo anima cum corpore mansit.
Deinde magister, id est iusticia Dei, profert aurum, id est animas, in alia loca, ubi non est nisi defectus virium, in quibus anime tam diu morabuntur,
donec refrigerium habebunt vel de specialibus amicis suis vel de sancte ecclesie continuis operibus: nam anima, quo maius auxilium habebit de amicis, eo cicius conualescit et liberabitur de illo loco.
Post hec autem anima fertur in locum tercium, ubi non est pena nisi desiderium perueniendi ad Dei presenciam et eius visionem beatam.
In hoc loco morantur multi et nimis diu, preter illos qui, in mundo dum vixerunt, perfectum desiderium habuerunt perueniendi ad Dei presenciam et eius visionem.
Scito eciam, quod multi moriuntur in mundo ita iusti et innocentes, quod statim perueniunt ad presenciam et visionem Dei,
quidam vero peccatis suis cum bonis operibus sic emendatis, quod anime eorum nullam sencient penam; sed pauci sunt qui non veniunt in locum ubi est desiderium perueniendi ad Deum.
Ideo omnes anime in istis locis tribus morantes participantur sancte ecclesie precibus et bonis operibus que fiunt in mundo: precipue que fecerunt dum vixerunt et [eorum] que fiunt ab amicis eorum post mortem.
Scito eciam, quod sicut peccata sunt multiformia et diuersa, sic eciam pene sunt multiplices et diuerse. Ideo, sicut esuriens gaudet de pasticulo venienti ad os eius,
siciens de potu, tristis letatur de gaudio, nudus de veste, infirmus in veniendo ad lectum, sic anime gaudent et participantur hiis bonis, que fiunt pro eis in mundo."
Deinde subiunxit angelus: "Benedictus sit ille qui in mundo iuuat animas oracionibus et bonis operibus laboreque corporis sui,
quia iusticia Dei mentiri non potest, que dicit, quod anime aut purgari debent post mortem pena purgatorii, aut operibus bonis amicorum cicius solui."
Post hec de purgatorio audiebantur multe voces dicentes: "O, Domine Ihesu Christe, iuste iudex, mitte caritatem tuam hiis qui spiritualiter potestatem habent in mundo; tunc plus participari poterimus quam nunc de eorum cantu, leccione et oblacione."
Supra vero spacium istud de quo clamor iste audiebatur, videbatur quasi domus, in qua multe voces audiebantur dicentes: "Merces sit illis a Deo qui mittunt nobis auxilium in defectibus nostris!"
In ipsa quoque domo videbatur quasi aurora procedere, subtus vero auroram apparuit nubes, que nichil habebat de luce aurore, de qua vox maxima processit dicens:
"O, Domine Deus, da de tua incomprehensibili potestate unicuique centesimam remuneracionem in mundo hiis, qui nos eleuant cum bonis operibus in tue deitatis lucem et tue faciei visionem!"
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin 'contricio' is rendered here as 'compunction' to maintain consistency with the established lexicon for grace-pierced sorrow for sin.
- 2 ↩The term 'disposicionem' here refers to the divine order or decree established from eternity regarding the necessity of repentance for salvation.
- 3 ↩The term 'compunction' is used here to denote a grace-pierced sorrow for sin, as per the lexicon policy.
- 4 ↩The Latin 'cum caritate' implies that the prayer's efficacy is bound to the virtue of charity.
- 5 ↩The term 'charity' is used here to denote the theological virtue of love, which the souls in purgatory desire to see more actively manifested by those on earth, as it increases the efficacy of intercessory works.
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