Quidam sanctus dicit sponse, quod, eciam si homo semel cottidie moreretur pro Deo, non sufficeret regraciari Deo pro gloria eterna. Narrat eciam penas terribiles, quas quedam femina defuncta pro delectacione carnis, in qua vixerat, paciebatur in omnibus membris.
The Infinite Debt of Gratitude
A saint reminds the bride that no amount of earthly sacrifice could ever fully repay the eternal glory and love of God.
One of the saints spoke to the bride, saying: "If I had suffered one death for God for every hour I lived in the world, and had always come back to life again, I could never, even with all that, fully thank God for His love." For His praise never leaves my lips, joy never departs from my soul, glory and honor are never withheld from my sight, and exultation is never absent from my hearing.
The Wages of Carnal Pleasure
The Lord reveals the graphic and specific torments suffered by a woman who prioritized worldly pleasure over her Creator.
Then the Lord said to that same saint, "Tell this bride standing here what those deserve who care more about the world than about God, who love the creature more than the Creator, and what kind of punishment that woman is now suffering who, while she lived in the world, lived entirely for pleasure." The saint replied, "Her punishment is extremely severe." For because of the pride she indulged in every part of her body, her head, hands, arms, and feet are now being set ablaze as if by a terrifying bolt of lightning. Her chest is pierced as if by a hedgehog's skin, its spines driven into her flesh, pressing on her with constant, agonizing stabs. Her arms and the rest of her limbs, which she once so sweetly stretched out to embrace a man, are now like two serpents coiling around her, devouring and tearing at her without mercy, and they never tire of the tearing. Her stomach is twisted in such miserable agony, as if a razor-sharp stake had been driven into her private parts and forced in with all its might, pushing it deeper and deeper. Her legs and knees are like ice—hard and unyielding, finding neither rest nor warmth. Her feet, too—the ones she used to carry herself toward pleasure and drag others along with her—stand as if on a razor-sharp blade, cutting into her without end.
The Judgment of the Unrepentant
The narrative shifts to the woman's final judgment, where her refusal to confess and her pride lead to her eternal condemnation.
This lady, who followed her own will and deeply detested confession, died without it after being struck by a swelling of the throat. She was seen standing in the judgment of God, where all the demons were accusing her and crying out: "Look at this woman, who wanted to hide herself from you, God!" But she was known to us. The judge replied, "Confession is the best cleanser." Because she refused to wash herself in her own time, she will now be blackened by your filth; and because she refused to humble herself before a few, it is only right that she be shamed by everyone before many.
Read the original Latin
Quidam sanctorum loquebatur sponse dicens: "Si pro qualibet hora, qua in mundo vixi, vnam mortem pro Deo sustinuissem et semper iterum reuixissem, numquam cum toto hoc plene possem regraciari Deo pro caritate sua.
Quia laus eius numquam recedit ab ore meo, gaudium numquam exit ab anima mea, gloria et honor numquam fraudantur a visu, exultacio numquam abest ab auditu meo."
Tunc Dominus ait ad eundem sanctum: "Dic", inquit, "isti sponse astanti, quid merentur illi, qui de mundo plus curant quam de Deo, qui creaturam plus diligunt quam creatorem, et quale supplicium nunc illa femina habet, que, in mundo dum viueret, in voluptate tota vixit."
Respondit ille sanctus: "Supplicium eius grauissimum est. Nam pro superbia, quam in omnibus membris habuit, caput eius et manus, brachia et pedes quasi fulmine horrendo inflammantur.
Pectus eius pungitur quasi pelle ericii, cuius spine quasi carni eius infiguntur et inconsolabiliter pungendo premunt.
Brachia eius et reliqua membra, que ipsa ad amplexum hominis tam suauiter extendebat, sunt quasi duo serpentes, qui circumuoluuntur ei et inconsolabiliter deuorando laniant eam et in laniando non fatigantur.
Venter eius sic miserabiliter torquetur, ac si naturali membro eius palus acutissimus esset infixus et toto conamine fortissime impelleretur, vt amplius ingrederetur.
Crura eius et genua sunt quasi glacies durissima et inflexibilis, nichil habencia de requie, nichil de calore. Pedes quoque eius, quibus ad delectandum se ferebat et alios secum traxit, stant quasi super nouacula acutissima secancia incessanter."
Hec domina sequens propriam voluntatem multumque abhorrens confessiones preuenta tumore gutturis sine confessione mortua est. Hec visa est stare in iudicio Dei, quam omnes demones accusabant clamantes:
"Ecce mulier, que se abscondere voluit a te, Deus! Nobis autem cognita fuit." Respondit iudex: "Confessio est lotrix optima.
Propterea, quia se lauare noluit tempore suo, denigrabitur amodo immundiciis vestris, et quia se ipsam confundere noluit coram paucis, iustum est, vt confundatur ab omnibus coram multis."
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