Incipit liber celestis imperatoris ad reges reuelatus diuinitus beate Birgitte de regno Swecie. Summus imperator Christus per sponsam loquitur ad reges ostendens se esse verum omnium creatorem et regem in trinitate et vnitate regnantem. Et dicit qualiter mundum ordinauit regendum duplici potestate, videlicet ecclesiastica et laycali que in apostolis Petro et Paulo principaliter designantur.
The Vision of the Heavenly Palace
The visionary is granted a glimpse of a vast heavenly palace where the Lord sits on a throne, honored by the Queen of Heaven.
I saw a great palace, vast beyond comprehension, like a clear sky, where countless people sat on thrones, dressed in white robes that shone like the rays of the sun. In the palace, however, I saw a wonderful throne, on which sat someone like a man, brighter than the sun, a Lord of incomprehensible beauty and immense power, whose splendor was incomprehensible in its length, depth, and breadth. A certain Virgin stood by the seat of the throne, shining with a marvelous brilliance and wearing a precious crown upon her head. Everyone standing nearby served the One sitting on the throne, praising him with hymns and songs, and they reverently honored that virgin as the Queen of Heaven.
The Mystery of the Holy Trinity
The Lord explains the nature of the Trinity, emphasizing the unity of power, wisdom, and goodness within the three Persons.
Then the One who sat on the throne said to me in a most noble voice: "I am the Creator of heaven and earth, the one true God with the Father and the Holy Spirit, because God is the Father, God is the Son, and God is the Holy Spirit—not three gods, but three persons and one God." You might ask: If there are three persons, why aren't there three gods? I answer that God is power itself, wisdom itself, and goodness itself. From Him comes all power below heaven and above, all wisdom, and all the goodness that can be imagined; therefore, God is three and one—three in persons, one in nature. For the Father is power and wisdom; all things exist from Him, and He is the one who is powerful before all things, not from any other source, but from Himself and eternally. The Son is also power and wisdom, equal to the Father; He is not powerful of Himself, but is powerfully and ineffably begotten by the Father, the Beginning from the Beginning, and is never separated from the Father. The Holy Spirit is also power and wisdom, proceeding from the Father and the Son, eternal with the Father and the Son, and equal in majesty and power. There is, therefore, one God and three Persons, because there is one nature of the three, one operation and will, one glory and power. He is so one in essence that they are also distinct by the property of their Persons. For the whole Father is in the Son and in the Spirit, and the Son is in the Father and in the Spirit, and the Spirit is in both, within the one nature of the Godhead—not as something earlier and later, but in an ineffable way where there is nothing earlier or later, nothing greater or lesser than another, but all is ineffable and equal. That’s why it’s well written that God is wonderful and highly worthy of praise.
The Word Made Flesh
The Lord describes the mystery of the Incarnation, explaining how He remained present in heaven while being conceived in the Virgin's womb.
For the Godhead indeed sent His Word to the Virgin Mary through His angel Gabriel. Nevertheless, that same God, both sending and sent by Himself, was with the angel; He was in Gabriel, and before Gabriel, He was in the Virgin. Once the word was spoken by the angel, the Word was made flesh in the Virgin. I am this Word who speaks to you. For the Father sent me through Himself, with the Holy Spirit, into the Virgin's womb. It isn't that the angels lacked the vision and presence of my divinity; rather, I, the Son, who was with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the virgin's womb, was the same one in heaven with the Father and the Spirit in the sight of the angels, governing and sustaining all things, even while my humanity, which I alone assumed, rested in the womb of Mary.
The King's Presence and Authority
Christ asserts His authority as the supreme King and Emperor, explaining His intimate presence with the visionary and the symbolism of the crown.
Therefore, I—one God in both divinity and humanity—don't disdain to speak with you, to show you my love and to strengthen the holy Christian faith. Even though my humanity may seem to be beside you and speaking with you, it is nonetheless more true that your soul and your intelligence are with me and in me. For nothing is impossible for me, and nothing is difficult in heaven or on earth. I am, in fact, like a powerful king who arrives at a city with his army and fills every space, occupying everything. In the same way, my grace fills all your members and strengthens them all. I am, in fact, both within you and outside you. Even though I am speaking with you, I remain the same in my glory. What is difficult for me, when by my power I sustain all things, by my wisdom I arrange all things, and by my virtue I overcome all things? I, therefore, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, am the one God without beginning and without end; I, who truly suffered for the salvation of humanity, rose again, and ascended while assuming human nature without harm to my divinity, am now speaking to you in truth. I am the true and supreme Emperor and Lord. No lord is greater than I, nor was there anyone before me, nor will there be anyone after me; instead, all authority comes from me and through me. Therefore, I am the true Lord, and no one else can truly be called lord except me alone, because all power and dominion come from me, and no one will be able to resist my power. I am also the King of the crown. Do you know, my bride, why I have called myself the King of the crown? Certainly, my divinity was without beginning, and it will be without end, and it is. This divinity is therefore rightly compared to a crown, because a crown has no beginning and no end. Just as a crown is kept in a kingdom for a future king, so my divinity was kept for my humanity, by which it was to be crowned.
The Two Pillars: Peter and Paul
The Lord uses the examples of Peter and Paul to define the roles of the clergy and the laity in the life of the Church.
I did, however, have two excellent servants. One of them was a cleric, and the other was a layman. The first was my apostle Peter, who held the office of a cleric; the second was the apostle Paul, who was like a layman. Peter was married, but realizing that marriage couldn't be reconciled with the office of a cleric, and seeing that the integrity of his soul was at risk through incontinence, he separated himself from his marriage—lawful though it was—insofar as it involved carnal union, and with a perfect heart he clung to me. Paul, however, kept his chastity and guarded himself, unstained by the marriage bed. See the love I have shown to these two. For I gave Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven, so that whatever he bound or loosed on earth would be bound and loosed in heaven; but to Paul, I gave that he should be made equal to Peter in glory and honor.✦ And so, you should know that just as they were equals and united on earth, so now they are united and glorified in heaven in everlasting glory. But although I have explicitly named these two, I still mean other bishops, kings, and my friends in them and with them. Just as I once spoke in the Law to Israel alone—as if to one person—while I was actually referring to the entire Israelite people, so now, in these two, I mean many others whom I have filled with my glory and my love. As time went on, however, evils began to multiply, and the flesh grew weak and more prone to evil than it had been before. Therefore, in mercy, I have provided for both states of life—the clergy and the laity, whom I understand in Peter and Paul—by allowing the clergy to hold the goods of the Church in moderation for their bodily needs, so that they might be all the more fervent and frequent in my service. It also pleased me that the laity should live honorably in their marriages according to the rites of the Church.
Read the original Latin
Vidi palacium grande incomprehensibile magnitudine simile celo sereno, in quo erant innumerabiles persone sedentes in sedibus indute vestibus albis et fulgidis quasi radii solis.
In palacio vero vidi thronum mirabilem, in quo sedebat quasi vnus homo fulgencior sole incomprehensibilis pulcritudinis et immense potencie dominus, cuius splendor erat incomprehensibilis in longitudine et profunditate et latitudine.
Virgo autem quedam stabat iuxta sedem throni mirabili fulgore coruscans, habens in capite preciosam coronam.
Et omnes illi assistentes seruiebant sedenti in throno, laudantes eum in hymnis et canticis et honorabant illam virginem reuerenter vt reginam celorum.
Ille igitur qui sedebat in throno voce honestissima dixit michi: "Ego sum creator celi et terre, vnus cum patre et spiritu sancto verus deus, quia deus est pater, deus filius, deus spiritus sanctus, non tres dii sed tres persone et vnus deus.
Nunc autem querere poteris: Si tres sunt persone, quare non tres dii? Respondeo tibi, quod deus est ipsa potencia, ipsa sapiencia, ipsa bonitas.
A quo est omnis potestas infra celum et supra, omnis sapiencia et omnis pietas que possit cogitari; itaque deus trinus est et vnus, trinus in personis, vnus in natura.
Nam potencia et sapiencia est pater, a quo sunt omnia et qui est ante omnia potens, non aliunde sed a se ipso et eternaliter.
Potencia et sapiencia eciam filius equalis patri, non a se ipso potens sed a patre potenter et ineffabiliter genitus, principium de principio et a patre numquam separatum.
Potencia et sapiencia eciam spiritus sanctus a patre et filio procedens, eternus cum patre et filio et equalis in maiestate et potestate.
Vnus ergo deus et tres persone, quia vna natura trium, vna operacio et voluntas, vna gloria et potestas. Qui ita est vnum in essencia, quod eciam sunt distincti proprietate personarum.
Nam totus pater est in filio et spiritu et filius in patre et spiritu et spiritus in vtroque in vna deitatis natura, non sicut prius et posterius sed ineffabiliter vbi nichil est prius aut posterius, nichil alio maius aut minus vel alterius sed totum ineffabile et equale.
Propterea bene scriptum est, quod deus est mirabilis et multum laudabilis. Deitas quippe misit verbum suum marie virgini per angelum suum gabrielem.
Nichilominus tamen idem deus mittens et missus a se ipso erat cum angelo, erat in gabriele et ante gabrielem in virgine.
Dicto autem verbo ab angelo verbum factum est caro in virgine. Hoc verbum ego sum qui loquor tecum. Pater enim misit me per se ipsum cum spiritu sancto in ventrem virginis.
Non sic quod angeli caruerunt visione et presencia deitatis mee, sed ego filius qui fui cum patre et spiritu sancto in ventre virgineo idem eram in celo cum patre et cum spiritu in visione angelorum, omnia gubernans omniaque sustentans, licet humanitas mea a me solo assumpta requieuit in ventre marie.
Ego igitur in deitate et humanitate vnus deus ad ostensionem caritatis mee et in robur christiane fidei sancte non dedignor loqui tecum.
Et licet humanitas mea videatur esse iuxta te et loqui tecum, verius tamen est quod anima tua et intelligencia tua mecum est et in me. Nichil enim michi est impossibile et nichil difficile in celo et in terra.
Ego quippe sum sicut rex potens, qui cum exercitu suo veniens ad ciuitatem omnia loca implet, omnia occupat. Sic gracia mea omnia membra tua replet, omnia fortificat.
Ego denique sum in te et extra te. Ego quamuis loquor tecum, idem tamen sum in gloria. Quid michi difficile est, qui potencia mea omnia sustento, sapiencia mea omnia dispono, virtuositate mea omnia supero?
Ego igitur cum patre et spiritu sancto sine principio et sine fine vnus deus, qui pro salute hominum in humanitate assumpta, deitate illesa permanente, vere passus fui, resurrexi et ascendi, nunc veraciter loquor tecum.
Ego sum verus et summus imperator et dominus. Nullus enim dominus est me excellencior nec ante me fuit nec post me erit, sed omne dominium est a me et per me.
Ideo ego sum verus dominus nec aliquis vere dominus dicendus est nisi ego solus, quia a me est omnis potestas et dominacio et potencie mee nullus resistere poterit.
Ego eciam sum rex corone. Numquid, sponsa mea, scis tu quare dixerim rex corone? Certe deitas mea sine principio erat et sine fine erit et est.
Hec igitur deitas merito corone assimilatur, quia corona sine principio et sine fine est. Sicut autem in regno corona seruatur regi futuro, nunc deitas mea seruabatur humanitati mee, qua ipsa coronaretur.
Ego autem habui duos optimos famulos. Vnus eorum erat clericus et alter laycus. Primus erat Petrus apostolus meus clerici officium habens, secundus fuit apostolus Paulus quasi laycus.
Petrus fuit alligatus coniugio, qui videns coniugium cum officio clerici non posse conuenire et rectitudinem mentis sue in incontinencia periclitari perpendens separauit se quantum ad commixtionem carnalem a coniugio quamuis licito et perfecta mente adhesit michi.
Paulus autem castitatem seruauit et se immaculatum a thoro custodiuit.
Ecce qualem caritatem cum istis duobus feci. Nam Petro dedi claues regni celorum, vt quecumque ligaret et solueret in terra, ligata et soluta essent in celis, Paulo vero dedi, vt similis Petro fieret in gloria et honore.
Et ideo scias, quod sicut in terra pares fuerunt et coniuncti, sic nunc in celo in gloria perpetua coniuncti sunt et glorificati. Sed licet istos duos expresse nominaui, tamen in eis et cum eis alios pontifices et reges et amicos meos intelligo.
Quia sicut olim in lege ad solum israhel quasi ad vnum hominem loquebar, cum tamen totum israheliticum populum notabam, sic nunc in istis duobus plures intelligo, quos gloria mea et caritate mea repleui.
Procedente autem aliquo tempore ceperunt mala multiplicari et caro infirmari et procliuior solito ad malum esse.
Propterea vtrique statui, clericorum scilicet et laycorum, quos in Petro et Paulo intelligo, misericorditer consulens permisi clericos bona ecclesie ad vtilitatem corporis moderate habere, vt eo feruenciores et frequenciores essent in seruicio meo.
Placuit eciam michi, quod layci honeste viuerent in coniugio suo iuxta ritum ecclesie.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.16.19 — I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
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