Visio Septima
The Column of the Trinity
A vision of a marvelous, dark purple column reveals the majesty and unity of the Holy Trinity.
Then I saw, in the western corner of the building shown to me, a column that was marvelous, mysterious, and immensely strong, with the color of dark purple; it was set into that corner in such a way that it appeared both inside and outside the building itself. It was also so large that neither its size nor its height was clear to my understanding, but it was, in a marvelous way, perfectly smooth and without any wrinkle. On its exterior, however, it had three edges the color of steel, running from its base to its summit like the sharpest of swords. One of these faced toward Africa, where a great deal of rotten straw had been cut away from it and scattered; another faced toward the choir, where many small feathers, sliced by it, had fallen; and the middle one faced toward the west, where many rotten logs, cut away by it, lay scattered—each of these things having been cut away from those same edges because of their own rashness. And again, the one I saw sitting on the aforementioned throne, who was showing me all these things, said to me: "I am showing you these mystical, marvelous, and unknown gifts, which appear to you, O most clear man, in the true light; I am granting you the power to speak and show them, so as to set on fire the hearts of the faithful, who are the purest stones for the building of the heavenly Jerusalem." The holy and ineffable Trinity—hidden from those under the yoke of the Law but revealed in the new grace to those freed from servitude—must be believed by the faithful with a simple and humble heart as one true God in three Persons, rather than rashly investigated. Otherwise, anyone who refuses to be content with the gift received from the Holy Spirit and seeks more than they ought out of pride might fall into something worse instead of finding what they inappropriately crave. The present vision also shows this. For this column that you see in the western corner of the building shown to you is in the likeness of the true Trinity, since the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit exist as one God in Trinity and the same Trinity in unity—a perfect column of all good, penetrating the highest and the lowest, and governing the entire world. It appears in the west because the Son of God, having become incarnate in time as if at the setting of the sun, glorified His Father everywhere and promised the Holy Spirit to His disciples. At the same time, the Son, in the will of the Father, fulfilled the good for humanity by undergoing death, so that they too might walk rightly in the building of the highest Father, perfecting true and just works in the Holy Spirit. Yet it shows itself to be wonderful, secret, and most strong, because God is so wonderful in His creatures that He can in no way be brought to an end by them, and so secret that He is not to be stubbornly examined by any knowledge or sensibility of theirs, and so strong that all their strength is directed by Him and cannot be compared to His strength. As for the fact that it has the color of a purple darkness and is placed upon that same corner in such a way that it appears both inside and outside the building itself: this means that the only Son of the Father, in accordance with the Father's will, poured out His own purple blood for the darkness of human sins, and by His passion saved the world, bringing true and upright faith to those who believe. This is because, with the failure of the old observance and the dawn of a new sanctification, the worship of the holy Trinity was most clearly declared, when it was openly believed that the heavenly Father sent His Son into the world, conceived of the Holy Spirit, who sought the Father's glory and not His own, and who revealed the profound consolation of the Holy Spirit, as has been said, so that this would be hidden in no part, but would be proclaimed both to the faithful remaining in the work of God and to the unfaithful placed outside the faith. And the fact that it is of such magnitude that neither its size nor its height is clear to your intellect means that the same Trinity is of such ineffable glory and power that it cannot be defined by any boundary or presumption of human wisdom in the magnitude of its majesty or the height of its divinity. In a wondrous way, it is perfectly smooth and without any wrinkle, since what is most worthy of admiration is most gentle in grace and always kind and smooth in the sweetness of justice to those who encounter it. Thus, no wrinkle of any injustice is found in it, as it is just and good in the work of salvation. The fact that it has three steel-colored corners on its exterior, rising from the base to the peak like a razor-sharp sword, means that the ineffable Trinity appears most clearly in the unity of the Godhead through the contrast of the darkness set against it throughout the world. It isn't hidden from any creature by its own power and authority, except in the hearts of the unbelieving, where it is obscured by their own lack of faith. Because of this, the judgment of God also strikes them down with a fitting recompense, just as they deserve, like the strongest steel that yields to no heat but stands firm against it. This is also why it extends from the highest to the highest—that is, from the beginning of the creation of the world to its end—and why what remains has powerfully penetrated and continues to penetrate through the sharpest divinity, as if by a striking sword, always with wisdom and power.
Judgment and the Divine Sword
The three edges of the column act as a sword of judgment, cutting away the dryness of unbelief and the arrogance of schism.
As for the corner facing the southwest, where a great deal of dry straw has been cut away and scattered, this signifies that the perfectly just divinity of the Trinity cuts down and burns up, within the Christian people, all the dryness of diversity, contradiction, and rejection that opposes the most upright Catholic faith, leaving it in great confusion. It is like hay that is trampled and burned in the fire, separated from the fruitful grain of wheat—which is faith joined with works in the knowledge of Scripture—from which everything contrary and useless to that true faith is scattered and taken away in its own belief, because an unwise people abuses it like a foolish herd of cattle. One corner directs itself toward the choir where many small feathers fall, torn apart, because the same divinity cast down the puffed-up arrogance of the Jewish people, who flew with great pride in the heights of their own minds. They wanted to be righteous in themselves rather than in God, like the Pharisees who tried to ascend into the heights of the heavens, trusting in their own self-confidence; but by the just judgment of God, because of the diversity of their ways, they were torn apart and fell in this presumption. The middle section faces west, where many rotten logs lie, cast down by it. Through the Trinity itself, the wicked and diabolical schism of the pagan people—who wander in the sunset of unbelief, far from the true faith—is cut away. Just as rotten logs are troublesome and useless for human use, so too is this people cut off and cast out from the joy of life, pursuing diabolical fictions rather than divine commands. Consequently, these individual things were also cut away from those same corners because of their own rashness. In all the aforementioned cases, the true and holy Trinity allows unbelievers—who either boldly wish to tear it apart or who stubbornly refuse to believe it—to go on, cut off from itself, into destruction. They rabidly and ignorantly attack the divinity, refusing to bow to the faith that the Son of God brought himself and also transmitted to humanity through his disciples, according to this parable: A certain Lord, possessing a fiery stone, wished to send a necessary thing to many people through it and through his messengers. But the messengers weren't wise or knowledgeable enough to understand their Lord's words; they were foolish and ignorant in carrying out that command. Meanwhile, a tumult arose, along with a great storm and a rushing, fierce thunder, so that the earth was shaken and the stones were split. Likewise, a vessel in which many smaller vessels lay hidden in the earth, with its back turned toward heaven, was uprooted from the earth with great strength, and its interior was turned toward heaven. Then, a breath of fire came from that Lord through the stone itself, passing through those messengers with such heat that all their veins grew warm. All the sluggishness of fear was shaken from them so quickly that whatever was poured over them fell away from their dry skin as fast as possible. At last, they remembered everything they had heard and learned from their Lord, and they went to the people who had no navels and whose city had been destroyed, and they announced the command of their Lord to them. They restored navels to some of them and, by rebuilding their city, returned it to them; yet to others, they restored neither navels nor the city, but killed them and divided them like pigs. And so, that stone became known to the whole world, striking down and killing all the flawed deeds of human flesh.
The Incarnation and the Holy Spirit
The mystery of the Son's incarnation and the subsequent outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost are explained as the fulfillment of divine salvation.
This is how it is: this Lord is the almighty Father, with whom is His only-begotten Son—that cornerstone, of course, who was conceived of the fiery Holy Spirit and born as man from the most pure Virgin, being the most radiant and beautiful flower, existing in the whiteness and beauty of all holiness. For the Son of God existed in His divinity, ineffably, before the age of any creature, with the Father and with the fiery Comforter; later, at the appointed time, He was sent by the Father so that, conceived of the Holy Spirit as has been said, He might be truly born incarnate of the Virgin, to bestow upon believers the radiance and beauty of life. Once He was incarnate, the heavenly Father showed Him forth, and through Him and His disciples, He kindly announced what was necessary: the salvation and deliverance of those who would believe in Him. But His disciples, even while the Son remained with them bodily in the world, were foolish, ignorant, and dull, slow to understand His words in the spirit and to act on them; they heard them only in simplicity, as if in a dream, not yet confirmed, but fearful and terrified like ordinary men. Meanwhile, the time of insane hearts arrived, so that the Jews, creating a tumult, sought Him out, stirring up many schisms against the Son of God, so that in this great storm they might kill Him. And while they were thus fulfilling all their malice as they had desired, then in this sudden and massive thunderclap, such a great murder was committed—the likes of which had not been before, nor will be again—that the earth was shaken; that is, the earthly minds of men were terrified along with the rest of creation, and the stony law of the Jews was torn apart in their criminal act. Then the first man, with his race—in whom the sign of the rest of creation lay buried in death, having turned all his intention toward earthly things and having his back to heaven, unwilling to look toward God—was uprooted by the great strength of the Son of God from the land of death where they sleep with their children, so that he sighed with his whole heart and all his knowledge, as if in the womb, turning himself toward the heavenly homeland, because he heard that Christ, the Son of God, had been killed for his sake. But after the ascension of that same Son of God from the Father, and through the Son Himself, the Holy Spirit arrived just as He had promised, because the whole earth was dripping with heavenly sweetness, since the heavenly bread had remained in the world; those who were faithless had neglected it fleetingly, as if in a rumor, but the faithful had received it with all devotion. Because the Word was made flesh, the Holy Spirit appeared openly in tongues of fire, since the Son was conceived of the Holy Spirit, who in his preaching converted the world to the truth. And because the apostles had also been taught by that same Son, the Holy Spirit himself filled them with his heat, so that they spoke in different languages with both soul and body, for in them the soul mastered the body; and as they cried out, the whole world was stirred by their voices. The same Holy Spirit also took away from them all human fear; consequently, no such dread remained in them that they would fear the cruelty of men or be afraid to speak the word of God. Instead, all such timidity was taken from them with such fervor and such haste that they were rendered like dry, unyielding things—or rather, like men already dead—to any adversity that might befall them. With a sudden and perfect understanding, they remembered everything they had previously heard and received from Christ, even though they had been slow to believe and negligent at the time. They brought these things back to mind as if they had learned them from Him at that very hour. As they traveled, they moved among unbelieving peoples who lacked the 'navel'—that is, the seal and the knowledge of holy innocence and justice. Their city had been destroyed by their own infidelity, and they lacked the instruments of God's law; yet the apostles announced to them the words of salvation and of true faith in Christ. In this way, they brought many from that crowd to the knowledge of God, leading them to the 'navel'—the fountain of Baptism. In it, they received the holiness lost in the proud transgression of Adam, and they raised up the holy city of God's commandments, rebuilding for them the very thing the tempter, the devil, had despoiled in Adam, and restoring it to them in faith for their salvation. But for those who refused to receive the faith of Baptism and the protection of God's command because of their own unbelief, the apostles passed them by in their proclamation of signs. They condemned them for their hardness and unbelief, handing them over to death because they refused to turn to the true faith. They wallowed in their own wickedness and the filth of fleshly pollution, and in the enticements of their own fornication and adultery, just as a pig wallows in the mud; and so they were divided and separated from life. And so the Son of God was manifested to the world through many wondrous signs. He was shown to have been begotten ineffably by the Father before time began according to His divinity, and later, in time, to have been miraculously incarnate of the Virgin according to His humanity. The hearts of all who heard this were shaken with great horror and trembling, and the vain and deceptive works they had done according to their own desires were brought to nothing in them through their contempt for death. They bore witness to the true Word of God, to the holy Trinity, and to the life-giving salvation that comes through the water of regeneration, which restores life, just as the beloved John shows in his exhortation, saying: 'And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because Christ is the truth; for there are three who bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three are one.' And there are three who bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, and these three are one. This is how it is: the spirit of man is spiritual, meaning it doesn't proceed from blood nor is it born of flesh, but flows from the hidden mystery of God, remaining invisible to the person who is subject to change.
The Testimony of Spirit, Water, and Blood
The three witnesses on earth—spirit, water, and blood—are shown to mirror the unity of the Father, Word, and Spirit in the work of human redemption.
Therefore, there is a testimony of Him to the Son of God, whose glory is wonderful in the mystical breath—a glory no human can perfectly understand, just as no human can fully know how the only-begotten Son of God was conceived by the Holy Spirit and came into this world, or how the soul passes through a person's body and blood so that they share one life. And just as the human spirit, in the most certain knowledge God gives it, passes through all things He grants—since this isn't a false and deceptive life, but a true and faithful one—so Christ is the perfect truth in whom life rose again, and the light of salvation shone forth, from which death fell because it is itself deceptive. And three things, signifying the Holy Trinity, bear witness on earth: they show and grant in this present age the remedy of life-giving salvation, through which we must come to the heavenly things that will remain without end—things not yet held in reality, but awaited in hope. For the human spirit has within itself a testimony from Me that it isn't in the full life of restored salvation unless it rises for Me in the water of regeneration, because it failed in that light which shines in Me, having been cast out of happiness through the corrupt conception of sin that grows in the blood. Water has that testimony, for it cleanses all filth within itself, and the deadly destruction of death perishes in it through the purest purification. It is joined here to the spirit before the blood, because just as the spirit is spiritual, so too does water bring spiritual sanctification; it is placed as a medium between spirit and blood, since it strengthens both soul and body through spiritual generation and transmits them to life. Blood also has this testimony, for it turns its poisonous paths back toward the house of sanctification through the water of salvation, which is a medicinal power beginning in My Son and remaining in Him unto life, because blood contains within itself deeply culpable sins and the great restlessness of injustice, running through wandering paths in the twisted sweetness that serves burning lust and suffocates innocence through horrible vices, beginning to grow through the act of eating from the suggestion of the tempter, the devil. And these three are one, since a human is not a living being without the bloody matter of the body, nor is the bloody matter of the body a living human without the soul, nor do these two revive in the grace of the new law unto life except through the water of regeneration; and so they are one in redemption, and are not whole in salvation as long as they are separated from this saving water, because rationality lacks the surpassing honor of the life in which a redeemed human must always resound with perfect praise in the sight of God, who gave him that rationality. For God, by His own will, created man for that honor which is fulfilled in the body of His Son in eternal life, when the lost human revives in the honor of life, redeemed by saving grace in God. The spirit, invisible to physical eyes, represents the Father, who is beyond the estimation of any creature; the water, which cleanses filth, signifies the Word—that is, the Son—who by His passion washes away the stains of humanity; and the blood, which embraces and warms the human person, figures the Holy Spirit, who awakens and kindles the most brilliant virtues in people. So these three—the spirit, the water, and the blood—are in one, and one in three, and they are one in salvation, as has been said, demonstrating the Trinity in unity and the unity in the Trinity. How? The holy and heavenly Trinity gives heavenly testimony: it isn't taken from another source, but is made manifest in itself by certain faith. How? The Father testifies that His only fruitful Word, whom He begot before all ages and through whom all things were created, later flourished most gloriously in the Virgin at the predestined time. The Word, however, testifies that He went forth from the Father, inclining Himself toward human nature and becoming incarnate in the modesty of virginity; for He went forth from the Father in a spiritual procession and returned again to the Father in the fruitfulness of the flesh, placed here in the middle, since He was begotten invisibly by the Father before time and was conceived corporally in the Virgin's womb in time by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, for His part, testifies that He kindled the integrity of the Virgin so that she might conceive the Word of God, and that He confirmed the teaching of that same Word in tongues of fire when He so filled the apostles that they proclaimed the true Trinity throughout the whole world. How? They cried out that God the Father fulfilled what He had created: He created man for heavenly happiness, a happiness from which man had been stripped because, though he was made from the dust of the earth and raised upward, he turned himself downward toward the earth by his own will. Now, however, through the incarnate Son of God, he has been raised up again in grace, and through the Holy Spirit, he has been enlightened and confirmed so that he wouldn't perish in destruction, but rather, being saved in redemption, he has been restored to eternal brightness. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit testify that they aren't at all distinguished in power, even though they are distinguished in persons, because they work together in the unity of a simple and unchanging substance. How so? Because the Father is the one who creates everything through the Word—that is, through his Son—in the Holy Spirit; the Son is the one through whom everything is brought to completion in the Father and the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit is the one through whom everything flourishes in the Father and the Son. And these three persons are so joined in the unity of an inseparable substance that they aren't confused with one another. How so? Because the one who begets is the Father, the one who is born is the Son, and the one who proceeds from the Father and the Son in most ardent vitality—and who, appearing in the form of an innocent bird over the waters, sanctified them and filled the apostles with fiery ardor—is the Holy Spirit. For the Father had the Son before the ages of time, and the Son was with the Father, with the Holy Spirit eternally co-eternal to the Father and the Son in the unity of the Godhead. From this, it must be considered that if two or even one of these three persons were missing, God wouldn't be in his fullness. How? Because they are one unity of divinity; for if any one of them were missing, God would not be. For although these same persons are distinct in this way, they are nonetheless one, whole, and unchanging substance of inestimable beauty, remaining in an undivided unity. How? Power, will, and ardor: these three peaks are in one summit of operation. How? In power is will, and in will is ardor, and they are inseparable, just as a person's breath is in its emission. How? The wind, circulating with moisture and heat, exists as an indivisible emission within a person's breath, just as your eye does in its integrity. How? The circle of your eye has two clear parts within it, yet it exists as one dwelling, ruling over all things that are set for it. Listen and understand, human. So the three Persons exist in one unchangeable essence of divinity. The Son is in the Father, the Holy Spirit is in both, and they are one and work together inseparably; the Father doesn't work without the Son, nor the Son without the Holy Spirit, nor the Holy Spirit without them, nor the Father or the Son without the Holy Spirit, for they are an indivisible unity. Thus God is in three Persons without beginning before time; not yet, before the beginning of the world, was the assumption of flesh in the Son completed, until the preordained time when the fullness of that time came, when God sent His Son. But even with the same Son incarnate, the same God remains in three Persons, willing to be invoked in them in this way, just as the same virginal flower flourished in the integrity of virginity. For this reason, no person was added to the ineffable Trinity; only the Son of God Himself took on flesh, assumed inviolably.
The Peril of Presumptuous Inquiry
A stern warning is issued against those who, in their pride, seek to probe the incomprehensible mysteries of God, leading to their own spiritual ruin.
So, these three Persons are one God in divinity. Anyone who doesn't believe this will be cut off from the kingdom of God, because they tear apart the integrity of the divinity and their own self in faith, just as it is written: 'On the third day, a man appeared coming from Saul's camp, his clothes torn and his head covered in dust.' This means that when the Catholic faith arose in the manifestation of the Holy Trinity, people were springing up in great schism, coming from the army of a deadly cohort, perversely probing into what is impossible for a human to know. And so, having been incarnated by the many persuasions of diabolical art, they pretend to ascend above that height, to the point that they want to know more about the incomprehensible divinity than they ought to know. And therefore, they are cut off from the garment of salvation and justice because they are contrary to God, and they are defiled by the diversity of their scattering; they do not have an integral faith at the head of their belief, but instead scatter the unique honor of the Godhead into many sects, and diminish their higher honor in the mockery of schism. All of them will be judged by God, as it is contained in the following: David said to the young man who had reported it to him, 'Where are you from?' He answered, 'I am the son of an Amalekite immigrant.' And David said to him, 'Why weren't you afraid to lift your hand to kill the Lord's anointed?' David called one of his servants and said, "Go over and strike him down." He struck him, and he died. Then David said to him, "Your blood be on your own head." For your own mouth has spoken against you, saying, "I have killed the Lord's anointed." This is what it means: The Victorious One, who is incomprehensible to every creature, speaks to the childish ignorance found in man—to that very immaturity which exalts itself, wanting to know what should not be known, and in its folly attacks God with a kind of recklessness, declaring to Him, "I know You well, Lord." And so He answers him like this: "Who are you, having a beginning, to want to know everything that has no beginning?" And the folly that has arisen in man, having a beginning, answers as if in its own wisdom, saying, "I am a son of man who is a stranger, coming here from this cursed earth, because the first man, having fallen by tasting the fruit, made the journey into this exile from his homeland, and I am his descendant." Then God says to him: Because you are a human from a cursed earth and have been driven from your homeland as an exile, why were you not afraid to inquire with such presumption into what you are not meant to know, stifling your own work in a way that is in no way useful in the light of hope, and touching in it the evil of murder? For whoever rashly inquires into what God did before the creation of the world, or what God will do after the final day, let him be cut off from the portion of the blessed Communion, since this is not for him to know, who has a mortal beginning, burdened by sins; but he will be miserable, far from the happy salvation of true knowledge, because in his stubbornness he has inquired into what he ought not to have inquired into. Therefore, you who do these things presumptuously and cruelly through this slaughter, you are killing the blessed understanding of royal prophecy within yourself. Your soul ought to provide itself with pure knowledge, faithfully—that is, in the simplicity that is fitting—and believe in God. Then God commands, in the zeal of His purest justice which has no stain of iniquity, calling him through the most upright unity of the judgment of His own judgments, saying this: 'Hasten and crush him because of the good knowledge he had, so that he may not rest in any happiness of his own sense; for he has made no rest for Me in My heart.' And so the plague of the Lord's zeal strikes him, so that no tiny spark of any eye will remain for him to see—that is, to know—God. From this, he also dies to the vital consolation of justice, unable to govern himself. Then God says to him: 'May your bloody wickedness, by which you lift yourself to heights you cannot look upon, be upon your own soul; may that evil which you unjustly raise against Me trample you down into the depressed place from which you cannot lift yourself, into the right measure of the profession of faith; for you did not want to walk in the right paths, but in your own sense you sought a great schism.' May your mouth be left behind by the words of wisdom; since it has spoken against your own salvation, when you deceitfully inquired into the secret and incomprehensible divinity, presuming to know what is not to be known. You rashly said within yourself, 'I know well what God is,' by that rashness killing your interior salvation, when you did not want to believe in God with caution, but instead raised yourself proudly against Him. But whoever has the sharp ears of interior understanding: let him pant for these words in the burning love of My mirror, and let him write them down in the conscience of his own soul.
Read the original Latin
Deinde vidi in angulo occidentali demonstrati aedificii mirabilem et secretam atque fortissimam columnam colorem purpureae nigredinis habentem, eidemque angulo ita impositam ut et intra et extra ipsum aedificium appareret. Quae etiam tantae quantitatis erat, ut nec magnitudo nec altitudo ipsius intellectui meo pateret, sed quod tantum miro modo planissima absque omni ruga fuit. Habebat autem in exteriore sui parte tres angulos calybei coloris a pede usque ad cacumen ipsius, velut acutissimus gladius incidentes, quorum unus contra Africam respiciebat ubi plurimum putridi straminis ab eo succisum et dispersum fuerat, et unus contra chorum, ubi multae pennulae per illum discissae ceciderant, atque medius contra occidentem, ubi plurima putrida ligna ab ipso desecta jacebant, haec singula ab eisdem angulis propter temeritatem ipsorum succisa. Et iterum ille quem aspiciebam in praedicto throno sedentem et haec omnia mihi demonstrantem dixit mihi: Haec mystica et miranda atque ignota plenissima dona, quae tibi, o homo clarissime, apparent in vero lumine tibi demonstro, tribuo dicere et ostendere ad accendendum ignea corda fidelium, qui purissimi lapides sunt ad aedificationem coelestis Jerusalem.
Nam sancta et ineffabilis Trinitas summae unitatis sub jugo legis servientibus occultata, sed in nova gratia de servitute liberatis manifestata, simplici et humili corde, in tribus personis unus et verus Deus a fidelibus credenda est, et non temere perscrutanda est, ne qui noluerit contentus esse dono quod a Spiritu sancto accepit, dum plus quaerit quam oporteat propter temeritatem elationis suae potius in deterius cadat, quam id quod indecenter appetit inveniatur. Quod et visio praesens ostendit. Haec enim columna quam vides in angulo occidentali demonstrati aedificii, in figura verae Trinitatis est, quoniam Pater, Verbum et Spiritus sanctus unus Deus in trinitate et eadem trinitas in unitate existens, perfecta columna totius boni et penetrans summa et infima, regensque universum orbem terrarum. Quae in plaga occidentis apparet, quia Filius Dei sub tempore quasi in occasu incarnatus, Patrem suum ubique glorificavit, et Spiritum sanctum discipulis suis promisit, cum etiam idem Filius in voluntate Patris mortem subeundo adimplevit bonum hominibus, ut et ipsi in aedificio summi Patris recte incedant, vera et justa opera in Spiritu sancto perficiendo. Sed mirabilem, secretam atque fortissimam se ostendit, quoniam Deus in creaturis suis tam mirabilis existit, ut nullo modo ab eis ad finem perduci possit, tamque secretus ut nulla earum scientia vel sensibilitate pertinaciter sit examinandus, atque tam fortis quod omnis fortitudo ipsarum ab eo dirigatur, nec ejus fortitudini valeat comparari.
Quod autem colorem purpureae nigredinis habet, eidemque angulo ita imposita ut et intra et extra ipsum aedificium appareat: hoc est quod in voluntate Patris unicus Filius ejus purpureum sanguinem suum pro nigredine peccatorum hominum fundens, et sic passione sua mundum salvans, veram et rectam fidem credentibus attulit, quia in defectu veteris observationis, et in ortu novae sanctificationis cultus sanctae Trinitatis manifestissime declaratus est, cum aperte creditum est, quod supernus Pater Filium suum misit in mundum de Spiritu sancto conceptum, qui gloriam Patris et non suam quaesivit, sanctique Spiritus profundam consolationem aperuit, ut dictum est, ita quod hoc in nulla parte lateret, quin et fidelibus in opere Dei manentibus, et infidelibus extra fidem positis denuntiaretur. Et quod tantae quantitatis est ut nec magnitudo nec altitudo ipsius intellectui tuo pateat: hoc est quod eadem Trinitas tam ineffabilis gloriae et potestatis est, quod nec in magnitudine majestatis, nec in altitudine divinitatis ullo circuitu aut praesumptione sapientiae humanae mentis determinari possit. Miroque modo planissima absque omni ruga est, quoniam quod admiratione dignissimum existit, mitissima est in gratia et semper benigna planaque in suavitate justitiae occurrentibus, ita ut nihil rugosum ullius injustitiae in ea inveniatur, justa et bona existens in parte salvationis.
Quod autem habet in exteriore sui parte tres angulos calybei coloris a pede usque ad cacumen ipsius velut acutissimus gladius incidentes: hoc est quod contrarietate tenebrarum opposita in universo mundo ineffabilis Trinitas in unitate deitatis apertissime apparet, nec ulii creaturae suo imperio et potestate absconsa latens exceptis incredulis cordibus quibus ob incredulitatem ipsorum occultatur, propter quod etiam judicium Dei cum digna recompensatione eos ut meriti sunt occidit, veluti fortissima calybs nulli inflammationi cedens, sed se ipsi opponit, unde et quod a summo usque ad summum tendit: ab initio scilicet creationis saeculi usque ad finem ejus, et quod superest hoc potenter in acutissima divinitate quasi in incidente gladio semper sapientia et potestate penetravit et penetrat.
Et quod angulus unus circa Africum respicit ubi plurimum straminis aridi ab eo succisum et dispersum est, hoc est quod justissima divinitas Trinitatis, in Christiano populo omnem ariditatem diversitatis et contradictionis atque abjectionis rectissimae catholicae fidei adversantem, in maxima illius confusione succidit et comburit, sicuti fenum quod conculcatur et in igne comburitur a fructuoso frumenti grano separatum, quod fides est cum operibus in scientia Scripturae, de qua omne quod eidem verae fidei contrarium et inutile est in credulitate sua, dispergitur et aufertur, quia insipiens populus quasi stultum pecus ea abutitur. Atque unus contra chorum se dirigit ubi multae pennulae per illum discissae cadunt, quia eadem divinitas elatam jactantiam Judaici populi, qui cum magna superbia in altitudine mentis suae volabat, dejecit, cum ille in seipso et non in Deo justus esse volebat, ut Pharisaei qui in alta coelorum ascendere tentabant, secundum propriam fiduciam suam in se ipsis confidentes, sed justo judicio Dei ob diversitatem morum suorum discissi in hac praesumptione cadentes.
Medius vero contra occidentem respicit, ubi plurima putrida ligna ab ipso dejecta jacent, quoniam per ipsam Trinitatem abscinditur nefandum et diabolicum schisma gentilis populi, qui in occasu infidelitatis errat in recta fide, quia ut putrida ligna molesta et inutilia sunt ad usus hominum, sic etiam abscissus et abjectus est populus iste a gaudio vitae, magis diabolica sectans figmenta quam divina praecepta. Unde etiam haec singula ab eisdem angulis propter temeritatem ipsorum succisa sunt, quia in omnibus praedictis causis vera et sancta Trinitas infideles, qui vel audacter eam dirumpere volunt, vel qui eam pertinaciter credere nolunt, a se abscissos ire permittit in perditionem, quoniam rabide et ignoranter invadunt divinitatem, nolentes se inclinare fidei quam Filius Dei per se ipsum attulit, et quam etiam per discipulos suos hominibus transmisit, secundum quod haec parabola dicit: Dominus quidam lapidem igneum habens per ipsum et per nuntios suos necessariam rem multo populo mandare volebat. Sed nuntii non erant sapientes et scientes verba domini sui intelligere, sed insipientes et ignari ad mandatum illud perficiendum. Interea ortus est tumultus et tempestas magna et torrens ac saevus tonitruus, ita quod terra mota est, et quod lapides scissi sunt, sic etiam quod vas unum in quo plurima vascula erant in terra jacens absconsum, dorso ad coelum verso, maxima fortitudine eradicaretur e terra, et quod uterus illius ad coelum converteretur. Tunc etiam a Domino illo per lapidem ipsum vehementissimo flatu ignis advenit, qui tanto ardore nuntios illos pertransivit ut omnes venae eorum calefierent, quod et omnis desidia timoris ab eis tanta velocitate excuteretur, ut ab arida pelle velocissime decidit, quod ei super effunditur. Et sic demum recordati sunt illi omnium quae audierant et didicerant a domino suo, et abierunt ad populum qui umbilicos non habebat, et cujus civitas destructa fuerat, et illi mandatum domini sui annuntiabant. Sed et quibusdam et ipsis umbilicos restituerunt, et civitatem eorum reaedificantes ipsis eam reddiderunt, quibusdam autem nec umbilicos nec eis civitatem reddiderunt, sed ipsos occidentes ut porcos eos diviserunt. Et sic lapis ille universo mundo innotuit, concutiens et occidens omnia mendosa facta humanae carnis.
Hoc tale est: Dominus iste est Pater omnipotens apud quem est Unigenitus ejus, ille scilicet lapis angularis qui de igneo Spiritu sancto conceptus est, et ex integerrima Virgine natus homo, ipse videlicet flos candidissimus et pulcherrimus existens in albedine et pulchritudine totius sanctitatis. Nam Filius Dei erat secundum divinitatem inenarrabiliter ante aevum omnis creaturae, cum Patre et cum igneo refrigeratore postea in tempore placito missus a Patre, ut conceptus de Spiritu sancto, sicut dictum est, veraciter incarnatus nasceretur ex Virgine, ad conferendum credentibus candorem et decorem vitae. Quo incarnato, ostendit coelestis Pater per illum et per discipulos illius benigne nuntians necessariam rem, salutem videlicet et salvationem hominibus, qui in ipsum crediderint. Sed illius discipuli cum idem Filius apud eos corporaliter maneret in mundo, erant stulti et inscii ac stolidi, et tardi vigilanter verba illius in spiritu intelligere et opere complere, sed tantum quasi in somno in simplicitate ea audiebant, nondum confirmati, sed pavidi et exterriti velut homines. Interea venit tempus insanorum cordium, ita quod Judaei tumultum facientes exquirebant, suscitantes multa schismata contra Filium Dei, ut in hac magna tempestate occiderent eum. Et dum ita implerent omnem malignitatem suam ut desideraverunt, tunc in hoc praecipiti et maximo tonitruo peractum est tam grande homicidium, quale antea non fuit nec postea futurum est, ita ut terra moveretur, id est ut terrenae mentes hominum exterrerentur cum reliqua creatura, et ut lapidea lex Judaeorum scinderetur in criminoso facto eorum. Tunc primus homo cum genere suo in quo latuit signum reliquae creaturae jacens sepultus in morte; ita quod omnem intentionem suam ad terrena verterat, habens a dorso coelum nolens respicere ad Deum in magna fortitudine Filii Dei eradicatus est e terra mortis in qua dormiunt cum filiis suis, ita quod suspiraret de toto corde omni scientia sua quasi in utero ad coelestem patriam se convertens, quia audivit Christum Dei Filium propter ipsum occisum. Sed post ejusdem Filii Dei ascensionem a Patre et per ipsum Filium, ut ipse promiserat Spiritus sanctus, advenit, quia tota terra in superna dulcedine stillabat, quoniam coelestis panis in mundo manserat, quem infideles transitorie quasi in rumore neglexerant, fideles autem cum omni devotione susceperant.
Quia ergo Verbum incarnatum erat, aperte Spiritus sanctus in igneis linguis apparuit, quoniam de Spiritu sancto Filius conceptus est qui in praedicatione sua mundum ad veritatem convertit. Et quoniam etiam apostoli per eumdem Filium docti erant, ipse Spiritus sanctus ita in calore suo perfudit eos, ut diversis linguis anima et corpore loquerentur, quoniam in eis anima corpori dominabatur, sic illis clamantibus quod in vocibus eorum totus orbis terrarum commoveretur.
Abstulit quoque idem Spiritus sanctus ipsis homanum timorem; itaque talis pavor nullus eis inerat ut saevitiam hominum timerent, ne verbum Dei loquerentur, sed omnis hujusmodi timiditas tanto ardore et tanta festinantia eis ablata est; ut quasi aridi et non molles sed ut mortui ad cunctam adversitatem redderentur quae ipsis accidere potuisset. Unde etiam mox perfecto sensu, recordati sunt omnium quae prius tardi fide negligenter audierant et perceperant a Christo: ea ita ad memoriam reducentes quasi eadem hora ab ipso illa cognovissent. Et abeuntes iter faciebant inter incredulos populos qui umbilicos, id est sigillum, scientiam scilicet sanctae innocentiae et justitiae non habebant, et quibus civitas eorum instrumenta videlicet legis Dei in infidelitate destructa erat, ipsis verba salutis et verae fidei in Christo annuntiantes. Unde multos ex eadem turba ad agnitionem Dei reduxerunt deducentes eos ad umbilicum, id est ad fontem baptismatis, in quo receperunt sanctitatem perditam in superba transgressione, atque sanctam civitatem praeceptorum Dei erexerunt reaedificantes eis ipsam qua eos insidiator diabolus spoliaverat in Adam et eam in fide ad salutem eis reddiderunt. Qui autem fidem baptismatis et munimentum jussionis Dei propter incredulitatem suam recipere nolebant, hos in praeconiis signorum pertransierunt, ac eos ob duritiam et incredulitatem quae in ipsis erat condemnantes, morti tradiderunt, quia in sceleribus suis et in sordibus pollutionum carnis, atque in illecebris fornicationum et adulteriorum suorum se involventes ut porcus luto involvitur, ad veram fidem converti noluerunt, unde et a vita divisi et separati sunt. Sicque Filius Dei a multis et admirandis signis in toto terrarum orbe manifestatus est ex Patre secundum divinitatem ante tempora ineffabiliter genitus fuisse, et post in tempore secundum humanitatem mirabiliter incarnatus esse ex Virgine, ita quod corda omnium haec audientium horrore et tremore nimio sint concussa, et quod vana ac fallacia opera quae secundum voluptates suas fecerunt, ad nihilum in eis per contemptum mortis sint redacta vero verbo Dei testimonium sanctae Trinitati atque vivificae salvationi quae fit per aquam regenerationis ad vitam reddente, ut dilectus Joannes in verbis exhortationis suae ostendit dicens: Et Spiritus est qui testificatur quoniam Christus est veritas, quia tres sunt qui testimonium dant in terra: spiritus, aqua et sanguis, et tres unum sunt. Et tres sunt qui dant testimonium in coelo: Pater, Verbum et Spiritus, et tres unum sunt . Hoc tale est: Spiritus hominis spiritualis est videlicet non procedens de sanguine nec nascens de carne, sed currens de arcano Dei, existens illi invisibilis quod mutabilitati subjectum est.
Ideoque est illius testificatio ad Filium Dei cujus gloria mirabilis est in mystico spiramine, quam nullus hominum perfecte intelligere valet, scilicet quomodo idem Unigenitus Dei de Spiritu sancto receptus sit et in hunc mundum venerit, sicut etiam nullus hominum plene scire poterit: quomodo anima pertranseat corpus et sanguinem hominis, ita quod eis una vita sit. Et sicut spiritus hominis in certissima causa scientiae quae ei a Deo data est, pertransiens in ea omnia quae sibi a Deo concessa sunt, quoniam non est falsa et deceptoria vita sed vera et fida: ita est Christus perfecta veritas in qua vita surrexit, et lumen salvationis refulsit, de qua mors cecidit quia ipsa fallax est. Et tria sanctam Trinitatem significantia testimonium dant in terra: ita quod ostendunt et tribuunt in praesenti saeculo remedium vivificae salvationis per quod veniendum est ad coelestia sine termino permansura, quae nondum immortalitatis habentur in re, sed in spe exspectantur. Nam spiritus hominis habet ex me testimonium in se quod non est in plena vita restaurationis salutis, nisi resurgat pro me in aqua regenerationis, quia defecit in illo lumine quod lucet in me: expulso de felicitate per corruptam conceptionem criminis quod crescit in sanguine. Et aqua habet testimonium illud, quae omnia sordida purget in se, et quod ipsa mortifera perditio mortis per purissimam purgationem pereat in ea, hic spiritui ante sanguinem adjuncta, quia ut spiritus spiritualis est; sic et aqua spiritualem affert sanctificationem, et media inter spiritum et sanguinem posita, quoniam et animam et corpus per spiritualem generationem confortans transmittit ad vitam. Sanguis quoque hoc testimonium habet, quod venenosa itinera sua retorqueat ad domum sanctificationis per aquam salvationis, quae est medicinalis vis in Filio meo incipiens, et in ipso ad vitam permanens, quia sanguis in se continet valde culpabilia crimina, magnamque inquietudinem injustitiae per errantia scilicet itinera currens in tortuosa dulcedine quae ardenti libidini servit et quae innocentiam per horrida vitia suffocat, crescere incipiens per gestum comedentis de suggestione insidiatoris diaboli. Et haec tria unum quoniam spiritus non est vivens homo sine sanguinea materia corporis, nec sanguinea materia corporis vivens homo, sine anima, nec haec duo reviviscunt in gratia novae legis ad vitam nisi per aquam regenerationis, et ita unum sunt in redemptione, nec sunt integra in salvatione quandiu ab hac salutari aqua sunt separata, quia rationalitati deest praecellens honor vitae, in qua redemptus homo semper resonare debet perfectam laudem in conspectu Dei qui ipsi rationalitatem dedit. Nam Deus propria voluntate sua creavit hominem ad honorem illum qui completur in corpore Filii ejus in vita aeterna: cum perditus homo, reviviscit in honore vitae salutifera gratia redemptus in Deo.
Et spiritus quidem invisibilis corporalibus oculis existens, designat Patrem omni creatura inaestimabilem, et aqua purgationem sordis faciens, significat Verbum, id est Filium passione sua abstergentem maculas hominum, atque sanguis circumplectens et calefaciens hominem, figurat Spiritum sanctum suscitantem et incendentem clarissimas virtutes in hominibus. Sic tria haec videlicet spiritus, aqua et sanguis sunt in uno, et unus in tribus, et unum sunt in salvatione, scilicet ut dictum est, atque Trinitatem in unitate et unitatem in Trinitate demonstrant. Quomodo? Sancta et coelestis Trinitas dat coeleste testimonium: ita quod non est ab alio sumptum, sed certa fide in ipsa manifestatum. Quomodo? Pater testificatur quod unicum fructuosum Verbum suum, quod ante saecula genuit, per quod omnia creata sunt, ipsum postea in praedestinato tempore in Virgine gloriosissime floruit. Verbum autem testificatur quod exivit a Patre, inclinans se ad humanam naturam incarnatus videlicet in pudore virginitatis, quia exivit a Patre spirituali egressione, et iterum rediit ad Patrem in carnis fructuositate, hic in medio positum, quoniam a Patre est ante tempora invisibiliter genitum, et de Spiritu sancto in Virginis utero in tempore corporaliter conceptum. Sanctus vero Spiritus testificatur quod accendit integritatem Virginis, ita quod Verbum Dei conciperet: et quod doctrinam ejusdem Verbi in igneis linguis firmavit, cum apostolos ita perfudit ut per totum mundum veram Trinitatem vociferarentur.
Quomodo? Ipsi clamabant quod Deus Pater perfecit illud quod creavit hominem ad supernam felicitatem, qua spoliatus erat homo, quia ipse de limo terrae factus in erectione sursum, sed voluntate sua declinans se ad terram deorsum: nunc in gratia per incarnatum Dei Filium erectus denuo sursum, et per Spiritum sanctum illuminatus et confirmatus ne periret in perditione, sed ut salvaretur in redemptione restitutus est aeternae claritati.
Sic Pater, Filius et Spiritus sanctus testantur quod omnino non distinguuntur in potestate, quamvis in personis distinguantur, quia simul operantur in unitate simplicis et incommutabilis substantiae. Quomodo? Quoniam Pater est creans scilicet omnia per Verbum, id est per Filium suum in Spiritu sancto; Filius per quem omnia perficiuntur, in Patre et Spiritu sancto; Spiritus sanctus per quem virent omnia, in Patre et Filio. Et hae tres personae sunt ita in unitate inseparabilis substantiae, quod non confunduntur vicissim in se. Quomodo? Ideo quoniam qui genuit Pater est, et qui natus est Filius est, et qui a Patre et Filio ardentissima viriditate procedit, et in specie innocentis alitis super aquas apparens eas sanctificavit, et apostolos igneo ardore perfudit, Spiritus sanctus est. Pater enim ante tempora saeculorum habuit Filium, Filiusque erat apud Patrem, Spiritu sancto aeternaliter Patri Filioque in unitate divinitatis coaeterno. Unde considerandum est quia si ex his tribus personis duae vel una deesset, non esset Deus in plenitudine sua.
Quomodo? Quia ipsae sunt una unitas divinitatis, quoniam si aliqua earum deesset, Deus non esset. Nam quamvis eaedem personae ita distinctae sint, tamen sunt una et integra atque incommutabilis substantia inaestimabilis pulchritudinis, permanens in indivisa unitate. Quomodo? Potestas, voluntas, ardor: hi tres apices in uno culmine operationis sunt. Quomodo? In potestate voluntas, in voluntate ardor et inseparabiles sunt, sicut et halitus hominis in sua emissione. Quomodo?
Circuiens ventus cum humiditate et calore est indivisibili emissione in hominis spiratione, sicut et oculus tuus in sua integritate. Quomodo? Circulus oculi tui habet duo perlucida in se unum tamen habitaculum existens, omniaque regens quae sibi constituta sunt. Audi et intellige, homo. Sic tres personae in una incommutabili essentia divinitatis sunt. In Patre Filius, in utroque Spiritus sanctus, et unum sunt sibique inseparabiliter cooperantur; quoniam nec Pater operatur sine Filio, nec Filius sine Spiritu sancto, nec Spiritus sanctus sine ipsis, nec Pater, nec Filius, sine Spiritu sancto, qui unitas indivisa sunt. Sic est Deus in tribus personis absque initio ante aevum; nondum ante exordium mundi assumptione carnis in Filio peracta, usque ad praeordinatum tempus ubi venit plenitudo temporis illius cum misit Deus Filium suum. Sed et eodem Filio incarnato, idem Deus est in tribus personis, volens ita in eis invocari, cum idem virgineus flos floruit in integritate virginitatis, nec ineffabili Trinitati ob hoc persona addita est; sed tantum ipse Filius Dei induit carnem inviolabiliter assumptam.
Unde et hae tres personae sunt unus Deus in divinitate. Et qui sic non credit, ille abscindetur de regno Dei, quia scindit integritatem divinitatis et se ipsum in fide, ut scriptum est: In die autem tertia apparuit homo veniens de castris Saul veste conscissa et pulvere aspersus caput . Hoc tale est: In illa die cum catholica fides orta est in manifestatione sanctae Trinitatis, pullulabant homines in multo schismate venientes ab exercitu mortiferae cohortis, perverse illud scrutantes quod non est possibile homini scire. Unde incarnati per multas suasiones diabolicae artis, fingunt se ascendere super illam altitudinem, ita quod volunt scire plus quam eis sciendum sit de incomprehensibili divinitate. Et ideo a veste salutis et justitiae scinduntur quia Deo contrarii sunt, atque foedantur pro diversitatem sparsionis; in capite fidei fidem integram non habentes, sed unicum honorem deitatis in multas sectas spargentes, atque superiorem honorem suum in irrisione schismatis minuentes. Qui omnes a Deo dijudicabuntur, ut in sequentibus ita continetur: Dixit David ad juvenem qui nuntiaverat ei: Unde es tu? Qui respondit: Filius hominis advenae Amalachitae ego sum. Et ait ad eum David: Quare non timuisti mittere manum tuam, ut occideres christum Domini?
Vocavitque David unum de pueris suis et ait: Accedens irrue in eum. Qui percussit illum et mortuus est. Et ait ad eum David: Sanguis tuus sit super caput tuum. Os enim tuum locutum est adversum te, dicens: Ego inferfeci christum Domini . Hoc tale est: Ille victoriosus qui incomprehensibilis est omni creaturae, dicit ad puerilem ignorantiam, quae est in homine, ad illam scilicet pueritiam quae sibi ipsi facit exaltationem, hoc volens scire quod sciendum non est, in qua stultitia invadit Deum quasi per temeritatem annuntians ei: scio te bene, Domine. Ita quod ipse respondet illi, sic. Unde es tu qui habens initium vis scire totum quod caret initio? Et stultitia quae orta est in homine initium habens, respondet quasi in scientia sua dicens: Ego sum filius hominis qui peregrinus est, huc veniens ab hac maledicta terra, quia primus homo lapsus in gustu pomi, fecit iter in hoc exsilium de patria, cujus et ego progenies sum.
Tunc dicit Deus ad eum: Quia homo es a maledicta terra et pulsus de patria ut exsul, quare non timuisti tanta praesumptione scrutari, quod tibi sciendum non est, suffocans opus tuum, ita quod nullo modo utile est in lumine spei, et tangens in eo malum homicidii; quia quicunque temere scrutatur quid Deus fecerit ante creaturam mundi, vel quid Deus facturus sit post novissimum diem: hic anathematizatus sit a portione beatae communionis, quoniam hoc ei sciendum non est, qui habet mortale initium, peccatis gravatum; sed miser erit a felici salute bonae scientiae, quia in pertinacia perscrutatus est quod scrutari non debuit. Idcirco tu qui haec praesumptuose et crudeliter per occisionem facis, beatam intelligentiam regalis prophetiae in te interficis, quia anima tua deberet providere sibi puram scientiam, fideliter scilicet in illa simplicitate quae conveniens, et credere in Deum. Tunc praecipit Deus zelo purissimae justitiae suae quae non habet ullam maculam iniquitatis, vocans eum per rectissimam unitatem judicii judiciorum suorum, sic dicens: Festina et opprime illum de bona scientia sua quam habuit ne quiescat in ulla felicitate sui sensus; quoniam nullam fecit mihi requiem in corde meo. Et sic plaga zeli Domini percutit illum: ita quod nulla scintillula ullius oculi ipsi permanebit ad videndum, id est cognoscendum Deum. Unde et moritur justitiae vitalis consolationis, se ipsum non valens regere. Tunc dicit ad eum Deus: Sanguinolentum nefas tuum, quo te elevas ad illa excelsa quae non potes intueri, sit super animum tuum; quem injuste erigis contra me, illud malum conculcet te in depressum locum de quo te levare non possis, in rectam mensuram propositionis fidei; qui recta vestigia ire noluisti, sed in sensu tuo magnum schisma quaesivisti. Nam os tuum sit relictum a verbis sapientiae; quoniam locutum est contra salutem tuam, cum fallaciter scrutatus es secretam et incomprehensibilem divinitatem, praesumens scire quae non sunt scienda, temere dicens in te ipso quid Deus sit bene scio, per temeritatem istam occidens interiorem salutem tuam, cum caute in Deum credere noluisti, sed te superbe contra eum erexisti. Qui autem acutas aures interioris intellectus habet: hic in ardenti amore speculi mei, ad verba haec anhelet et ea in conscientia animi sui conscribat.
Scivias (Know the Ways of the Lord) companion
Keep Hildegard in your mornings
Get the free 14-day Scivias reading plan, then continue with daily historic devotionals in the Chosen Portion app.
Hildegard's visions were meant to be read and prayed over daily by her community; Chosen Portion continues that pattern with a curated historic devotional reading each morning.
- Read all three parts of Scivias in curated excerpts — about 15 minutes a day for 14 days
- One reflection question and one short prayer per day, so you never wonder what to do next
- A day-15 handoff into a daily prayer rhythm you can sustain in the free Chosen Portion app