De pena gluttonum et fornicantium
The Oven-House of the Gluttons
Tnugdal and the angel approach a vast, oven-shaped house belching flame across the dark plain.
But as they were going through dark and dry places, an open house appeared to them. The house they had seen was enormous, like a steep mountain because of its sheer size, and it was round, like an oven. where loaves are customarily baked by their placement. A flame also poured out from there, and it burned up whatever souls it found for a thousand paces around.
The Soul's Fear at the Gates of Death
The soul recoils in terror and begs the angel for deliverance, but is told she must enter the house.
But that soul, which had already learned by experience a similar torment, in part. She refused to come any closer, and so she said to the angel who had been guiding her. What am I going to do, wretched as I am? Look, we're approaching the gates of death—and who will deliver me?✦ The angel answered and said. You will indeed be freed from that outer flame; but the very house from which it comes—that you will enter.
Executioners Armed with Instruments of Torture
The travelers draw near and see demons wielding axes, knives, and other implements as souls are torn apart in the flames.
And when they drew nearer, they saw executioners with axes and knives, and brushwood, and double-edged implements, with mattocks, and augers, and very sharp sickles, wangiis. and with mattocks, and with other instruments, with which they could flay or tear apart or hack to pieces or behead the souls. They stood before the gates, in the middle of the flames; and under their hands, a multitude of souls enduring all these things that we described before.
A Greater Torment Yet to Come
The soul begs to be spared this punishment, but the angel warns her it is surpassed by what lies ahead and commands her to enter.
And when the soul saw that these were far greater than all the punishments it had seen before, it said to the angel, 'I beg you, my lord, if it please you, free me from this punishment alone; and to the others that will come after this, I grant that I may be handed over.' Then the angel: 'This punishment,' he says, is greater than all you saw before; yet still you will see one surpassing all kinds of torments. than you could see, or think.' 'Enter,' he says, 'this punishment; and rabid dogs within await your arrival.'
The Soul Shattered and Burned
Trembling and praying in vain, the soul is handed to the demons, who reproach her, hack her to pieces, and cast her into the fire.
The soul, for its part, was trembling all over. and failing before the narrowness of it, she begged with every prayer she could muster to escape this punishment; yet she did not obtain what she wished. But when the demons saw that the soul had been handed over to them, they surrounded her, hurling her great vices back at her, and with the instruments mentioned before, they shattered her to pieces. And once she was shattered, they handed her over to the fires.
Inside the House of Phristinus
Within the house, souls endure slow fire, unquenchable hunger, and torment in their shameful parts.
What can I say about those who were shut inside this house of Phristinus? Grief and sorrow, pain and groaning, and the grinding of teeth.✦ A slow fire on the outside. But within, a vast blaze was being kindled; a ravenous, insatiable hunger for food was always there. And yet the excess of the throat could never be satisfied. They were also tormented most severely by pains in their shameful parts.
Corruption of the Flesh and the Religious
The private parts of both laypeople and religious rot with worms and beasts, and those in holy orders suffer even greater punishment.
But their own private parts were rotting with decay. They seemed to teem with worms. And in those same private parts of men and women — not only of secular people. But what is even worse — something I cannot speak of without deep pain. Of those living under the habit of religious life. How terribly the beasts would enter them. So that, tormented from every side, they were left exhausted. No strength could be sufficient to endure them. No sex, no garb appeared exempt from these plagues; and what I feared to say, love itself compels me. The very monastic garb of men and women was involved in these torments. And those who seemed of a holier profession were judged worthy of almost greater punishment.
Release into the Shadow of Death
After enduring torments beyond strength, the soul confesses her guilt and is brought by divine will outside the torments, yet still sits in darkness and the shadow of death.
After that soul had endured torments like these and others equally incredible, far beyond what strength could bear, she turned back into herself. She confessed herself to be guilty and deserving of torments. But when it pleased the divine will. not knowing in what order, just as we said. she finds herself outside the torments; nevertheless she sat in darkness and the shadow of death.✦
The Soul Questions Mercy
Seeing the guiding spirit again, the soul bitterly asks why she suffered so greatly when the mercy of the Lord fills the earth.
And when she had not been sitting there long, she saw a light — the spirit, that is, of life. who had led her ahead before. She, filled with bitterness and grief, said to him. 'Why, Lord — wretched as I am — have I suffered such and so great torments?' And what is this that the wise ones told us? 'The mercy of the Lord fills the earth.'
Why the Just Witness Punishment
The soul asks why the just are led to the underworld, and the angel explains that seeing the torments from which they are freed makes them burn with greater praise and love.
But once that soul had gathered her strength again, she spoke words of comfort to the angel. 'Lord, if it please you, since we are speaking of the just—' since they do not deserve to enter the gates of death, why are they led down to the underworld?' The angel answered and said: 'If this troubles you—why the just, who do not suffer punishments, are led to witness those punishments— it happens so that, having seen the torments from which they are freed through divine grace, they burn more ardently into praise of their Creator and into love. So, by contrast, the souls of sinners are justly judged to eternal punishments.
The Greater Pain of Lost Glory
Sinners are first shown the glory they abandoned so that their punishment is increased by the memory of what they lost, for the gravest pain is separation from God and the angels.
They are led first to the glory of the saints, so that, seeing the rewards they had willingly abandoned, when they come to their punishments they grieve all the more, and the very glory they could have obtained before, they recall to mind to increase their torment. For there is no punishment so grave as being cut off from the fellowship of the divine majesty and of the holy angels.
The Faithful Servant and the Journey Onward
The angel explains that the priest who crossed the bridge was led to punishment so that he might burn with greater love and receive the crown of life, then urges Tnugdal onward to see what remains.
And so that priest you saw safely crossing the first bridge has been led to punishment, so that once he saw the punishments, he would burn more ardently with love for the one who called him to glory. For he has been found a faithful and wise servant, and so he will receive the crown of life that God promised to those who love him. And after these words, he said: 'Since we have not yet seen all the evils, it will be useful to you that we hasten to see those things which we have not yet seen.' Then the soul said, 'If we must afterward return to glory, I ask that you go ahead of me to the punishment as quickly as possible.'
Read the original Latin
Cum autem irent per tenebrosa loca atque arida; apparuit eis domus aperta.
Domus autem ipsa quam viderant erat maxima ut arduus mons pre nimia magnitudine; rotunda vero erat quasi furnus. ubi panes coqui solent positione. Flamma quoque inde exiebat; que per mille passus quascumque animas invenit comburebat.
Sed illa anima que ex parte simile tormentum experimento didicereat. accedere propius nullo modo volebat; unde et illi angelo qui eam conduxit dicebat. 'Quid ego faciam misera? Ecce appropinquamus ad portas mortis; et quis me liberabit?' Respondens angelus dixit. 'Ab ista quidem exteriori flamma liberaberis; ipsam vero domum unde procedit intrabis.'
Et cum propius accederent. viderunt carnifices cum securibus et cultris. et sarmentis. et bisacutis. cum dolabris. et terebris. et falcibus acutissimis. wangiis.
et fossoriis. et cum ceteris instrumentis. quibus excoriare. vel findere. vel truncare. vel decollare poterant animas. ante portas in medio flammarum stantes; et sub manibus illorum multitudinem animarum ista omnia que prediximus sustinentium.
Cumque vidisset anima quod hec essent omnibus penis quas ante viderat multo maiora; dixit ad angelum. 'Obsecro mi domine si placet ab hoc solo me libera supplicio; et ceteris que post hac venerit suppliciis me tradi concedo.' Tunc angelus. 'Istud quidem' ait 'supplicium. maius est omnibus que ante vidisti; adhuc tamen unum videbis omnia excellens genera tormentorum. que vel videre. vel cogitare potuisti. Intra' inquit 'istud supplicium; et canes rabidi tuum intus expectant adventum.'
Anima vero tota tremens. et pre angustia deficiens. quibuscumque precibus poterat rogavit ut hanc penam evaderet; nec tamen quod voluit impetravit.
Demones autem videntes animam sibi concessam. circumvenerunt eam; et magnis viciis exprobrantes. cum supradictis instrumentis in frusta dissipaverunt. et dissipatam ignibus tradiderunt.
Quid dicam de his que intus erant in hac domo Phristini? Nam luctus et tristicia. dolor et gemitus. et stridor dentium. lentus ignis extrinsecus. intrinsecus vero vastum condebatur incendium; aviditas inexplebilis inerat semper cibi. nec tamen saciari poterat nimietas gule. Doloribus quoque verendorum locorum cruciebantur quam maxime.
Sed contra verenda ipsa putredine corrupta. scaturire videbantur vermibus. et in ipsa verenda virorum ac mulierum non solum secularium. verum etiam quod est gravius. quod non sine gravi dolore possum dicere. sub religionis habitu conversantium. quam dire intrabant bestie. ita ut ex omni parte cruciatibus fessis.
nulle sufficere vires ad tolerantiam possent. Nullus sexus nullus habitus inmunis extitit ab his plagis; et quod dicere verebar ipsa me cogit karitas. monasticus ipse habitus virorum et feminarum his intererat cruciatibus. et hi qui sanctioris videbantur professionis. digne iudicabantur pene maioris.
His et similibus ilia anima incredibilibus cruciatibus longe toleratis; in semet ipsam reversa. ream se esse ac dignam confitebatur tormentis. Sed quando divino numini placuit. nesciens quo ordine sicut diximus. extra tormenta esse se sentit; sedebat tamen in tenebris et umbra mortis.
Cumque non diu ibi sederet; vidit lumen spiritum scilicet vite. qui eam ante conduxerat. Illa vero amaritudine simul et tristicia multum repleta; dixit ad eum. 'Ut quid domine ego misera talia ac tanta passa sum tormenta? Et quid est quod nobis dixerunt sapientes. misericordia domini plena est terra'
Sed anima illa resumptis viribus ad sermonem consolationis; dixit ad angelum. 'Domine si placet quia de iustis est sermo. cum non merentur intrare portas mortis; cur ducuntur ad inferos?' Respondens angelus dixit. 'Si hoc te movet cur iusti qui penas non paciuntur. ad videndas illas ducuntur. ideo fit ut visis tormentis a quibus liberantur per divinam gratiam ardentius in laudem sui creatoris ferveant et amorem. Sic a contrario anime peccatorum que digne eternis suppliciis iudicantur.
prius ad sanctorum gloriam perducuntur. ut visis premiis que sponte deseruerant. cum ad penas venerint magis doleant. et ipsam gloriam quam ante potuissent acquirere. in memoriam revocent ad augmentationem pene. Nullum est enim tam grave supplicium. sicut sequestratum esse a consortio divine maiestatis. et sanctorum angelorum.
Et propterea ille presbiter quem primum pontem secure transire videbas. ductus est ad supplicia; ut visis penis ardentius arderet in amorem illius qui vocavit eum ad gloriam. Fidelis namque servus inventus est et prudens; et ideo accipiet coronam vite quam repromisit deus diligentibus se.'
Et post hec verba dixit. 'Quoniam nondum omnia mala vidimus proderit tibi ut ad ea videnda que nondum vidimus properemus.' Tunc anima 'si' inquit 'postmodum redire debemus ad gloriam; rogo ut quantotius me precedas ad penam.'
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.107.18 — All food their soul abhors, and they come to the gates of death.
- ↩Matt.22.13 — Then the king said to his servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
- ↩Luke.1.79 — to shine on those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Visions of Tondal (Les Visions du chevalier Tondal) companion
Tondal came back and changed how he lived daily. That's the whole point.
Chosen Portion builds the daily practice Tondal's vision demanded: a morning reading that keeps eternity in view.
The Visio was written 'for the edification of many' as a spur to daily amendment of life, and Chosen Portion supplies that daily spur with a morning reading and evening examen.
- A daily portion from historic texts on living well and dying well
- The complete 27-chapter Visions of Tondal in modern readable English
- A built-in daily examen prompt — 2 minutes at day's end