De reditu anime ad corpus
The Soul's Reluctant Return
The angel commands Tundal's soul to return to his body to share what he has seen for the good of his neighbors.
"You saw all this?" he said. And the soul answered and said: "I see, Lord; I beg you, let me stay here." And the angel: "You must return to your body," he said, "and carefully keep in mind everything you saw, for the good of your neighbors."
Grief and the Reason for Exclusion
The soul weeps at leaving glory behind, and the angel explains that only virgins may remain, rebuking Tundal for unbelief.
But when the soul heard this, that it had to return to the body, it answered with deep grief and weeping: "Lord, what great wrong have I ever done, that I should have to return to my body, leaving such glory behind?" "This place," the angel said, "no one deserves to enter except virgins, those who guard their bodies from the touch of fleshly desire, and who would rather be burned than be defiled in the filth of shameful lust." But you refused to believe the words of Scripture, and so you cannot remain here."
The Angel's Charge and Promise
The angel sends the soul back to amend its former life and promises faithful divine support.
So return to your body, from which you had departed, and make it your business to hold yourself back from the things you used to do before. Our counsel and support will not fail you, but will stay with you faithfully and at your side.
The Instant Reunion with the Body
The soul turns back and, without any interval of time, feels itself clothed again in the weight of the body.
And when the angel had said this, the soul turned back; and when it tried to move itself, it quickly felt itself weighed down by the mass of the body. For there was no interval — it felt no moment of time pass in between, but at one and the same instant, it was speaking to the angel in the heavens and on earth it felt itself put its body back on.
First Acts of the Restored Life
Tundal opens his eyes, receives the Eucharist with thanksgiving, gives all to the poor, and marks his garments with the cross.
Then, still weak, he opened his bodily eyes and, sighing, said nothing. He looked at the clerics standing around him. So he took the Body of the Lord with thanksgiving. He gave away everything he had to the poor, and ordered the sign of the holy cross to be placed over the garments he was wearing.
Testimony and the Writing of the Vision
Tundal recounts his vision, urges others to live well, preaches with humility, and the narrator records it for readers.
He later recounted to us everything he had seen. And he urged us to lead a good life, along with the word of God that he had not known before. He preached with great devotion and humility and understanding. But we, who cannot imitate his life, have at least endeavored to write these things for the benefit of readers.
Closing Prayer and Doxology
The narrator humbly asks Gisla to remember them in prayer and closes with praise to Christ our Lord.
And so, with our most humble and devoted prayer, we beseech your mercy, O renowned Gisla. so that, although we are unworthy, you may keep our memory in your prayers, and so that we may please him who surpasses everything we have said — Jesus Christ our Lord — to whom be honor and glory forever.1 Amen. Amen.
Read the original Latin
'Vidisti' inquit 'hec omnia?' Et respondens anima dixit. 'Video domine; obsecro sine me hic esse.' Et angelus. 'debes' inquit 'ad corpus tuum redire; et omnia que vidisti ad utilitatem proximorum memoriter retinere.'
Verum cum anma audisset. quod ad corpus eam redire oporteret; cum magna tristicia et fletu respondens ait. 'Domine quid tanti mali egi umquam; ut ad corpus meum. tanta relicta gloria redire debeam?' 'Istam' ait angelus 'non merentur intrare nisi virgines. qui corpora sua a tactu carnalis concupiscentie custodiunt; et aduri magis pro tanta ac tali gloria. quam coinquinari turpis concupiscentie volutabris malunt. Tu vero noluisti scripturarum verbis credere; et ideo non poteris hic manere.
Revertere ergo ad corpus tuum unde exieras; et stude abstinere ab his que ante faciebas. Consilium nostrum simul et auxilium tibi non deerunt; sed presentialiter atque fideliter tibi manebunt.'
Et cum hoc dixisset angelus. 'conversa est anima; et cum se movere conaretur. sensit cito se mole corporis esse gravatam. Nullum enim intervallum. nec unum temporis sensit interesse momentum; sed in uno atque eodem temporis puncto. in celis loquebatur ad angelum. et in terris se sensit induere corpus suum.'
Tunc debilis corporales aperuit oculos; et suspirans nichilque dicens. respexit circumstantes clericos. Sumens igitur corpus domini cum gratiarum actione. omnia que habuit pauperibus dispersit; et signum sancte crucis suis vestimentis quibus vestiebatur superponi iussit.
Cuncta vero que viderat nobis postmodum recitavit. et bonam vitam nos ducere monuit; verbumque dei quod ante nescierat. cum magna devotione et humilitate ac scientia predicabat. Sed nos qui vitam eius imitari non possumus; hec saltem ad utilitatem legentium scribere studuimus.
Unde nos vestram o preclara Gisla humillima et devotissima prece precamur clementiam. ut nostri licet indigni memoriam in vestris habeatis orationibus; quatenus illi placeamus qui superest cunctis que ante diximus Jhesu Christo domino nostro; cui est honor et gloria per infinita. seculorum secula. Amen.
Notes
- 1 ↩Latin 'per infinita' (through infinite things) is a compressed doxology formula completed by 'seculorum secula' in the next sentence; rendered as 'forever' to reflect the combined sense.
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