So likewise that pacific oriflamme
Gleamed brightest in the centre, and each sideIn equal measure did the flame abate.
And at that centre, with their wings expanded,More than a thousand jubilant Angels saw I,Each differing in effulgence and in kind.
I saw there at their sports and at their songsA beauty smiling, which the gladness wasWithin the eyes of all the other saints;
And if I had in speaking as much wealthAs in imagining, I should not dareTo attempt the smallest part of its delight.
Bernard, as soon as he beheld mine eyesFixed and intent upon its fervid fervour,His own with such affection turned to her
That it made mine more ardent to behold.
Paradiso: Canto XXXII
Absorbed in his delight, that contemplatorAssumed the willing office of a teacher,And gave beginning to these holy words:
“The wound that Mary closed up and anointed,She at her feet who is so beautiful,She is the one who opened it and pierced it.
Within that order which the third seats makeIs seated Rachel, lower than the other,With Beatrice, in manner as thou seest.
Sarah, Rebecca, Judith, and her who wasAncestress of the Singer, who for doleOf the misdeed said, ‘Miserere mei,’
Canst thou behold from seat to seat descendingDown in gradation, as with each one’s nameI through the Rose go down from leaf to leaf.
And downward from the seventh row, even asAbove the same, succeed the Hebrew women,Dividing all the tresses of the flower;
Because, according to the view which FaithIn Christ had taken, these are the partitionBy which the sacred stairways are divided.
Upon this side, where perfect is the flowerWith each one of its petals, seated areThose who believed in Christ who was to come.
Upon the other side, where intersectedWith vacant spaces are the semicircles,Are those who looked to Christ already come.
And as, upon this side, the glorious seatOf the Lady of Heaven, and the other seatsBelow it, such a great division make,
So opposite doth that of the great John,Who, ever holy, desert and martyrdomEndured, and afterwards two years in Hell.
And under him thus to divide were chosenFrancis, and Benedict, and Augustine,And down to us the rest from round to round.
Behold now the high providence divine;For one and other aspect of the FaithIn equal measure shall this garden fill.
And know that downward from that rank which cleavesMidway the sequence of the two divisions,Not by their proper merit are they seated;
But by another’s under fixed conditions;For these are spirits one and all assoiledBefore they any true election had.
Well canst thou recognise it in their faces,And also in their voices puerile,If thou regard them well and hearken to them.
Now doubtest thou, and doubting thou art silent;But I will loosen for thee the strong bondIn which thy subtile fancies hold thee fast.
Within the amplitude of this domainNo casual point can possibly find place,No more than sadness can, or thirst, or hunger;
For by eternal law has been establishedWhatever thou beholdest, so that closelyThe ring is fitted to the finger here.
And therefore are these people, festinateUnto true life, not ‘sine causa’ hereMore and less excellent among themselves.
The King, by means of whom this realm reposesIn so great love and in so great delightThat no will ventureth to ask for more,
In his own joyous aspect every mindCreating, at his pleasure dowers with graceDiversely; and let here the effect suffice.
And this is clearly and expressly notedFor you in Holy Scripture, in those twinsWho in their mother had their anger roused.
According to the colour of the hair,Therefore, with such a grace the light supremeConsenteth that they worthily be crowned.
Without, then, any merit of their deeds,Stationed are they in different gradations,Differing only in their first acuteness.
’Tis true that in the early centuries,With innocence, to work out their salvationSufficient was the faith of parents only.
After the earlier ages were completed,Behoved it that the males by circumcisionUnto their innocent wings should virtue add;
But after that the time of grace had comeWithout the baptism absolute of Christ,Such innocence below there was retained.
Look now into the face that unto ChristHath most resemblance; for its brightness onlyIs able to prepare thee to see Christ.”
On her did I behold so great a gladnessRain down, borne onward in the holy mindsCreated through that altitude to fly,
That whatsoever I had seen beforeDid not suspend me in such admiration,Nor show me such similitude of God.
And the same Love that first descended there,“Ave Maria, gratia plena,” singing,In front of her his wings expanded wide.