Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - III. The Romanized Church under the Sverkers, Erics and Folkungar (1130—1389 A.D.)
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
128 III. THE ROMANIZED CHURCH (A.D. 11301389).
from the revelations anything that had a heretical or dan
gerous tendency, but without depriving them of their
strong personal flavour. About half of the books of the
revelations passed through his hands.
The trances in which Birgitta s revelations were given
came upon her suddenly, and generally in prayer. Once
when she was riding to what was then the king s house at
Vadstena, she turned her thoughts to God, and in a moment
she passed into an ecstasy, and lost consciousness. She
saw before her a great staircase, above which sat our Lord
as judge, surrounded by saints and angels. Half way up
the stairs was a learned monk, whom she knew quite well.
His face had a diabolic expression, and he put a succession
of puzzling questions to Christ, who answered him calmly
and without anger.
Meanwhile a servant rushed forward and grasped her
horse s reins, and, after an hour, she returned to conscious
ness. She remembered every word she had heard, and
dictated it in Swedish to her confessor, who turned it into
Latin. This vision occupies the fifth book of the revela
tions, which contains sixteen chapters an immense effort
of memory. Besides this, the first and second books and
part of the rule of her order belong to the Swedish
period of her life, as well as some scattered revelations
in books six and eight and in the appendix (Revel,
extravagantes), and probably the prayers. Sometimes she
herself wrote her revelations in Swedish, and the MS. of
one or two of them remains written in a firm strong hand
(see /. S. L. H., i., p. 96, for a facsimile).
Birgitta was not a Protestant like Wycliffe or Hus,
though she denounced the immoral life of priests and
monks, and gave advice alike to kings and popes in the
form of sharp reproof. Her attitude to the papacy was
thus expressed by herself:
"
It is a true Christian belief
that the pope, who is without heresy, however much he
may be tainted with other sins, nevertheless is not so
degraded by these or other bad actions, that he cannot exer
cise the power to bind and loose souls, which power he has
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
