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      XXXII. St. Bernard points out the Saints in the White Rose.

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      Absorbed in his delight, that contemplator

       Assumed 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 make

       Is seated Rachel, lower than the other,

       With Beatrice, in manner as thou seest.

      Sarah, Rebecca, Judith, and her who was

       Ancestress of the Singer, who for dole

       Of the misdeed said, 'Miserere mei,'

      Canst thou behold from seat to seat descending

       Down in gradation, as with each one's name

       I through the Rose go down from leaf to leaf.

      And downward from the seventh row, even as

       Above the same, succeed the Hebrew women,

       Dividing all the tresses of the flower;

      Because, according to the view which Faith

       In Christ had taken, these are the partition

       By which the sacred stairways are divided.

      Upon this side, where perfect is the flower

       With each one of its petals, seated are

       Those who believed in Christ who was to come.

      Upon the other side, where intersected

       With vacant spaces are the semicircles,

       Are those who looked to Christ already come.

      And as, upon this side, the glorious seat

       Of the Lady of Heaven, and the other seats

       Below it, such a great division make,

      So opposite doth that of the great John,

       Who, ever holy, desert and martyrdom

       Endured, and afterwards two years in Hell.

      And under him thus to divide were chosen

       Francis, 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 Faith

       In equal measure shall this garden fill.

      And know that downward from that rank which cleaves

       Midway 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 assoiled

       Before 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 bond

       In which thy subtile fancies hold thee fast.

      Within the amplitude of this domain

       No casual point can possibly find place,

       No more than sadness can, or thirst, or hunger;

      For by eternal law has been established

       Whatever thou beholdest, so that closely

       The ring is fitted to the finger here.

      And therefore are these people, festinate

       Unto true life, not 'sine causa' here

       More and less excellent among themselves.

      The King, by means of whom this realm reposes

       In so great love and in so great delight

       That no will ventureth to ask for more,

      In his own joyous aspect every mind

       Creating, at his pleasure dowers with grace

       Diversely; and let here the effect suffice.

      And this is clearly and expressly noted

       For you in Holy Scripture, in those twins

       Who in their mother had their anger roused.

      According to the colour of the hair,

       Therefore, with such a grace the light supreme

       Consenteth 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 salvation

       Sufficient was the faith of parents only.

      After the earlier ages were completed,

       Behoved it that the males by circumcision

       Unto their innocent wings should virtue add;

      But after that the time of grace had come

       Without the baptism absolute of Christ,

       Such innocence below there was retained.

      Look now into the face that unto Christ

       Hath most resemblance; for its brightness only

       Is able to prepare thee to see Christ."

      On her did I behold so great a gladness

       Rain down, borne onward in the holy minds

       Created through that altitude to fly,

      That whatsoever I had seen before

       Did 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.

      Unto the

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