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Chapter 93

The spouse of Christ, Saint Bride, saw spiritually a woman sitting in a rope whose one end a fair man held up, and a virgin of great beauty held up the other end.

Then our Lady appeared and said: ”This lady whom you know is wound up in much business of the flesh and the world, and it is miraculous that she has balanced herself so well that she has not fallen. For she has often desired to sin, but never had the place nor the time to do so. And that caused the prayer of the Apostle Peter to be made by my Son, whom this woman loved. Sometimes she had time and space, but not the will; and that was made by the love of me who am the Mother of God.
And therefore now because her time draws near, Saint Peter counseled her to take upon her some harshness in clothing and wearing, putting away soft garments. For he was the chief Apostle; and yet he endured nakedness, prison and hunger, although he was mighty in heaven and on earth. I also, Mother of God, who never passed an hour on earth without tribulation and discomfort of heart, counsel her that she not be ashamed to be meek and to obey the friends of God”.
After this soon Saint Peter the Apostle appeared and said to Saint Bride: ”You, now, spouse of our lord God, go and ask of this woman whom I have loved and preserved, if she will wholly be my daughter”.
When Saint Bride had asked, and she consenting, said, ”I will, with all my heart”, Saint Peter answered: ”I shall arrange for her as for my daughter, Peronell, and take her into my charge”. Then, as soon as this lady heard this, she changed her life. And not long after, she fell ill, which continued for the rest of her life, until she was purged and with very great devotion gave up her spirit. For, when she came to the end of her life, she saw Saint Peter arrayed like a bishop, and Saint Peter Martyr in the habit of the Friars Preachers, for he was of that Order, both of whom she had loved entirely during her life.
And then she said openly: ”Who are these lords?” When the ladies and women who stood about her asked her what she saw, she answered: ”I see”, she said, ”marvelous things. For I see my lords, Peter the Apostle dressed pontifically and Peter the Martyr in the habit of the Preachers, whom I have always loved and always hoped for their help”. And then, crying: ”Blessed be God. See: I come”, she passed to our Lord.

Book 7

A revelation which Lady Bridget had in Rome after the year of jubilee and in which the Virgin Mary foretells to her that she will go to Jerusalem and Bethlehem when it pleases God; and Mary promises her that she will then show her the manner in which she gave birth to her blessed Son.

303. Chapter 1

When Lady Bridget, the bride of Christ, was in Rome and was once absorbed in prayer, she began to think about the Virgin Birth and about the very great goodness of God who willed to choose such a very pure mother for himself. And her heart then became so greatly inflamed with love for the Virgin that she said within herself: ”O my Lady, Queen of Heaven, my heart so rejoices over the fact that the most high God forechose you as his mother and deigned to confer upon you so great a dignity that I would rather choose for myself eternal excruciation in hell than that you should lack one smallest point of this surpassing glory or of your heavenly dignity.”

And so, inebriated with the sweetness of love, she was above herself, alienated from her senses and suspended in an ecstasy of mental contemplation. The Virgin appeared then to her and said to her, ”Be attentive, O daughter: I am the Queen of Heaven. Because you love me with a love so immense, I therefore announce to you that you will go on a pilgrimage to the holy city of Jerusalem at the time when it pleases my Son. From there you will go to Bethlehem; and there I shall show you, at the very spot, the whole manner in which I gave birth to that same Son of mine, Jesus Christ; for so it has pleased him.”

In Rome Lady Bridget had this revelation which speaks about the glorious sword of sorrow that pierced the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary and which the just man Simeon foretold to her in the temple.

304. Chapter 2

While Lady Bridget, the bride of Christ, was in Rome, in the church called Saint Mary Major, on the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, she was caught up into a spiritual vision, and saw that in heaven, as it were, all things were being prepared for a great feast. And then she saw, as it were, a temple of wondrous beauty; and there too was that venerable and just old man, Simeon, ready to receive the Child Jesus in his arms with supreme longing and gladness. She also saw the Blessed Virgin most honorably enter, carrying her young Son to offer him in the temple according to the law of the Lord.

And then she saw a countless multitude of angels and of the various ranks of the saintly men of God and of his saintly virgins and ladies, all going before the Blessed Virgin-Mother of God and surrounding her with all joy and devotion. Before her an angel carried a long, very broad, and bloody sword which signified those very great sorrows which Mary suffered at the death of her most loving Son and which were prefigured by that sword which the just man Simeon prophesied would pierce her soul. And while all the heavenly court exulted, this was said to the bride: ”See with what great honor and glory the Queen of Heaven is, on this feast, recompensed for the sword of sorrows which she endured at the passion of her beloved Son.” And then this vision disappeared.

A revelation which blessed Francis showed to Lady Bridget wherein he invited her to his chamber to eat and to drink and explained to her spiritually that his chamber was obedience and that his food was to convert souls to God and that his drink was to see his converts loving God with all their strength and fervently absorbed in prayer and in the other virtues.

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