waiting for the Redemption, was divided into different compartments,
and encompassed by a thick foggy atmosphere. Our Lord appeared radiant
with light and surrounded by angels, who conducted him triumphantly
between two of these compartments; the one on the left containing the
patriarchs who lived before the time of Abraham, and that on the right
those who lived between the days of Abraham and St. John the Baptist.
These souls did not at first recognise Jesus, but were filled
nevertheless with sensations of joy and hope. There was not a spot in
those narrow confines which did not, as it were, dilate with feelings
of happiness. The passage of Jesus might be compared to the wafting of
a breath of air, to a sudden flash of light, or to a shower of
vivifying dew, but it was swift as a whirlwind. After passing through
the two compartments, he reached a dark spot in which Adam and Eve were
standing; he spoke to them, they prostrated and adored him in a perfect
ecstasy of joy, and they immediately joined the band of angels, and
accompanied our Lord to the compartment on the left, which contained
the patriarchs who lived before Abraham. This compartment was a species
of Purgatory, and a few evil spirits were wandering about among the
souls and endeavouring to fill them with anxiety and alarm. The
entrance through a species of door was closed, but the angels rapped,
and I thought I heard them say, 'Open these doors.' When Jesus entered in
triumph the demons dispersed, crying out at the same time, 'What is there
between thee and us? What art thou come to do here? Wilt thou crucify
us likewise?' The angels hunted them away, having first chained them. The
poor souls confined in this place had only a slight presentiment and
vague idea of the presence of Jesus; but the moment he told them that
it was he himself, they burst out into acclamations of joy, and
welcomed him with hymns of rapture and delight. The soul of our Lord
then wended its way to the right, towards that part which really
constituted Limbo; and there he met the soul of the good thief which