ayers of the
just ascending to the throne of God.

At the same moment I perceived the yawning abyss of hell like a
fiery meteor at the feet of Caiphas; it was filled with horrible
devils; a slight gauze alone appeared to separate him from its dark
flames. I could see the demoniacal fury with which his heart was
overflowing, and the whole house looked to me like hell. At the moment
that our Lord pronounced the solemn words, 'I am the Christ, the Son of
the living God,' hell appeared to be shaken from one extremity to the
other, and then, as it were, to burst forth and inundate every person
in the house of Caiphas with feelings of redoubled hatred towards our
Lord. These things are always shown to me under the appearance of some
material object, which renders them less difficult of comprehension,
and impresses them in a more clear and forcible manner on the mind,
because we ourselves being material beings, facts are more easily
illustrated in our regard if manifested through the medium of the
senses. The despair and fury which these words produced in hell were
shown to me under the appearance of a thousand terrific figures in
different places. I remember seeing, among other frightful things, a
number of little black objects, like dogs with claws, which walked on
their hind legs; I knew at the time what kind of wickedness was
indicated by this apparition, but I cannot remember now. I saw these
horrible phantoms enter into the bodies of the greatest part of the
bystanders, or else place themselves on their head or shoulders. I
likewise at this moment saw frightful spectres come out of the
sepulchres on the other side of Sion; I believe they were evil spirits.
I saw in the neighbourhood of the Temple many other apparitions, which
resembled prisoners loaded with chains: I do not know whether they were
demons, or souls condemned to remain in some particular part of the
earth, and who were then going to Limbo, which our Lord's condemnation to
death had opened to them.

It is extremely difficult to explain these facts, for fear of
scandalising those who have no knowledge of such things; but persons
who see feel them, and they often cause the very hair to stand on end
on the head. I think that John saw some of these apparitions, for I
heard him speak about them afterwards. All whose hearts were not
radically corrupted felt excessively terrified at these events, but the
hardened were sensible of nothing but an increase of hatred