hat part which really
constituted Limbo; and there he met the soul of the good thief which
angels were carrying to Abraham's bosom, as also that of the bad thief
being dragged by demons into Hell. Our Lord addressed a few words to
both, and then entered Abraham's bosom, accompanied by numerous angels
and holy souls, and also by those demons who had been chained and
expelled from the compartment.

This locality appeared to me more elevated than the surrounding
parts; and I can only describe my sensations on entering it, by
comparing them to those of a person coming suddenly into the interior
of a church, after having been for some time in the burial vaults. The
demons, who were strongly chained, were extremely loth to enter, and
resisted to the utmost of their power, but the angels compelled them to
go forwards. All the just who had lived before the time of Christ were
assembled there; the patriarchs, Moses, the judges, and the kings on
the left-hand side; and on the right side, the prophets, and the
ancestors of our Lord, as also his near relations, such as Joachim,
Anna, Joseph, Zacharias, Elizabeth, and John. There were no demons in
this place, and the only discomfort that had been felt by those placed
there was a longing desire for the accomplishment of the promise; and
when our Lord entered they saluted him with joyful hymns of gratitude
and thanksgiving for its fulfilment, they prostrated and adored him,
and the evil spirits who had been dragged into Abraham's bosom when our
Lord entered were compelled to confess with shame that they were
vanquished. Many of these holy souls were ordered by our Lord to return
to the earth, re-enter their own bodies, and thus render a solemn and
impressive testimony to the truth. It was at this moment that so many
dead persons left their tombs in Jerusalem; I regarded them less in the
light of dead persons risen again than as corpses put in motion by a
divine power, and which, after having fulfilled the mission entrusted
to them, were laid aside in the same manner as the insignia of office
are taken off by a clerk when he has executed the orders of his
superiors.

I next saw our Lord, with his triumphant procession, enter into a
species of Purgatory which was filled with those good pagans who,
having had a faint glimmering of the truth, had longed for its
fulfilment: this Purgatory was very deep, and contained a few demons
compelled to confess the deception they had practised with