THE VISION OF BARONTUS¹

Written in the late seventh century, The Vision of Barontus is one of the earliest examples of Christian visionary literature, which reached its full expression in the fourteenth century in Dante’s towering Divine Comedy. In this story, a nobleman named Barontus, who had recently become a monk at the abbey of St. Peter at Lonrey near Bourges, fell ill and appeared as though dead. The brethren of Lonrey gathered around his body to pray for him. When Barontus revived the next morning, he related the story of his soul’s voyage to the otherworld, his battle with the demons who sought to ensnare him, the aid he received from angels and the souls of dead monks, many of whom he had known in life, his meeting with Saint Peter, and his eventual return to the abbey. Written as a warning to his fellow brethren to lead lives of humility and virtue, The Vision of Barontus promoted the forgiveness of sins through private penance and especially through the giving of alms to the poor. In a rare stroke of luck, the monk who wrote the story down recorded the date of his composition: March 25, 678 or 679.

Here begins the revelation of the blessed monk Barontus. I wish to remind you in turn, dearest brothers, of what happened recently in the abbey of St. Peter the Apostle, which is known by the name Longoretus.² A certain brother of noble birth, Barontus by name, having recently experienced a change of heart, entered the monastic life. After he had offered praises devoutly to God at matins in the church with his brothers, as soon as he returned to his bed he was immediately seized by a fever and brought to Death’s door.³ He began to fret with great tears and told his son, Aglioaldus by name, that he should seek out the deacon Eudo with all speed in the hope that the deacon would come to visit him out of brotherly love. Then and there, the boy dashed off with great lamenting and brought back the brother whom Barontus had summoned. But when this brother entered the house in which Barontus lay sick, he began to call his name over and over again, but Barontus was not able to respond to him. Instead he indicated his throat to his friend with his finger and waved his hands vigorously before his eyes as though defending himself. Then the fearful Eudo, relying on the weapons he had at hand, began to make the sign of the cross and with deep groans, he asked for holy water to be sprinkled in that house, so that the crowd of evil spirits might flee from there. But Barontus dropped his arms to his sides and closed his eyes and lay there half dead, unable to perceive anyone around him at all.

It was by that time almost the third hour [around nine in the morning] and the brethren came together to offer God their prayers in support of Barontus’s life. When they saw that he could not move at all, they were overcome with tears in their sadness. In support of his soul they organized themselves into groups and took turns reciting the Psalms one after the other so that the heavenly doctor might return his soul to his body. So it happened that the brothers’ recitation of the Psalter went on all day without interruption, until the time for the evening service arrived, when they habitually sang praises to God in the church. Barontus was in such rough shape, however, that no one who saw him had any hope that he would live much longer. But the servants of God, when they saw this, began to recite the Psalter with renewed vigor and on behalf of his soul to ask the heavenly Creator so that he who raised it up as though from Egypt would remove it to his eternal realm.⁴ So staying up all night singing the Psalms, they arrived at the hour of cockcrow, when the power of Christ caused a miracle to occur there. It is not proper to remain silent about this throughout the entire Catholic church, for those who hear about it should be fearful of their sins and turn with their whole hearts to the service of Christ, so that those who wish to emend themselves by sincere penance here and now do not in the end lament in perpetual punishment. As the brethren were singing the Psalms, Barontus woke up. He opened his mouth and blinked and uttered praises to God. The first words that came out of his mouth were “Glory to you, God! Glory to you, God! Glory to you, God!” When the brethren witnessed this, with a great trembling of excitement they began to give thanks to God, who had returned to life his servant Barontus, for no one believed that they would hear him speak again.

Then everyone gathered around him in a group and asked him to tell them in detail where he had been and what he had seen. As though waking from a long sleep, Barontus said, “When you saw me last night as we finished singing praises to Christ at matins, I was alive and well, but as soon as I returned to my own bed, I was suddenly overcome with drowsiness and fell asleep. But immediately in my sleep two loathsome demons arrived, whose terrifying appearance I found it hard to endure. They began to strangle me with violence with the intention of swallowing me down with the help of their bared fangs and thus carrying me off to hell. And confident that they would subdue me, they continued their attack until the third hour, when the archangel Raphael, radiant in the splendor of his brightness, arrived to help me. He ordered them not to treat me harshly anymore. But those proud demons resisted him, saying, ‘If the brightness of God has not taken him from us, then there is no way that you can do so.’ Then holy Raphael replied to them, ‘If it is as you say, then let us go together to God’s judgment and there let your sin be reckoned.’ They argued back and forth all day until the time of vespers arrived. And the most blessed Raphael said to them, ‘I am taking this soul with me from here to the seat of the eternal judge, but I am leaving the hope of his recovery here in his body.’ For their part, the demons objected that they would never release my soul, unless God’s judgment deprived them of it.

“Having heard this, Raphael extended his finger and touched my throat and poor me, I suddenly felt my soul being yanked out of my body. Let me now relate how small my soul seemed to me. It seemed to me to be as small as the chick of a hen, when it hatches from an egg. This little soul carried with it a head and eyes and other body parts, as well as sight, hearing, taste, a sense of smell, and touch, but it could barely speak until it came to the examination and received a body of air similar to the one it left behind.” Barontus went on, “But their fight over my little soul was by no means easily settled. Holy Raphael was struggling to lift my soul back to heaven and the demons wanted always to cast my soul downward. But holy Raphael summoned his strength and began to lift me from the earth and to support me powerfully from the right-hand side. The demons fought against him, one seizing me roughly from the left-hand side and another kicking me hard from behind with his heels while uttering in the fullness of his wrath, ‘I have already held you in my power once and did great harm to you, but now you will suffer forever in hell!’

“As the demon said these words, we rose above the forest surrounding the monastery and the bell over the church suddenly sounded for vespers. Then holy Raphael commanded the demons, saying, ‘Retreat, you cruel beasts, retreat! You can harm this little soul no longer, for the church bell has sounded and the brethren have assembled to pray for him.’ Nevertheless, the demons did not relent, but continued to bruise my side with savage kicks. And thus our course took us quickly over the monastery called Millebeccus.⁵ Here holy Raphael prayed in my favor and this verse came from his mouth, ‘In every place of your dominion, bless my soul, Lord.’⁶ And as I heard this, I listened and looked and saw that very monastery and I recognized the entire community as they celebrated vespers and I even spied one of the brethren carrying green herbs for use in the kitchen. Dearest brothers, we ought to marvel with great trembling at the fact that my soul was taken far above the dwellings of the most holy men and had traveled a distance of twelve miles between the two monasteries in a moment’s time. But when he had finished his prayer, blessed Raphael said, ‘Let us visit this true servant of God [Abbot Leodoaldus], who lies sick in this monastery, for in his humility and good deeds he is distinct from others in the city of Bourges.’ His grave illness had nearly led him to Death’s door and he was no longer able to eat. Losing hope in his recovery, all of the brethren were busying themselves with nothing else but the arrangements for his funeral.”

But after he found strength from a visit from the archangel, Abbot Leodoaldus related a great miracle that may terrify the hearts of unbelievers, who are not prodded to do penance for their sins and ask holy Raphael, whose name means “God’s remedy,” to come and cure them of their sins so that the Devil does not lead them away as captives to eternal punishment, from which they cannot escape back to the earthly joy in which they place their faith. Then the same abbot related that at the very time when brother Barontus said that he was with holy Raphael, a wondrous brightness was seen over the monastery in which he lay sick due to his illness and suffering with a severe pain in his chest. Then holy Raphael suddenly appeared, his shining face illuminating the entire monastery. He made the sign of the cross on the abbot’s chest as he passed by and that very hour Leodoaldus was healed of the illness that had afflicted his chest so severely.

After all of these things took place, Barontus said, “As we traveled past this monastery, there rushed toward us four other exceedingly dark demons, who wished to rend me cruelly with their teeth and claws. And sinner that I am, I began to fear in earnest that they might snatch me away from holy Raphael and plunge me into the depths of hell, for there were now six of them and surely he alone could not hold them all back. But with his great strength holy Raphael did in fact hold them all back and as he was contending with them, two angels in white clothing and bearing a wonderful scent rushed to us and with speed they grasped hold of the feet of holy Raphael from behind and began to intone the antiphon, ‘Have mercy on me, God, according to your great mercy.’⁷ Those demons immediately lost their strength. Two of them fell toward the ground and vanished and another two did the same. But the first two demons, who had been present when my soul was yanked from its body, never withdrew, but always stayed close by. And we carried on our voyage to the outskirts of hell and glimpsed the guardians of the infernal depths.

“And so after this second battle had taken place, we arrived at the first gate of paradise, where we saw many of the brethren from our monastery, who had gathered to await the day of judgment, when they were due to receive the fullness of God’s presence with everlasting joy. Here are their names: Corbolenus, a priest, on whom God bestowed good things in life; Frau- dolenus, a priest who conducted his life well; Austrulfus, a deacon, who departed from life suddenly by God’s command; Leodoaldus, a reader, whom God blessed in a special way; and Ebbo, a reader, who was God’s chosen servant. When they saw us in the company of the demons following intently on my left side, they were amazed and wished to speak with us. But for their part those malevolent demons did not want this to happen, but a great servant of God, Leodoaldus by name, petitioned holy Raphael by the maker of heaven and earth to permit me to rest for a little while. Then with humility he asked holy Raphael and me, unhappy as I was, which monastery I had come from and how I had erred so gravely that demons had such power over me. And I said to them, ‘I am from the monastery of St. Peter at Longoretus and I do not deny that everything I suffer happened due to my own sins and wicked deeds.’ Then those men, touched inside by a deep sadness because they recognized me as a brother from their monastery, began to groan, saying that the Devil had never before dared to seize any soul from our community. But in soothing tones holy Raphael began to offer them consolation concerning me, saying, ‘I left some hope in his little body. If the heavenly Father so desires, he may return from here to there.’ In response, these brothers asked holy Raphael with a humble prayer to lie [prostrate] on the earth at the same time with them and pray to the Lord for me, so that the ancient enemy might be prevented from devouring me, and for this purpose they all prayed.

“After they had finished their prayer, we came to the second gate of paradise, where we saw untold thousands of children adorned in white raiment singing praises to God in harmony as though with a single voice. And as soon as we came inside this gate through the midst of these saints, we saw a narrow path prepared along which we made our way to the next gate. But so great was the throng of virgins on each side to the right and to the left that no one other than God could see them all. And when they saw us, they began to call out in one voice, ‘A soul is going to judgment.’ And then they spoke again, ‘You conquer like a warrior, Christ! You conquer! And may the Devil not take this soul to hell!’

“And then we came to the third gate of paradise, which had the appearance of glass. And inside there was a host of crowned saints with shining faces, sitting in their little dwellings and upon their seats, always giving thanks to God. And there was a multitude of priests, outstanding in their merits, whose dwellings had been built with gold bricks, as holy Gregory reminds us in his Dialogues.⁸ And dwellings for many others were being built in great splendor and honor, but their inhabitants had not yet arrived. The person who does not hesitate to give bread to those who hunger builds these dwellings in heaven. And while I was carefully surveying this scene, one of our brothers who had already died, Corbolenus by name, approached me and pointed out to me in the same vicinity a dwelling built with great honor and said, ‘This dwelling is intended for our abbot Francardus and the Lord has not prepared it for him undeservedly.’ I will relate a little of what I know concerning his deeds because he raised me from the time I was a child. He was a devout man, fearful of God and learned in sacred reading. Because he was conscientious and charming, advantageous properties were given to this monastery, which provide the servants of God and pilgrims with consolation. He nurtured and taught the sons of noblemen. After a long illness, he has been cleansed to the point of purity. For all of the good things that he has done, God has prepared for him eternal joys. At last, we entered the third gate and began to make our way with all due haste. When the holy martyrs saw us, they immediately began to pray. As we noted earlier, they did not cease to call out in the same voice, ‘You conquer, warrior Christ, who redeemed us by shedding your blood! May the Devil not take this soul to hell!’ I say this without any word of a lie. I decided to relate this story to allow the sound of saintly voices to resound throughout the entire world.

“And then, finally, we reached the fourth gate of paradise and there I recognized one of our brothers, Betolenus by name, who lay for some time at the gate of our monastery, contorted in dire distress. But here he was in great comfort and he said to me that by the command of Saint Peter he had been put in charge of the lighting of churches throughout the whole world. He began to reprimand me because our church, which was built in honor of Saint Peter, was not lit throughout the night and the candles did not burn at every hour of the day and rest assured that Saint Peter, though far away, knew this to be the case. We were not allowed to go any farther, but I witnessed a miraculous brightness and clarity all around me that I could almost see even when I briefly closed my eyes.

“Then holy Raphael summoned one of his angels, whom he sent forth to call the apostle Peter in all haste to our side. The angel went with great speed and called Saint Peter. And he arrived without delay, saying, ‘Why have you summoned me, brother Raphael?’ Holy Raphael said, ‘These demons are speaking against one of your little monks and they cannot be dissuaded from releasing him.’ In response, blessed Peter turned his beautiful face to the demons and said, ‘What manner of crime do you hold against this monk?’ And the demons said, ‘The worst possible sins!’ And Peter said, ‘Recount them.’ And they said, ‘He had three wives, which is not permitted. Moreover, he committed other adulteries and so many other sins, which we persuaded him to do.’ And they recounted in detail those sins that I had committed from childhood onward and even those that I had forgotten about completely. And Peter said to me, ‘Is all of this true, brother?’ And I said, ‘Yes, Lord, it is true.’ And the most blessed Peter said to the demons, ‘Even if this monk is guilty of some faults, he has also given alms’—truly, alms free you from death—‘and has confessed his sins to the priests and done penance for these sins and furthermore he has received a tonsure in my monastery and gave up all of his worldly possessions for God and bound himself to the service of Christ. These good deeds offset all of the bad things that you have recounted. You cannot take him away from me now. Make no mistake that he is not your companion, but ours.’ But those demons fought back with force against him and said, ‘Unless the very brightness of God takes him from us, you cannot take him from us.’ Then Saint Peter became incensed and repeated two or three times, ‘Go back, foul spirit! Go back, enemies of God, ever opposed to him! Leave him alone!’ But they did not want to release me, so the most blessed Peter suddenly brandished three keys, which looked like this, and moved to hit the demons on the head with them.⁹ But spreading their wings, the demons sought to flee from him in rapid flight by the way that they had entered, but the most blessed apostle Peter forbade them from doing so, saying with authority, ‘You do not have permission to depart in that direction, foul spirits!’ Restricted in this way, those demons flew over the top of the gate and fled through the air.

“After the demons had fled, Saint Peter turned to me and said, ‘Ransom yourself, brother!’ And with great fear I said to him, ‘What could I possibly give, good shepherd, for I have nothing here at hand?’ And he said, ‘When you return to your own pilgrimage in the world, reveal to everyone the twelve coins that you kept hidden without permission when you entered the monastic life and make haste to give them away. Begin on the first day of April and on the first day of each and every month throughout the cycle of the year place in the hand of a poor person one of those coins, each properly weighted and marked by the hands of a priest, so that you have authentic witnesses to the fact that you gave up all of the coins. And, as I said, place coins into the hands of pilgrims as well and thus send your ransom to the heavenly homeland. Beware lest you fall back into those sins, which you are liable to perpetrate due to human frailty, and take good care that at the end of the year not a single penny remains in your possession because, if you neglect to emend your ways from this point onward, you will sorely regret it when you die and your ruin will be much worse for you than it was before.’ A certain old man, beautiful to behold and distinguished in his aspect, was standing next to the blessed apostle Peter and asked him, ‘Lord, if he gives all of these coins away, will his sins be forgiven?’ And the blessed apostle Peter replied to him, ‘If he does as I have instructed him, then his sins will be forgiven immediately. And if he believes most firmly, let him receive my judgment.’ And so I accepted his judgment. And Peter said to the old man, ‘This is the price of the rich man and the poor man, a mere twelve coins.’ After he had given me this warning, Saint Peter ordered two little boys, dressed in white garments, brightness shining from their faces and so lovely to behold, to take me back to the first gate, where the brothers of our monastery resided in peace. From there they led me back through hell so that I might see all of the torments suffered by the sinners and so that I might know what I should say to our other brothers who still lived. And finally they brought me unharmed to our monastery. Once they had received their order, those boys promptly obeyed and miraculously brought me all the way back to the place that I mentioned before.

“When the brethren saw me once more, they offered great praises and thanks to the heavenly doctor, who had freed me from the jaws of the Devil. After they had completed their prayer, they received the command from the most blessed men to lead me back to that homeland that I would one day leave again. They began to debate among themselves, which of them would take me back to my own earthly pilgrimage. They initiated a plan, approaching one of the brothers, Framnoaldus by name, who died in our monastery as a boy, by the will of God. His little body lies buried in the threshold of the church of Saint Peter. They asked him nicely to take me back to the monastery and in addition they made a promise to him, saying, ‘If you take this brother back to the monastery, every Sunday he will clean your tomb and recite over it “Have mercy on me, God” all the way through to the end.’¹⁰ Then they turned to me and said, ‘Pledge this to us, your brothers, that you will fulfill what you have promised.’ And I immediately made my promise and gave my word. And then they said, ‘See that you do not do anything other than this and that you are not condemned as a liar.’ Then brother Framnoaldus himself responded to them, ‘I will obey your decision so that this man will fulfill what he has promised.’ And the brethren gave thanks to God for his obedience.

“They gave him a candle to hold so that he might carry it to Ebbo, the servant of God in the church. Ebbo should then make the sign of Christ upon the candle to prevent evil spirits from extinguishing it and disturbing our journey back, for they always strive in word and deed to call us back to the darkness. And those brothers said that brother Ebbo was celebrating the mysteries of the apostles in the church. So, leaving together, we came to him and the brothers asked him, ‘Man of God, please make the sign of Christ upon this candle, for Saint Peter has commanded us to lead this pilgrim from here back to his monastery so that he might not suffer from the schemes of the demons on his way home.’ Then brother Ebbo said to them, ‘Most beloved brothers, let us make the sign together.’ And as this man began to raise his hands to make the sign, a wondrous brightness began to radiate from his arms and fingers. And when I saw this, I began to consider carefully the nature of this great brightness that adorned his arms and fingers in this way. As I watched, they looked as though they were aglow with gold and gems. It was not without cause that his arms and fingers appeared this way. In as much as my inadequate mind perceives it, I will say a little about it. He was a person of high birth but he abandoned all of his worldly possessions, according to the teaching of the Lord, ‘Go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor and come, follow me.’¹¹ Once he had fulfilled this command, thus beginning a new life of complete devotion, he handed himself over into the service of Christ. He acquired a tonsure, excised his sins, and renewed in this way he became a minister of Christ. His hands were always generous in giving alms. He traded earthly payments for eternal ones. His fingers and arms shone with light from doing these and other good deeds. For this reason, most beloved brothers, no one should hesitate to give alms, for in return the holy Lord allows the faithful to live as beings of light in eternal life.”

The story goes on. After the servant of God Ebbo had finished making the sign upon the candle, he said to brother Barontus, “Listen, brother! If the demons try to ensnare you on your journey, say, ‘Glory to you, God’ and they will never be able to turn you from your path.” “After these things had been accomplished, the most blessed Ebbo requested that the brothers should see me on my way and that I should visit hell in order to see and know the guardians of that place, so that I can tell our brethren all about it. And he said to them, ‘We now know, brothers, that the demons cannot hinder him, for Saint Peter ordered him to return to his home so that he could improve his life.’ Then the brothers fulfilled their orders by walking with me. When we arrived at a place between heaven and hell, I saw there an old man who was very beautiful to behold. He had a long beard and sat in peace on a tall chair. And when I saw him, I turned my head to my companions and asked them discreetly who this powerful and very eminent man was. Turning to me, they said, ‘This is our father, Abraham, and you brother should always beseech the Lord, so that when he commands your soul to leave your body, he allows you to dwell in peace in the bosom of Abraham.’¹²

“Then, going on our way, we arrived at hell, but we could not see what was going on inside because of the gloom of the shadows and the great amounts of smoke. But I can tell you as much as God allowed me to see through the watchtowers manned by demons. I saw there countless thousands of people being held tied up and bound very tightly by demons, whose groans of sorrow sounded like the droning of bees returning to their hives. The demons dragged souls bound in sins to the torments of hell and commanded them to sit in a circle upon seats made of lead. I will explain in detail the ranks of the evildoers and the groups that they belonged to. The proud were being held there with the haughty, the indulgent with their kind, the perjurers alongside other liars, the murderers in the company of killers, the envious among the coveters, the detractors with the disparagers, the deceitful mingled with the deceivers. They were all groaning, for the reason that holy Gregory explained in his Dialogues, ‘They bound them in bundles for burning,’ etc.¹³ There was an untold number of clerics there, who had violated their calling and stained themselves by being caught with women. Weighed down in their torments, they cried out with great lament. But this did them no good, for the reason that holy Gregory said, ‘The one who has lost the opportunity for proper penance comes to the Lord with prayers in vain.’¹⁴ Here I saw weary Vulfoleodus, a bishop damned for his deception, sitting in a filthy cloak like a beggar; there I saw Bishop Dido and we recognized other members of our family as well. Over here were those foolish virgins who applauded themselves for their virginity in the world and carried with them nothing related to good works. Demons held them under guard and they were groaning most bitterly. And there was one more thing I saw there that should provoke intense fear in sinners. All of those souls, who were held in the custody of demons and bound in chains and yet had done some good in the world, were offered manna taken from paradise, which is similar to dew, around the sixth hour of the day [that is, at noon]. It was placed before their nose and mouth and they received refreshment from it. And those who brought it had the look of deacons clothed in white raiment. But all of the others, who contributed nothing good in the world, were offered nothing in return, but with groans they closed their eyes and struck their chests and said in a loud voice, ‘Woe to us, the wretched ones who did nothing good when we had the chance!’

“But after we had seen so much evil taking place, we carried on in the company of our brothers, whose names have been mentioned earlier, and with other travelers as well, who said that they were on their way to the city of Poitiers to visit the shrine of Saint Hilary. After a while, we landed in a pleasant meadow. Then, giving thanks to God, they returned to the heavenly homeland, leaving me and brother Framnoaldus, who had accepted the request to lead me back. Together we made our way to our monastery. And there appeared there a wondrous mystery of God, because the doors of the church were open in anticipation of our arrival. And Framnoaldus entered and prayed for a long time. And when he was finished, we went to his tomb, upon which he kneeled and prayed, ‘Have mercy on me and raise me, Lord, when your kingdom comes.’¹⁵ And he said to me, ‘Behold, brother, where my little body lies! If you wish to fulfill what you have promised, you will have your whole reward.’ After he said these words, he took from me the body of air that I had been given and the light and he departed.

“All help now lost to me, I, a sinner, was abandoned before the arch of the church of Saint Peter, placed in tribulation that I had not experienced so acutely since I left the presence of blessed Peter. I began to drag myself along the ground and to hasten back to my little body. But the great mercy of God sent a wind, which lifted me on high and in the blink of an eye carried me to the room where my body lay dead. But the moment that I looked inside, I saw the brethren keeping watch and my son, whose name is Aglioaldus, sitting across from my bed, holding his hand to his chin and nodding off to sleep from sadness and exhaustion. And the wind blew one last time and I entered into my body through my mouth. I uttered my first word in praise of God—‘Glory to you, God!’—as Ebbo the servant of God taught me. And so after this I recounted in detail the entire story recorded above for our brothers, as I was instructed.”

All of these events took place on the eighth Kalends of April in the sixth year of the reign of Theoderic, king of the Franks [March 25, 678 or 679].