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The final text in this book is the Nun’s Sermon, or more properly “A Nun’s Sermon to Ladies Carenza, Iselda, and Alais on Priority of Knowledge and Light over Earthly Body.”
1
This text, added here as a conclusion to this collection of sacred texts of knowledge and wisdom, is a Cathar poem, given in a woman’s voice, supposedly by a nun, on the satisfaction and thrill of marrying god—who is, after all, the crown of knowledge and light.
My lady Carenza of the lovely body,
please offer sisters your profound advice,
and since you know what’s best, tell us
precisely what to do. You know. Your ways embody
all ways of woman. Please say: shall I wed
someone we know? Or stay a virgin? I’ve said
that would be good. But having kids—what for?
To me a marriage seems a painful bore
.
Lady Carenza, I’d like to have a man,
but what a penance when you have a clan
of brats. Your tits hang halfway to the ground;
your belly is discomfited and round.
My lady Iselda and my lady Alais,
you have youth, beauty; your skin a fresh color
and you know courtly manners; you have valor
beyond all other women in your place.
Hear me. And for the best seed from a cod,
marry the crown of knowledge, who is GOD
.
And you will bear the fruit in glorious sons,
saving your chastity like married nuns.
My lady Iselda and my lady Alais,
remember me and may my light transcend
all fears. Please ask the king of glory,
when you enter heaven, to join us once again.
