THE DIVINE TRAGEDY[1]
Born in 1079, died in 1142; had taught with marked success in Melun and Paris when, on being compelled to burn one of his books, he resumed preaching in an oratory built for him by his students; Abbot of St. Gildas from 1125 until 1134; condemned for heresy in 1140, but afterward reconciled to his accusers; represented the spirit of free inquiry in theology, but remembered now chiefly for his romance with Heloise.
Whether, therefore, Christ is spoken of as about to be crowned or about to be crucified it is said that He "went forth"; to signify that the Jews, who were guilty of so great wickedness against Him, were given over to reprobation, and that His grace would now pass to the vast extent of the Gentiles, where the salvation of the Cross and His own exaltation by the gain of many peoples, in the place of the one nation of the Jews, has extended itself. Whence, also, to-day we rightly go forth to adore the Cross in the open plain, showing mystically that both glory and salvation had departed from the Jews and had spread themselves among the Gentiles. But in that we afterward returned [in procession] to the place whence we had set forth, we signify that in the end of the world the grace of God
- ↑ From a sermon translated from the Latin by Rev. John Mason Neale.
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