And when I had passed, I gave praise and thanks to God for the graces which he had done me, for he had thus delivered me from so many most cruel dangers. And I saw before me a great wall, very high and of wondrous and most strange fashion, in which there was a gate all of which shone, adorned more than gold and surrounded with precious stones; and when I was close to it, at two miles distance or more, it opened and from inside there came out a great odor as if in all the world they were toasting or roasting spices or as if it were full of other sweet smelling things. And this odor surpassed all the others, it was so soft and sweet and pleasant to my mind. And there I recovered all my strength and health and it seemed to me that I had suffered no ill, but all good, with no pain and with no anguish, and I forgot entirely all the ills I had had before.
Indeed I looked before me at the gate and I saw a very great land; and it was brighter than the brightness of the sun and I had a most great desire to enter in. And before I entered, a great procession came before me which was so great and wonderful that I had never seen the like; and they carried croziers and great palm boughs34 which seemed to be of gold; in it there came men of great estate, where there were the pope and cardinals and archbishops, monks and priest and many other clerics, such as are ordained to the service of God for as long as they stayed in the world, and many others; and the people were of different appearance, each one according to his estate in which they were in this mortal life; and likewise a most fair company of women with whom I was received with great honor and with very great joy. And they led me with them inside the gate and sang most sweetly a sort of song which I had never in my life heard. And when they had sung for a long time, two archbishops, to my mind, came and took me to their dwelling and in their company and they led me through that country35 rejoicing and to see and behold the wonders that were there. And before they spoke to me and praised and blessed God who had thus strengthened my courage and good and true faith, through which I had beaten the devils and had escaped from so many torments. And then they led me throughout that land and showed me so many joys, sweetness and pleasures, that I could not show nor describe nor tell, so fair was the land, and it seemed to me that all this was like when the sun with its great brightness has outshone on all side whatever is in the lantern, so was the sun with less brightness because of the brightness which I saw so sweet and soft and delightful.
And that land, that country, was so wide that one could not see the end anywhere and it was full of very green meadows and delicate grasses arranged with great measure, full of flowers adorned with various soft and pleasing colors and and full of sweet smelling, delightful trees and fruits of all shape and great beauty and very great quantity and abundance that it seemed to me that one could forever live well there without dying.
And being there there was no night for the pure brightness of the rays of the sky always shone there.36 But the great multitude of people whom I saw there was so great that I had never seen so many in the world; and they were in the form of people in orders, as they are in religious convents, each in his order, and they went and came as they wished, some with others, rejoicing and taking pleasure and making a festival with great joy, praising and glorifying the creator. And just as one star is brighter than another, such were they; and they were clothes in robes of gold and green and other in white and others in red, in the manner in which they had served God in this world. And I recognized the form of the robes of the orders, for as they were in various colors in the world, here they were in varying shades of brightness. And what seemed all color of gold and the various colors of the robes were colors of various glories and brightnesses; and there were those who were crowned as kings. And I had very great pleasure to look on them and hear the sweet chants which they made everywhere and there was so much sweetness and so much odor that a human could not think feeling that glory, because there was nothing but joy and happiness, far everyone rejoiced at himself and at the others. And all those who looked at me, praised and blessed God and made fresh joy for me as if I had for each of them raised their brothers from the dead.
And in that place there is neither hot nor cold nor anything else which might harm or discomfort or pain a man's body; and that place is very pleasant and delightful for there is there nothing but joy and happiness and delight.
And then I saw new things which I could not know or tell in this world. And after I had heard the sweet chants and melodies, the two archbishops who had led me in then took me aside and said to me:
‘Know that this land is the earthly paradise out of which Adam, the first father, was cast through his sin; and from this came the pain of the world. And from here he saw God and spoke with him and with the company of angels and they were with him; and because he did not keep God's commandments, he lost the great celestial pleasure of this place and the grace which God had given him, until the son of God by his goodness took human flesh and brought our redemption, through that faith which we receive at baptism where we believe that there is no other life than that in which we were born and through his love and hope, just like Adam, and because after our baptism we were left in the world and did many sins, for this reason we must come to purgatory and pass through the middle of those pains which you have seen in that purgatory through which you have passed, and the penance which we receive before death count for us in purgatory and the remainder one serves out in the aforesaid purgatory suffering torments according to what one has done. And all of us who are here have been in purgatory for our sins and all those whom you saw in torments where you have passed, when they are purged, will come to the repose where we are. And when others come, we must go to meet them as we have done for you and we bring them here. And of those who are purged in purgatory, some stay longer than others and others less and none of them can know when he will come out. But through the masses which are sung and the prayers and alms that are made for them, they come out of the torment or are partially lightened until they are totally free, for no one can know all this of himself how they suffer torments for their sins; and for this reason we thus have leisure to stay in accordance with the good we have done; and albeit we are free of the fire of purgatory, we are not worthy to enter paradise. Yet more — we are thus in great joy and great repose as you can see; and when it pleases God we will go to paradise. And our company grows and diminishes every day as those come from purgatory to us when they are purged and some of us go from the earthly paradise to the heavenly paradise.’