Magnificat (1993) - full transcript

I shall tell this story because the names number of the animals

are as the names and number of the stars,

and so that I, tiny creature, gain access to the great banquet

through God's goodwill, my Father's.

And in telling, I pray the Lord Jesus,

from the pit of the dead's cavern to the top of the kings' chapel,

to translate this Magnificat of mine in letters of fury and fire.

I shall tell what happened in Passion Week of the 960th year from the birth of Christ,

in the lands of the lords of Malfole,

west of the Monks' range and east of the Glossina river,

where people thought the sun would spend the night at the bottom of the sea.



But fear and love of God were deep in them

and the certitude of His presence in the forces of nature,

in springs, in trees, in the clouds of the sky,

in the clearness of clearness.

There was the ancient custom of the last farewell for the dying.

This was pact that the dying would enter with the dearest person,

promising him from Paradise a sign of the peace he reached.

On that morning of Passion Monday Folco,

executioner without a helper,

went and sought one among the members of Nomen's family,

swineherds and cheese makers at Rocchete.

In order to enforce justice,

whenever by chance there should be a need,

let them choose among the sons,



whose sex shall be verified by inspection

and who are unfettered by wife and offspring.

The lord of Sanzena will make 2 executioners every 5 years

during Easter week with the task of enforcing justice

in the lands of Malfole,

below the Limentra river,

Treppio, under the border of the pass of Mount Sambuco

and Mount Acutoragazza,

outside the walls of Camugnano,

and in the villages and fords of Faina

and Tredozio

and in the valley of Mount Horseman.

Without enforcing sentences in the lands of Sassum Glossina,

which belong to the lord of Loggiola.

In case of death

or loss due to supervening impossibility of one of them,

a substitute having the same qualities

of the missing in body and soul

will be sought in the closest lands

and will be made executioner as helper of the first executioner,

who will be at his head till the end of mandate,

when he will ask the lord to return to his origin

and family and house and name.

- What is your name?
- Baino.

For the 5 years of his mandate,

the executioner will be marked with the 5 rings of Holy Death,

which he will wear day and night

as a sign of acknowledgment

and immunity.

Under the angels' sky, on the same morning, Roza, royal prostitute,

crossed the arduous paths of Mount Horse,

heading to Visitation Monastery.

After the porters, weighed down with that sacred load,

there were nurses, old wives, and court midwives.

Because Roza, concubine of Hugo King of the Italians,

kept in her womb that monarch's seed,

that holy son that just during Passion Week

was destined to be born.

While in the royal boudoirs two other whores

brooded in their rotten wombs seeds of equal stock.

Hence, in that race to give a boy to the king, the prize was succession.

Roza, who in spite of her age was at the first child,

would not give up the advantage that destiny presented her with.

It's really a boy!

There were many signs that the flesh encumbering her womb was male flesh.

But she, as an expert in enchanting arts,

against the Church's will, wore at her neck the eagle stone,

that with its magnetism protected the infant from the world's spells.

It's there!

They said that Visitation Monastery had been established by Charlemagne himself

and then given in benefit to the order of the Holy Dress.

The pious nuns, beside prayer,

would attend to repairing the walls and the roof,

to weaving blankets,

to tanning leather,

to shearing sheep,

and to growing wheat, barley, and emmer.

Deacons and subdeacons, divided in thurifers,

cross-bearers, candle-bearers, train-bearers, and sextons,

preserved the spirit of the ancient liturgy alive in their rites.

At Vespers they would still recite the prayer to the angels

who appear before God's judgment every day at sundown.

The monastery owed its name to the visit that Mary paid to Elizabeth the day after the Annunciation.

Hanging from the heaven of beams of the church,

the tunic of the Holy Virgin was preserved from immemorial time.

A pilgrim had brought it there from the Holy Land at the time of the first Merovingian kings.

A prodigious relic for women in labor.

It was a royal abbey.

Hence, a special kneeler in the church was named "The King's Place."

End ever, at every hour of the day and of the night,

it was occupied by a nun or by an oblate,

that prayed for the sovereign's soul

to free it from his sins.

If it's his first theft, I have to cut him off an ear

or gouge off one eye.

If they catch him stealing again, I cut him off a foot

or a hand.

If they take him for the third time, I have to hang him.

Is it true that I've taken your son's place?

Who rapes a nun must be burned alive.

Who is married twice must be thrown down a precipice.

He's dead, isn't he?

The executioner thought of his dead son.

Nothing could give him a reason, peace, or truce.

He felt this void within himself

of being as a shell,

the loving skin of a such an immense and incurable wound.

Margherita, seventh daughter of Alardo from the Mount Flower Dell,

through this will read by me

on Monday of Passion Week

in the first year of King Hugh of Provence,

divests herself of all her possessions

and, more precisely,

of a seventh of the house and of the yard,

of a seventh of the road leading to the Glossina-river ford,

of a seventh of the Sperticano forest,

of a seventh of the barge of the ford,

of her grave at the family graveyard,

of a seventh of the two cows,

of the calf, and of the pig.

As an oblate to the holy house of Visitation Monastery,

her lot will be given to the pious abbess, devout to Christ the Lord,

called by the Christian Son of the one God.

In exchange of such gift, the monastery will waive for 10 more years

the fishing and wading rights of the Glossina river.

As per the rule, she will keep for herself only the nun case,

which will hold her body on the day of her death.

This is the head.

And this is the neck.

Here you must come with the blade.

Come, you try!

You broke his skull.

Maybe you didn't even kill him.

Try again!

Here!

Again.

Again.

Again!

Do you know who these are?

All those of the family that are not here any more.

This is you.

As per the pagan usage, the poles with the wooden doves

showed the road back home to those who had died far away.

So in the afternoon of the Holy Monday,

only in her patched dress,

her mother's cape,

and an empty wooden case,

Margherita left Mount Flower Dell

for a trip that for her would last forever.

Beaten by the storm, without consolation,

behold, I rebuild thee over the jasper

and over sapphire I lay thy foundations.

I will make thy battlements of carbuncle,

thy gates will be of precious stones,

and all thy enclosure of gems.

Each of thy sons will be a disciple of the Lord

and thy children will have abundance of peace.

Thou shalt not fear,

sudden fear will fall upon thee no more.

And the Holy Virgin, after receiving the angel's visitation, said one day:

I will rise up and visit my cousin Elizabeth.

I will tell her the great events that have happened to me.

And I will do whatever she tells me.

She put on the vest and she left secretly at daybreak

towards the mountains of Judea.

You may approach.

The Holy Tunic will help you and protect during labor the life you carry in your womb.

The women had prepared the royal couch over long stands.

They provided it with straw bed, mattress, feather pillow, and cushion.

A clear light shone from the walls of the cell,

when they lit candles of Spanish wax.

To fortify the expectant lady, other maids took care of feeding her,

by cooking meats that men experts in the gaming arts had hunted:

cranes and wild geese simmered in mint and fenugreek,

peacocks in pepper sauce,

rabbits in honey-vinegar,

broth of fat meat,

liquor of Cretan grapes,

the inside of the whitest bread to wipe the clots of fat away.

Gromario Grifone, lord of Malfole,

feeling that his death was approaching,

chose to meet him at the foot of the Visitation Monastery,

in the farthest west of his lands.

Hence the men of his court

built a dwelling with the woods of that sacred forest

and blessed it,

as it had been erected on the land where their lord had seen the light

and where his life's companion had been buried,

on the banks of that river

where he had been immersed on that far and bright day

when he had been dubbed a knight.

So on that Tuesday morning of Passion Week

his body tormented with burning pustules

was laid onto a barge bound to float downstream.

His last and noblest escort was formed by his three bastards begotten in the space of his long life:

by Benicevenne, his beloved son,

and by Martinella, that in the years of his great age had been his diversion and love.

His skin was tight over the bones as a thin parchment over foils.

I have had so many dearest friends during these years.

They all went to a far-away place.

I think of this place ever more often.

My dear friend, come beside me yet another time

and warm me from the chill taking me.

Give me a kiss. You will do it no more.

I had you in life's fairest days.

Now it is time to lose you,

to see you disappear from my desire.

This is the first of the many sacrifices that make up these hours.

I have sought and loved only you!

God is my witness!

I asked neither for marriage pact nor for dowry.

Although the name of bride may seem more holy and decent,...

for me that of friend was always sweeter.

Even that of lover.

For the more I humbled myself before you,

the more I thought you liked me...

and to bring honor to your glory.

He knew that her body's hue was like blooming roses,

and the brightness of her gaze like the rainbow reflected over water.

My fault, my God! Forgive in the name of Thy grace...

For whom is this service?

For him who is dying.

...from the hour of my birth, till this day when, lo, I am brought to nothing.

Jerusalem, city of God, the Lord will rise upon thee.

In thee His glory will appear, the Lord will rise upon thee.

In Lent, Agnello would leave his convent of Our Lady of the Snow

making a tour of all the monasteries of the Pentapolis to write down a year book

of the monks and nuns that had died in the winter.

- I greet you by the Cross!
- I greet you by the Cross!

Whom did winter carry away?

Brothers Giovanni of Lino and Mauro Lico went away.

Of what cause?

Of decrepitude and too many vigils.

- He passed by here too, didn't he?
- Yes, alas.

- I greet you by the Cross!
- I greet you by the Cross!

Has any sister of this place been called to the Paradise of the Blessed?

Yes, in mid November sister Amara of the Genuflection.

I greet you by the Cross!

His springs and his summers

were wholly spent crossing mountains

inhabited by flesh-devouring birds,

coming down frightful gorges,

walking through woods,

trusting in the protection of the Most High

and believing in His presence in the sap of all good things in the world.

Here in November Sister Escola died.

Escola...

Of what cause?

Of buboes and age.

On the Annunciation Sibiliano of the Plane left.

How did he die?

Drowned in the hemp pond.

Alright, if you could make a note.

At Our Lady in the Cane Field died:

Gerberga of Caracivenga,

and Marcovelfo of the Poplar Grove.

At Our Lady of the Lattani:

Onesto of Jesus

and Arterio of Mones

and Cherubino of Jerusalem.

[They speak in a foreign tongue]

Benigno offered to that arcane company a loaf of bread and two dried salt fish.

In exchange they showed their dead king,

a stinking corpse,

deck out with cape and crown,

propped up with wood forks.

He had been killed in the battle of St. Leo by the peasants, who had trapped him in a vineyard.

His companions were carrying him back to Noricus,

showing him in the villages

and begging for food for the trip in exchange.

[They speak in a foreign tongue]

Martinella, I have entrusted you to Undeo,

who will defend you and love you.

I give him also the usufruct of the Montasico plot

and the income from the Prada fortress

and the vineyards at Cerignone and the two farmsteads.

Tomorrow you will leave.

Benicevenne will let you know of my death.

For which you will have the canon of Reno say 100 Masses.

I beg you, Agateo, to bring my cross to Cologne,

where Helen, Constantine's mother,

has buried the bodies of the Magi,

thus paying off my debt with God.

In bequest I give you the farmer's daughter at Vincaie as wife,

who has been dead three years,

with no male heir.

She is still an unmarried virgin

and you must promise to me to wait till she is a full woman

before having her,

keeping her as your dear friend, not your bride.

Rolandino, I grant you the fishing and hunting rights of the holdings of Corazza House and Spinelli,

the fords of the Rancolfo river and Barlesca and the usufruct of the mill of Pertice.

You shall have for wife the fifth daughter of the lord of Febino,

who has been widowed twice,

and has the Guastoglia pastures.

You, Benicevenne,

now that my time is wholly completed,

shall be the lord of Malfole

and dubbed a knight.

May the military saints George, Theodore,

Mercury, and Martin

put your arms

at the service of the Heavenly Lady.

May they help you recognize the signs

that I will give you of my achieved peace.

Behold, the smell of my son

is as the smell of a plentiful field, which the Lord hath blessed.

What do you want?

- I wish to obtain...
- I wish to obtain...

- ...divine mercy and grace...
- ...divine mercy and grace...

- and be part of your society.
- and be part of your society.

May God grant you the society of the faithful.

Make the steps necessary to enter the holy ground of the monastery.

What is your name?

Margherita of Mount Flower Dell.

Now you are part of our faith, which you must guard as the heart in your chest.

Welcome, sister!

Welcome, sister!

During the first questioning,

after he was made to swear on the sword,

the husband was asked to confirm whether his wife had offered him

on the eve of the feast of St. Aurilia,

a river fish that she had hidden still alive within her private parts,

secretly pulling it off only after the last spasms of agony.

Yes, I confirm it. She made me eat a fish she had introduced into her pudenda.

All this was revealed to me by my dead cousin who appeared to be before the stable.

Whether she had offered him to eat bread that she had made knead on the naked skin of her behind.

Whether she had added to food and drink a little of her menstrual blood.

Yes, I swear she offered me bread that she had made knead secretly on her behind.

Whether she spread honey on herself stark naked and, rolling on a layer of wheat grains,

she later collected all the grains scattered on her body.

I saw her one night stark naked rolling on wheat.

Whether she ground them turning the mill in the direction opposite to the Sun's rotation,

and with this flour she prepared a cake and offered it to her spouse in bed.

Yes, she ground them turning the mill in the direction opposite to the Sun's.

All these evil deed aimed at making her husband impotent and keeping herself only for her lover.

Mary was three years old when her parents take her to the temple

and she stayed there 12 years. Repeat!

Mary was three years old when her parents take her to the temple and she stayed there 12 years.

When she was 15 years old, she was espoused to Joseph. Repeat!

When she was 15 years old, she was espoused to Joseph.

Then the Angel appeared to her and said: you shall bear the Son of the Most High.

- Whose?
- Of the Most High. Repeat!

Then the Angel appeared to her and said: you shall bear the Son of the Most High.

You must wait here. Leave her all your memories, like Mary did when she was taken to the temple.

You must get used to not having memories any more.

You must learn to cancel all things and people you would think of.

All away!

Do you think it would have been easier with your son?

He and I would have make her suffer less.

That's all.

He knew how to do it.

Aren't you afraid that those you kill come back?

So many men, so many women! Even some priests!

People important in the Church.

But nobody showed his face again. Neither by day, nor by night.

This means that it's very easy to go to the next world,

but it's very hard to come back here.

Even for those who go to Paradise?

Those they give us don't go to Paradise.

How do you know?

Who do you think you are to know that?

If there is someone that should return,

I know who he is.

You wish he was here instead of me, don't you?

To conquer ourselves, becoming stronger every day,

and every day to make progress in our improvement.

To conquer ourselves, becoming stronger every day,

and every day to make progress in our improvement.

The wider and deeper is your science,

the more severely you will be judged.

The wider and deeper is your science,

the more severely you will be judged.

Therefore do not boast of any doctrine or art,

rather be fearful of all the knowledge entrusted to you.

That very night Irmina of Tiola had died of fever.

Her family had given her to the monastery the year before

in exchange for the use of the mill to grind the wheat.

So Margherita took her place in the dormitory.

She was given her blanket, her straw bed, and her basin,

which were blessed, since Irmina had died free from sin.

Most of the oblates came from families still tied to arcane and barbarous superstitions.

As the duty to defend with bramble from the assaults of demonic powers

the soul of the dead before the burial.

Our Lord and God had sent three summers and three winters onto Earth

since when Rustico of Jerusalem and his two sons

had to do the sentry duty at the Tower of the Sparrow

against those of Gragnone.

It lasted nine days and nine nights.

There was no family of peasants that did not have to give its sons to this corvée.

I am here!

During this time,

the women of Wood Gennaro had to carry every three days

food, drink, oil, and bread.

Plus two braids of dry figs, salt, and two citrons.

So it was that Venturina and Rustico fell in love.

- What do you want?
- We are here to ask a permit from the lord of Malfole.

The lord of Malfole is seriously ill.

In such a state he cannot hear the people of the village

and take decisions about men and things.

For some time we've been waiting for our daughter's marriage license.

Who is the bride?

Venturina of Gerardo of Wood Gennaro, sir.

Whom do you ask to marry?

Remigio of Rustico of Jerusalem.

How many degrees of kinship separate you lest you commit incest?

From the shoulder to the middle finger.

Come.

I am the daughter of Gerardo of Wood Gennaro.

Who was the son of Mariolo of Wood Gennaro.

Who was brother of Emma of Wood Gennaro.

Who married Zaffiro of Jerusalem.

Who had Diamoro of Jerusalem.

Who had Rustico of Jerusalem.

Who is his father.

What are you giving to your lord in exchange of this permit?

This animal.

So Venturina could have her engagement party,

making her love public.

To the taker of this arrogance of mine,

I ask to advance a step forward to that boy

who came to be on duty for nine days and nine nights

at the Tower of the Sparrow against those of Gragnone.

To the receiver of this blessing of mine,

I ask to make a genuflection to the woman

who came and brought to the men of the Tower of the Sparrow

the bread for nine days

and the mean, the wine, and the eggs for nine days.

To the receiver of this song of mine

I ask to kiss the tip of the toes of the woman

who returned from the Tower of the Sparrow, till the village repeating the words of the rhyme.

To the taker of this prayer of mine

I ask to exchange her place with that of the soul that has recognized my love.

Those who have found the dove, let them make the sign of Christ as a seal of the meeting.

Beside with prayer and fasting,

they would prepare for the holy recurrence of the death and resurrection of the Nazarene

by cleaning their souls from the sins of the world

and their bodies from the filth of the winter months.

It was also a chance to free them with great skill

from the many parasites infesting them.

Margherita strove to remove from her head all the memories that would bring her back home,

beyond the mountains.

To do that she descended to the meadow behind the monastery

to search the tomb of the oblate she had replaced.

But as she could not read, she did not find it.

Giovanni of Salotto of Casio.

I swear.

Falduccio of Gennaio.

I swear.

Dianora of Calimola.

I swear.

Tusco of Campodose.

I swear.

Maiolo of Ponte.

I swear.

Ascelino of Holy Bush.

I swear.

Lotardo of the Angel's Power.

I swear.

Giuscla of the Grass Snake.

I swear.

Astra of Fiaccone.

I swear.

Fessa of the Valley of Tiola.

I swear.

Centone of Rocca of Bardi.

I swear.

Ammiano of Panico.

I swear.

Thus says the law:

Whoever kills his wife and denies it and twelve neighbors swear against him,

will be saved on condition that he pays 200 pennies in compensation.

Otherwise he shall be subjected to the trial by ordeal.

Now his hand will be wrapped in tow and linen,

after being covered with wax.

After this you will handed over to the justice executioners,

who will keep you three days and three nights.

On the third day,

if you show any trace of a burn,

it will signify your lie

and you will be quartered alive at this point in the village.

Among the many duties regulating life at the monastery,

that of silence was supreme,

to be kept around the whole day and night,

except for the time of prayer in common.

Therefore they used a special language based on signs.

Each sign represented a being or thing in the human, animal, or plant kingdom.

An idea or a principle.

A question or an order.

A dream or a tribulation.

Or a celestial concept.

Can you smell the scent of this plant?

It is the smell of the house where you were born.

How could you identify it?

From your tales.

If only it pleased God I could still hunt on those grounds.

Alas! I have no more power over my body!

I need to prepare myself.

If there is anything to help you not suffer,

I will let you know it.

I'll send you a sign to tell you.

This is our pact.

If after my death I have

a way to come back and tell you my peace,

if I have this way,

if Christ the Lord forgives me,

and gives me this way,

I'll do it.

I promise.

Then, my soul,

your life will be gladdened by a hope nobody gave me.

This is the pledge I want to tell you,

in the moment of my death.

In the ancient usage of those noble people,

a circle of blessed ropes and torches was formed

around the place where their lord was dying,

leaving only a small hole opened,

which was called the hole of death,

a holy gateway through which death,

who among the Lord's devout is the most devout,

would enter that night into the dark and silent pavilion,

welcomed as a long-awaited friend.

Margherita, it's matins! Put your vest on!

This is your candle.

It lasts for a third of the night.

When it is about to burn out, they will fetch you.

You know what to do, don't you?

To pray and never to fall asleep.

Do you know how to pray?

You must say: I love you, Mary! I love you, Mary!

That's all. Is it clear?

Here is Bishop Bona. No need to open it, I'm sure.

Here Counts Barti and their daughters.

Here it sounds empty. There's nobody.

Water flew here, so nothing.

If he died after his brother, he's in the crypt.

They were all moved after the thieves had come.

She's here. He should be underneath.

Yes, she's here.

It's the family ring.

It's the lady of Malfole.

At dawn of Passion Thursday the lord of Malfole obtained the rest of the sleeping.

His corpse was immersed in warm wine.

Women used leaves of blessed palm

to free that warrior's body from the filth of years.

The enemies held the king in their hands,

making an effort to pull down his helm.

The lord of Malfole advanced and flung himself towards them.

He so struck before and behind,

he so showed his style

and so pushed and pulled

that he wrenched the horse headpiece from the king.

And he took him back to his friendly camp.

The lord of Malfole did so much that the king later said

he had never seen nor known fairer blow from a knight

than that given by the lord of Malfole in that war.

And he was much praised by the best.

With the head towards Jerusalem!

On that very day the two headsmen let their prisoner drag them

beyond the Meadow of the Clerics to Isabella of Mount Horseman,

the widow who had the gift of lunacy as one born in the dark of a new moon.

For the pleasure you gave me,

I washed my hair, my husband!

Then, after I washed them,

I tied them with golden threads, my husband!

Then, after I washed them,

with gold I did tie them!

I tied them with threads of gold,

while I waited for you, my husband!

Oh my dear husband,

oh living animal that were within me,

oh bitter nourishment!

Oh straight tree grown towards the sky!

Oh my sweet husband!

Isabella!

Isabella!

I'm Alfio!

- Go away!
- I must talk to you!

- Leave!
- I must talk to you!

Back off! Go away! Away!

You can't throw me rocks!

Don't come near!

Leave!

Don't come near!

Maybe if one of you goes and tells her what's happening to me,

maybe she'll be moved.

I can't die like this, without even talking to her!

Shall I try?

She told me we have to go, that you already got her into a big trouble.

Come away from here!

May He who keeps you among holy flowers let you come back to me once again!

She's been crazy since childhood.

She had her brain full of water and going its own way.

Men like this stuff.

She always changes.

One would go to Mount Horseman

and she'd jump out naked from behind a tree and look at you.

But if you moved on,

she could call for help, even throw rocks at you.

If you kept still,

she stayed there naked saying names.

And her husband?

He knew!

When the rumor spread she had become a widow,

all the men came from Campo d'Oso, from Pioppa,

to try to be on top of her.

And so I too went.

She looked at me in a special way.

She said: "You are Marzolina's husband!"

And then?

I could no longer sleep.

Then...

I went to the Visitation Monastery

to ask Our Lady

if could make me a widower.

But twelve swore that you killed her!

I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel.

Canticle of Canticles?

No!

- Ezechiel 3:16?
- Good!

For the lips of a harlot are like a honeycomb dropping.

Psalm 25:8.

No!

- Proverbs 5:22?
- Good!

For she is an infinite treasure to men.

Wisdom 7:14.

Good!

When he uttereth his voice the waters are multiplied in heaven.

- I Kings 11:7
- No.

- Joel 4:21
- No.

- Ecclesiastes 12:20?
- No.

- Exodus 15:9?
- No.

Ezechiel 23:3.

Proverbs 26:28.

- Psalm 145?
- No.

Jeremias 5:16.

On Holy Thursday the fast lasted till the third hour after midday.

Only then it was allowed to share the bread.

All ye works of the Lord, bless the Lord:

praise and exalt him above all for ever.

O ye angels of the Lord, bless the Lord! O ye heavens, bless the Lord!

O all ye waters that are above the heavens, bless the Lord!

O all ye powers, bless the Lord

O ye sun and moon, bless the Lord!

O ye stars of heaven, bless the Lord!

O every shower and dew, bless ye the Lord!

O all ye spirits of God, bless the Lord!

The deacons, continuing to climb,

reached the olive grove of Arnone,

where a centuries-old plant grew that was said to be as old as Christ would have been,

if He had stayed among humans.

The ground feeding this olive tree was blessed ground

and had always been free from grazing and never manured.

Only from pressing this plant's olives they obtained the oil to consecrate,

sanctify, and exorcise

according to the ritual of the ancient liturgy.

The oil to be consecrated will be filtered through three corporals placed at three different heights.

and will fall into a pot in which, without any pouring,

will be carried to the cathedral,

where he will be blessed and mixed with the Holy Chrism.

This precious substance is used in baptism and confirmation,

in the consecration of altars and vestments,

in the blessing of the dead,

in the consecration of kings and princes,

and in the blessing of bells.

The Holy Chrism was brought to Clovis King of the Franks from an angel appeared as in form of a dove

and preserved for the whole year within the altar in the most unreachable and remote place.

A few drops were dropped into the Blessed Oil.

He cannot be born tonight: the Moon hasn't changed yet!

Let's hope he's born on Good Friday!

All those born on that day are either seers or healers.

He saw an immense plain, called the Territory of Paradise.

There were castles in amazing number and beautiful recreation-gardens.

All the streets of Paradise were made of the purest gold and most precious stones.

An avenue was formed by gold trees with boughs shining with gold.

Their flowers stayed rich of colors according to their species

and were more delightful and wonderful of whatever one could see in earthly gardens.

He saw in the middle of that territory Holy Jerusalem,

sublime, beautiful, richly adorned.

The city was encircled with seven wonderful castles,

with crests bearing the glorious name of the Virgin.

He saw that the castles were richly decorated

and hoisted banners of victory,

and that the angels, archangels, apostles, prophets, confessors, and virgins

were disposed according to their rank.

He saw them and thus knew he had reached his house of peace forever.

Amen!

The white wine!

- Can you see the head?
- Almost!

The cloack and the crown.

Maybe we should tell the King!

No! Let's wait! No!

The cycle is over!

Here it is! Push!

Here it is! Sta uscendo!

Here it is!

It's a girl.

Where do you give the first blow?

Do you cut an arm first?

Some cut the legs first, don't they?

He lied.

This is the time to give me the sign.

Let these plants,

just move in the wind.

Let these plants just move,

and I shall believe that your soul has been received into Paradise beside Our Lord

and your transgressions have been forgiven

and you are watching me from above in glory,

far from our tribulations.

Let me strike trunk of this plant with my sword,

and let a bird take off.

This is the pact amongst us: that if even a single bird takes off,

you are watching me from heaven and my anguish to have lost you is soothed.

Is it true one does not die at once

and that you must break his back to make him finally kick the bucket?

And that he can keep living even without legs and arms?

Think of where you're going!

You must think only of that!

You must think only of the place waiting for you!

Have you seen it?

Have you been there?

You never saw one who was there and came back to tell.

On the contrary!

Brother Agnello of the Monastery of Our Lady of the Snow.

He said he knew where Paradise were.

That same night, Agnello, had climbed the Foggy Mountain

and reached the Monastery of the Paraclete,

among all sacred places the closest to heaven.

I greet you by the Cross!

I greet you by the Cross!

Unfortunately Death visited this winter the monasteries of the valley and those of the crest.

He willed to visit also our holy house,

taking away our sister Alpaide, our canoness.

What brought her to Paradise?

The bite of a rabid dog.

Ah! Yes. I understand.

- I greet you by the Cross!
- I greet you by the Cross!

In one of the many caves of Foggy Mountain,

closest to heaven,

on that same night, Agnello died.

In that log of the souls of Paradise,

that stopped with the nun Alpaide bitten by a rabid dog,

no one could add his name.

One day a 15-year-old maiden,

whose name was Mary,

left home.

She needed water.

She took a jug and went to the spring.

She was wearing the vest,

the only one she had,

and torn in many parts.

She arrived at the spring and heard a voice calling her.

She turned and there was an angel of the Lord who announced that soon

she would become the Mother of God.

She was very afraid.

She couldn't believe at the destiny waiting for her.

She didn't know whom to turn to.

So she ran away to a distant country on the mountains,

where her cousin Elizabeth lived.

She knocked at the door

and Elizabeth came to meet her blessing her with these words:

And whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord.

And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid.

Because he that is mighty hath done great things to me.

And Good Friday morning came

and darkness fell over the earth.

Nature too seemed to follow a ritual tied to that sad day.

Holy God,

Holy Mighty,

Holy Immortal,

have mercy on us!

O my people, what have I done to thee?

or wherein have I afflicted thee?

Answer me.

The Man will be drawn to Mount Golgotha,

in whose bowels Adam is buried.

In the holy vineyard a bough of the tree of Paradise,

will become the Son's Cross.

The waters shall be turned into coals of fire,

and the stars shall fall in pieces for the flaming fire,

as if they had never been created.

The sky shall be turned into a huge lightning

and the lightnings shall frighten the world.

The souls of the dead shall be like them

and shall be changed into fire

and the commandment of God.

What are you doing here? Go away!

Faithful Cross! above all other, One and only noble Tree!

None in foliage, none in blossom, None in fruit thy peer may be;

Sweetest wood and sweetest iron, Sweetest weight is hung on thee.

The Body of Christ.

The Body of Christ.

The Body of Christ.

The Body of Christ.

I give you my daughter.

May this blessed ring send away the Devil's assaults!

For all the services you will do me and all the things you have promised me,

for all of this I give you my house and myself.

With this gesture I exercise my right over men

and women and things and animals in the dominion of Malfole,

of which I am the heir.

I wish to offer you my submission,

the thoughts of my head,

and the actions of my hands, feet,

and legs.

For this we are together.

I wish to offer you my prayers.

And the dreams of my night.

I wish to offer you the children you will want of my body,

with whom you will go in the field to sow wheat

and to defend.

I will not wish you

my old age,

nor my ugliness,

nor my weakness,

nor my poverty.

May God will that you do not see me then!

You do it!

Good night!

If this ember gives off a whirl of sparks within the time I say one Hail Mary,

it means you are somewhere in the universe,

see me from the Heaven of the Blessed,

and wish to tell me your peace.

Hail Mary full of Grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed are thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus.

Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners

now and at the hour of our death.

In the ritual of the last farewell there was a pact,

that was entered with the dearest person,

by promising him a return.

It was a pact that the people of that land from centuries

did at the moment of parting

with who was destined to survive.

But nobody had ever received an answer from the after-life.