DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0189
and the Soul-Ladder 135
Ladder of Paradise, a book of thirty chapters in which he described
out of his own experience the thirty steps leading upward to per-
fection1; hence he is figured with a ladder2. So too is Saint Em-
meram of Ratisbon (Sept. 22)3, but for a very different cause : in
652 A.D. he was bound to a ladder, mutilated, and murdered on a
false charge4. Saint Bathild the Saxon (Jan. 26 or 27 or 30), who
was married to Clovis ii in 649 A.D., shortly before she died had a
vision of a ladder set up in front of an altar and of herself, escorted
by angels, going up it into heaven5: she is represented accordingly".
Saint Romuald of Italy (Feb. 7), who lived c. 907—1027 A.D., once
saw a ladder rising to the sky and his monks ascending it in white
habits: he founded a fine church on the spot7. Saint Olaf king of
Norway (July 29), who fell at Stikklestad in 1030 A.D., is portrayed
with a ladder seen by him in a similar dream8. Saint Bernard
Ptolemy (Aug. 21, 1348 A.D.), founder of the Olivetines at Siena,
had—-like Saint Romuald—a vision of angels leading white-robed
monks up a ladder". And Saint Angela of Merici (May 31, 1540
1 KXi/j-ai; rod irapaSeiffov, Scala Paradisi (lxxxviii. 631 —1164 Migne). On it see
K. Krumbacher Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur- Mi'tnchen 1897 p. 143 f. and
a beautifully illustrated chapter by W. Dennison and C. R. Morey Studies in East
Christian and Roman Art {University of Michigan Studies: Humanistic Series xii)
New York 1918 pp. 1—30 ('Two Miniatures from a Manuscript of St. John Climacus,
and their Relation to Klimax Iconography') with col. pis r, 1 and figs. 1 —14.
3 M. and W. Drake op. cit. pp. 67, 188.
3 C. Cahier op. cit. i. 327 f., M. and W. Drake op. cit. pp. 40, 188.
4 B. Sepp in the Analecta Bollandiana Paris—Bruxelles 1889 viii. 233 f. (Arbeonis
episcopi Frisingensis Vita S. Emmerammi anthentica 16 ff.) scale superpositum funibus
alligauerunt etc., S. Baring-Gould op. cit. x. 338 f.
5 Acta Sanctorum edd. Bolland. Antverpise 1643 Januarius ii. 741 ( Vita 13) At verd
iam propinquante glorioso eius obitu, visio prasclara ei fuit ostensa. Scala enim erecta &
stans ante altarium S. Marios, cuius culmen ccclum contingeret, & quasi Angelos Dei
comitantes, vt ipsa Domna Baltildis ascenderet per earn : etc., cp. id. 745 (Alia Vita r6)
in the better Latin of an interpolator.
u C. Cahier op. cit. i. 328, M. and W. Drake op. cit. pp. 17, 188.
7 Acta Sanctorum edd. Bolland. Antverpia; 1658 Februarius ii. 136 B (Alia Vita | sive
Sermo de Vita S. Romualdi, auctore Hieronymo Eremita. Camald. 61) Vbi dum lassus
quiesceret, vidit instar Iacob scalam excelsam, ccelum quasi suo vertice tangentem, per
quam albescentium monachorum videbatur ascendere multitudo in ccelum, S. Baring-
Gould op. cit. ii. 209, M. and W. Drake op. cit. pp. 112, 188.
8 Acta Sanctorum edd. Bolland. Antverpise 1731 Julius vii. 106 F (De S. Olavo, IZege
et Martyre, Nidrosicc in ATorvegia.. .()>]) Scalam, inquit Rex, vidi a terra in ccelum usque
pertingentem, meque per gradus ascendentem, supremamque tenuisse, ib. 115 c f. (Acta
brevia 10) passioni se lcetus obtulit, jam divinitus sperans scalam, quam in somnis nuper
ad ccelos erectam viderat, per quam ad dulccdinem, quam gustaverat, feliciter erat
ascensurus. Cp. F. Metcalfe Passio et Miracula Beati Olavi Oxford 1881 p. 126 citing
Snorri Saga Olafs konungs ens helga edd. P. A. Munch—C. R. Unger Christiania 1853
cap. 226 ; C. Cahier op. cit. i. 328, M. and W. Drake op. cit. pp. 95, 188.
9 C. Cahier op. cit. i. 328.
Ladder of Paradise, a book of thirty chapters in which he described
out of his own experience the thirty steps leading upward to per-
fection1; hence he is figured with a ladder2. So too is Saint Em-
meram of Ratisbon (Sept. 22)3, but for a very different cause : in
652 A.D. he was bound to a ladder, mutilated, and murdered on a
false charge4. Saint Bathild the Saxon (Jan. 26 or 27 or 30), who
was married to Clovis ii in 649 A.D., shortly before she died had a
vision of a ladder set up in front of an altar and of herself, escorted
by angels, going up it into heaven5: she is represented accordingly".
Saint Romuald of Italy (Feb. 7), who lived c. 907—1027 A.D., once
saw a ladder rising to the sky and his monks ascending it in white
habits: he founded a fine church on the spot7. Saint Olaf king of
Norway (July 29), who fell at Stikklestad in 1030 A.D., is portrayed
with a ladder seen by him in a similar dream8. Saint Bernard
Ptolemy (Aug. 21, 1348 A.D.), founder of the Olivetines at Siena,
had—-like Saint Romuald—a vision of angels leading white-robed
monks up a ladder". And Saint Angela of Merici (May 31, 1540
1 KXi/j-ai; rod irapaSeiffov, Scala Paradisi (lxxxviii. 631 —1164 Migne). On it see
K. Krumbacher Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur- Mi'tnchen 1897 p. 143 f. and
a beautifully illustrated chapter by W. Dennison and C. R. Morey Studies in East
Christian and Roman Art {University of Michigan Studies: Humanistic Series xii)
New York 1918 pp. 1—30 ('Two Miniatures from a Manuscript of St. John Climacus,
and their Relation to Klimax Iconography') with col. pis r, 1 and figs. 1 —14.
3 M. and W. Drake op. cit. pp. 67, 188.
3 C. Cahier op. cit. i. 327 f., M. and W. Drake op. cit. pp. 40, 188.
4 B. Sepp in the Analecta Bollandiana Paris—Bruxelles 1889 viii. 233 f. (Arbeonis
episcopi Frisingensis Vita S. Emmerammi anthentica 16 ff.) scale superpositum funibus
alligauerunt etc., S. Baring-Gould op. cit. x. 338 f.
5 Acta Sanctorum edd. Bolland. Antverpise 1643 Januarius ii. 741 ( Vita 13) At verd
iam propinquante glorioso eius obitu, visio prasclara ei fuit ostensa. Scala enim erecta &
stans ante altarium S. Marios, cuius culmen ccclum contingeret, & quasi Angelos Dei
comitantes, vt ipsa Domna Baltildis ascenderet per earn : etc., cp. id. 745 (Alia Vita r6)
in the better Latin of an interpolator.
u C. Cahier op. cit. i. 328, M. and W. Drake op. cit. pp. 17, 188.
7 Acta Sanctorum edd. Bolland. Antverpia; 1658 Februarius ii. 136 B (Alia Vita | sive
Sermo de Vita S. Romualdi, auctore Hieronymo Eremita. Camald. 61) Vbi dum lassus
quiesceret, vidit instar Iacob scalam excelsam, ccelum quasi suo vertice tangentem, per
quam albescentium monachorum videbatur ascendere multitudo in ccelum, S. Baring-
Gould op. cit. ii. 209, M. and W. Drake op. cit. pp. 112, 188.
8 Acta Sanctorum edd. Bolland. Antverpise 1731 Julius vii. 106 F (De S. Olavo, IZege
et Martyre, Nidrosicc in ATorvegia.. .()>]) Scalam, inquit Rex, vidi a terra in ccelum usque
pertingentem, meque per gradus ascendentem, supremamque tenuisse, ib. 115 c f. (Acta
brevia 10) passioni se lcetus obtulit, jam divinitus sperans scalam, quam in somnis nuper
ad ccelos erectam viderat, per quam ad dulccdinem, quam gustaverat, feliciter erat
ascensurus. Cp. F. Metcalfe Passio et Miracula Beati Olavi Oxford 1881 p. 126 citing
Snorri Saga Olafs konungs ens helga edd. P. A. Munch—C. R. Unger Christiania 1853
cap. 226 ; C. Cahier op. cit. i. 328, M. and W. Drake op. cit. pp. 95, 188.
9 C. Cahier op. cit. i. 328.