SOURCE: "The Vision of the World and of the Archetypes in the Latin Spirituality of the Middle Ages" in Archives: D'Histoire Doctrinal et Littéraire du Moyen Age, Librarie Philosophique J. Vrin, 1978, pp. 7-31.

In the following excerpt, Bell discusses various interpretations of St. Benedict's visio mundi, or "vision of the world," as recorded in Gregory the Great's biography of Benedict.

Our source for this mysterious vision is Gregory the Great's life of Benedict, which forms the second book of the Dialogues. The saint (Gregory tells us) was standing at the window of a tower, and saw, to his wonder, "sicut post ipse narravit, omnis etiam mundus velut sub uno solis radio collectus", and in the splendour of the light, saw too "Germani Capuani episcopi animam in sphaera ignea ab angelis in coelum ferri"¹. Gregory's explanation of this remarkable experience is neat and simple: "non coelum et terra...