On the Figure of Voxmea in Gonzalo de Berceo's Poema de Santa Oria (journal article)

On the Figure of Voxmea in Gonzalo de Berceo’s Poema de Santa OriaAuthor(s): Kevin R. PooleReviewed work(s):Source: Modern Philology, Vol. 110, No. 3 (February 2013), pp. 289-312Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/669264 .

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On the Figure of Voxmea in Gonzalo de Berceo’s

Poema de Santa Oria

K E V I N R . P O O L E

Yale University

In the later years of his life, probably in the mid-1250s, Gonzalo de Berceocomposed what may have been the penultimate work of his vast oeuvre—the Poema de Santa Oria.1 In this 205-stanza vernacular poem, which Berceoclaims to have translated from a Latin original written by the saint’s confes-sor two centuries earlier, the young recluse Oria experiences three mysticvisions before her death: one of the reward that awaits her in heaven; thesecond of the Virgin Mary, who visits Oria in her cell to reassure her of thatheavenly reward; and the third of the Mount of Olives, where she beholdsother heavenly beings of great beauty. In the first vision, the basis of thisstudy, three virgins guide Oria upward to heaven where she witnesses pro-cessions of the saints, hears the voices of God and of Christ, and gazes uponan ornate chair promised to her after death by its beautiful guardian, Vox-mea. The most enigmatic figure of all of Berceo’s poems, Voxmea, dressedin a gown on which are sewn the names of the Christian faithful, has beeninterpreted by some as the personification of Lady Wisdom found in theOld Testament and in works of antiquity, and by others as either the voiceof God or the church. Though Berceo obviously was influenced by classicaland early medieval personified images of such abstract concepts as philoso-

� 2013 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0026-8232/2013/11003-0001$10.00

I am grateful to Susan Byrne at Yale University for the many conversations about classical,medieval, and Renaissance philosophy, theology, and literary personifications that have con-tributed to some of the ideas found in this essay. I am also grateful to Jennifer Kasbohm forconstructive comments on the essay’s structure and content.

1. In his studies of the chronology of Berceo’s work, Brian Dutton dates Santa Oria toaround 1252–57. Berceo’s probable last work, the unfinished Martirio de San Lorenzo, is be-lieved by Dutton to have been ‘‘possibly interrupted by Berceo’s death, which must have hap-pened before 1264’’ (Brian Dutton, ‘‘A Chronology of the Works of Gonzalo de Berceo,’’ inMedieval Hispanic Studies Presented to Rita Hamilton, ed. Alan Deyermond [London: Tamesis,1976], 76). See also the introductory comments to Dutton’s edition of La vida de Santa Oria inGonzalo de Berceo, Obras completas, vol. 5 (London: Tamesis, 1981), 83.

289



phy and theology, in Voxmea he created a separate personification that, inmy opinion, represents none of the above.2 Based on the context in whichshe appears and the few words that she speaks, Voxmea personifies faith.This is made manifest in the gown that Voxmea wears as well as in herwords of encouragement and warning. Through Voxmea, Oria receivesthe promise of a place among the Christian departed, and her wordsexhort the recluse to persist in her ascetic life of prayer and devotion.

T H E P R E S E N T A T I O N O F V O X M E A

Oria’s first vision begins in quatrain 30, immediately following a short intro-duction in which Berceo indicates the day and approximate hour at whichthe vision takes place: the third night of Christmas, which is the Feast ofSaint Eugenia, and just after matins when Oria ‘‘quiso dormir un poco’’(desired to sleep a little) (29c).3 Three virgin martyrs ‘‘de grant auctoridat’’(of great authority) (30a)—Agatha, Eulalia, and Cecilia—lead Oria’s soulup a column that ‘‘a los Cielos pujava’’ (thrust into the Heavens) (41c) andthat delivers them into a ‘‘marabilloso prado’’ (marvelous meadow) (47c)worth more than ‘‘un rico regnado’’ (a rich kingdom) (47d). In the midst ofthis field stands a tree into which Oria and the three virgins climb and fromthe top of which they encounter ‘‘en el Cielo finiestras foradadas’’ (openwindows in the sky) (49c) through which they enter the celestial court.There Oria sees processions of canons and bishops, as well as a chorus of vir-gins, some of whom she recognizes. As the processions file by and Oria con-tinues her heavenly tour, she notices the previously mentioned chair:

En cabo de las vırgenes, toda la az passada,fallo muy rica siella de oro bien labrada,de piedras muy preciosas toda engastonada,mas estava vazıa e muy bien seellada.

2. Throughout the poem Berceo refers to the now-lost original Latin text written by Muno.Although most Berceo scholars accept that Muno’s text did exist—we have been able to iden-tify source material for his other works, much of which he refers to directly in his poetry—most also believe that Berceo added significantly to its story. The absence of the original pre-vents us from knowing exactly where and in what ways Berceo altered the narrative. As Eliza-beth Vrooman points out, ‘‘Berceo’s Poema de Santa Oria to date remains orphaned; its ances-try, educated speculation’’ (‘‘Berceo’s Other World: The Visions of the ‘Poema de SantaOria’’’ [PhD diss., University of Massachusetts, 2006], 25). For the purposes of this study, I willrefer to Berceo as the writer, even though, unless otherwise noted, the arguments presentedhere could just as easily apply to Muno.

3. I quote from Isabel Urıa Maqua’s edition of the Poema de Santa Oria found in Gonzalo deBerceo, Obra completa (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1992). Stanzas and lines are indicated by num-bers and lowercase letters, respectively. Thus, 29c refers to stanza 29, line c. All translationsinto English are my own unless otherwise noted.

290 M O D E R N P H I L O L O G Y



Vedie sobre la siella muy rica acithara,non podrie en est mundo cosa seer tan clara,Dios solo faz tal cosa que sus siervos empara,que non podrie comprarla toda alfoz de Lara.

(80–81)4

[At the end of the virgins’ procession, all the line passed, / she saw abeautiful chair of gold well wrought, / covered with very precious stones, /but it was empty and well sealed. // She saw on the chair a very richtapestry; / nothing in this world could have been so luminous; / OnlyGod, who protects his servants, could have made such a thing, / whichcould not be bought with all the properties of Lara.]

In the following quatrain Berceo introduces the figure of Voxmea, thebeautiful guardian of the gold chair just described: ‘‘Una duena fermosade edat mancebiella, / Voxmea avie nombre, guardava esta siella’’ (A beau-tiful lady of youthful age, / Voxmea by name, guarded this chair) (82a–b).This introductory description lasts only one quatrain, however, for the fol-lowing lines return the reader to descriptions of the heavenly environs.Quatrains 83–85 present a series of ‘‘sanctos hermitanos’’ (holy hermits),of whom Oria recognizes four; in quatrains 86–88, the martyrs ‘‘vestidostodos de vermejon’’ (all dressed in red); and in quatrains 89–90 the ‘‘apos-tolos’’ seated on their thrones, as well as the ‘‘evangelistas.’’

After the enumeration of these celestial inhabitants, Oria turns her eyesback to Voxmea and to the golden chair that, at this point, she still doesnot know is reserved for her. Voxmea’s gown, one of the most mysteriousimages of the poem, becomes a focal point:

Vistie esta manceba preciosa vestidura,mas preciosa que oro, mas que la seda pura,era sobresenada de buena escriptura,non cubrio omne vivo tan rica cobertura.

Avie en ella nombres de omnes de grant vida,que servieron a Christo con voluntad complida,pero de los reclusos fue la mayor partida,que domaron sus carnes a la mayor medida,

Las letras de los justos de mayor sanctidat,parescien mas leıbles, de mayor claridat;los otros mas so rienda, de menor sanctidat,eran mas tenebrosas, de grant obscuridat.

(93–95)

4. Berceo references the properties of Lara several times in his poetic works. By the thir-teenth century this noble family had amassed a great fortune and owned lands from the north-ern regions of Castile to Andalusia.

291Kevin R. Poole On the Figure of Voxmea



[This young woman was wearing a beautiful dress, / more precious thangold, more so than pure silk; / it was covered with fine writing; / no manalive has ever worn such fine garments. // On it were written the names ofpeople of worthy lives, / who served Christ with all their heart, / but therecluses made up the greatest part, / who disciplined their flesh in thegreatest of ways. // The letters of the just of highest sanctity, / appearedmore legible, of greatest clarity; / those of lesser importance, of lessersanctity, / were more unclear, of great obscurity.]

Berceo here foreshadows the actions that Oria will take upon waking fromher heavenly vision. She notes that the recluses comprise the majority of thenames on Voxmea’s gown, and the names of those who died in a higherstate of grace appear more clearly than the rest. In the dialogue that followsthis description, Oria inquires as to the owner of the chair guarded by Vox-mea, and the latter responds,

Todo esti adobo a ti es comendado,el solar e la silla, Dios sea end laudado,si non te lo quitare consejo del pecado,el que fizo a Eva comer el mal bocado.

(98)

[All of this that you see is intended for you, / the room and the chair, Godbe praised, / if sin’s guidance does not take it from you, / which led Eve topartake of the damning morsel.]

That is, as long as Oria remains faithful, guarding herself from the tempta-tions of the devil, the chair and the space in which it sits will belong to herin the afterlife. Oria is, as one would expect, overwhelmed with happinessand begs to be allowed to remain in heaven, at which point both God andChrist, through disembodied voices, tell Oria that her time to die has notyet come and that she must return to her earthly body for a while longer.5

Very shortly following this exchange, Oria’s first vision comes to an end asthe virgins who had accompanied her at the beginning carry her backdown the column to the cell in which she lives.

This summary of Oria’s first vision presents the figure of Voxmea as‘‘purely functional’’ and ‘‘never individualized,’’ and her conversation ‘‘eitheranswers Oria’s questions or describes and explains things to Oria and to the

5. Although Berceo tells us that both God and Christ speak, we only hear the words ofGod, in stanzas 104 and 108–10. As one of the reviewers of this study points out, we do notknow to whom Christ speaks in the Poema but only that Oria hears his voice. I would argue,however, that Oria must be the recipient of Christ’s words, despite our not knowing exactlywhat they are, since directing his words at another, unnamed, character would be both confus-ing to the reader and irrelevant to the narrative.




reader.’’6 In fact, Voxmea does little more than stand motionless, respond-ing only when asked to do so. Whereas Berceo indicates the colors worn bysuch figures as virgins and martyrs in the celestial processions—‘‘cosas eranangelicas con blancas vestiduras’’ (angelic beings they were, with white vest-ments) (50b), ‘‘una grant compana, / en bestiduras albas’’ (a great com-pany, / in white vestments) (55a–b), ‘‘semejavan vestidos todos de verme-jon’’ (they all appeared dressed in red) (86c)—he gives no physicaldescription of Voxmea other than that she is beautiful, young, and wearinga robe covered with writing, the principle feature that differentiates herfrom everyone else that Oria encounters. The names written on her gownrepresent the saints, of whom the recluses make up the majority. Theirlevels of holiness are differentiated by clarity of legibility: those of great sanc-tity are recognized by the large clear letters used in the writing of theirnames, whereas the names of those of lesser sanctity are written much lessclearly.7 Foreshadowing the poem’s end, Voxmea admonishes the recluseto remain in her path of holiness, the reward for which will be not only thechair and her physical presence among the holy but also, we must presume,the appearance of her name in clear letters on Voxmea’s gown. We willreturn to this topic later.

B E R C E O ’ S P O S S I B L E I N F L U E N C E S

There are several possible influences on Berceo’s creation of the figure ofVoxmea. Throughout the Middle Ages, images of Greek and Roman dei-ties and mythological figures were reappropriated in various ways to repre-sent the virtues, the trivium and quadrivium, the deadly sins, time, the fourseasons, and a host of other abstractions.8 Likewise, the Old Testament

6. Anthony Perry, Art and Meaning in Berceo’s ‘‘Vida de Santa Oria’’ (New Haven, CT: YaleUniversity Press, 1968), 84.

7. Simina Farcasiu believes that the less legible names represent the unjust (‘‘The Exegesisand Iconography of Vision in Gonzalo de Berceo’s Vida de Santa Oria,’’ Speculum 61 [1986]:327). This cannot be, however, for Berceo points out that these names indicate those of‘‘menor sanctidad’’ (less sanctity) (95d). That is, they live among the just in paradise, thoughtheir earthly actions are not considered to have been as great as those of ‘‘mayor sanctidat’’(greater sanctity) mentioned in 95a. Berceo does not here create the dichotomy of the just ver-sus the unjust but rather establishes levels of sanctity among the former. This parallels the vari-ous levels of heaven that Oria sees in her vision and that were widely accepted among theolo-gians of the time, culminating in Dante’s Paradiso.

8. Two such examples may be found at the library of Celsus in modern Turkey, where stat-ues of Wisdom, Knowledge, Intelligence, and Virtue once stood, and in the illustration of the‘‘Septem artes liberales’’ of Herrad von Landsberg’s twelfth-century Hortus deliciarum. See JoanFerrante, Woman as Image in Medieval Literature from the Twelfth Century to Dante (New York:Columbia University Press, 1975), for a concise discussion of the female allegorical figure inother works of Berceo’s time.




books of Proverbs and Sirach provided personified images of wisdomwhere, as Celia Deutsch points out, ‘‘Lady Wisdom’s most dominant role isthat of a teacher, a public role ordinarily associated with males.’’9 Thus, lateantique and medieval writers and visual artists had at their disposal no lackof personified imagery from which to choose in the creation of their works.

Of the early church fathers who employed personification in their writ-ings, Augustine of Hippo (354–430), whose works Berceo assuredly knew,is probably the most well known. In book 8 of his Confessions (ca. 398), forexample, where Augustine describes the sexual torment that he experi-enced during his conversion, he depicts Lady Continence, who came toguide his spirit:

I had turned my eyes elsewhere, and while I stood trembling at this barrier,on the other side I could see the chaste beauty of Continence in all herserene, unsullied joy, as she modestly beckoned me to cross over and tohesitate no more. She stretched out loving hands to welcome and embraceme, holding up a host of good examples to my sight. With her werecountless boys and girls, great numbers of the young and people of allages, staid widows and women still virgins in old age. And in their midstwas Continence herself, not barren but a fruitful mother of children, ofjoys born to you, O Lord, her Spouse.10

The image of the virgins and of the ‘‘great numbers’’ of people surround-ing Continence, as well as the ‘‘host of good examples,’’ all find their paral-lel in the throngs of virgins and other saints that Oria sees in heaven and inthe names written on Voxmea’s gown. Likewise, in her words of encourage-ment to Augustine, Continence ends her conversation with words similarto those used by Voxmea in her conversation with Oria: ‘‘Close your ears tothe unclean whispers of your body, so that it may be mortified.’’11 The alle-gorical figures that Augustine encounters are, for the most part, females.He proves himself a masterful creator of feminine imagery, for the figuresmost important to his spiritual development are his mother Monica, a cen-tral character in the Confessions, and female personifications of the teach-ings of the church. Robert O’Connell contemplates ‘‘the powerful orches-tration of the woman-image’’ in Augustine’s works: ‘‘when tracked through

9. Celia Deutsch, Lady Wisdom, Jesus, and the Sages: Metaphor and Social Context in Matthew’sGospel (Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International, 1996), 10–12. One should note, however,that the New Testament makes no use of the feminine as a figure of Wisdom. In the Gospel ofJohn, Jesus receives some of the characteristics attributed to Wisdom, but feminine languageis avoided. For further discussion of this topic, see Caroline Walker Bynum, Jesus as Mother:Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982),125–29.

10. Augustine, Confessions, trans. R. S. Pine-Coffin (Baltimore: Penguin, 1961), 176.11. Ibid.




all its sinuous turnings, it reveals not only Augustine’s imaginative affirma-tion of the feminine quality in God, it strongly suggests that many, if not allhis imaginative characterizations of God have crystallized, constellatedabout the varied meanings and images suggested by a single, multivalentLatin word: fovere [to caress, to care for].’’12

Another allegorical work of immense influence from its time of compo-sition (the 520s) onward, and most likely known by Berceo, was De consola-tione Philosophiae, written as Boethius awaited his execution. Lady Philoso-phy, ‘‘the fullest philosophical development of the female personificationof wisdom in early medieval thought,’’13 leads the embittered protagonistthrough a series of conversations that ends in his acceptance of God’s prov-idence, thus discontinuing his complaints against Lady Fortune, whom atthe beginning of the book he blames for his pitiable state. Boethius pre-sents Philosophy as a woman of ‘‘awe-inspiring appearance, her eyes burn-ing and keen beyond the power of men’’ and as one who ‘‘possessed a vividcolour and undiminished vigour.’’14 He tells us that her clothes ‘‘weremade of imperishable material, of the finest thread woven with the mostdelicate skill. . . . On the bottom hem could be read the embroidered Greekletter Pi, and on the top hem the Greek letter Theta. Between the two a lad-der of steps rose from the lower to the higher letter.’’15 This description laysthe foundations upon which later medieval writers would create personifiedfigures of great beauty. Compared to other writers of the time—MartianusCapella, for example, who dedicates extensive passages to the physicaldescriptions of allegorical figures in his De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii—Boethius simplifies the clothing, placing emphasis on the Greek lettersembroidered on Philosophy’s gown, and pointing to the importance of theword as the instrument through which divine wisdom (theta) is reached bymeans of earthly knowledge (pi).16 The symbolic ladder connects the twoin a way that evokes the mystical union of the divine with the human soul.During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Boethius’s work, particularlyhis depiction of Lady Philosophy, achieved great renown among Christian

12. Robert O’Connell, Art and the Christian Intelligence in St. Augustine (Cambridge, MA:Harvard University Press, 1978), 123.

13. Prudence Allen, The Concept of Woman: The Aristotelian Revolution, 750 BC–AD 1250(Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997), 245.

14. Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy, trans. Victor Watts (London: Penguin, 1999),3–4.

15. Ibid., 4.16. I refer the reader to Ilaria Rameli’s edition of Capella’s De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii,

in Le nozze di Filologia e Mercurio: Testo latino a fronte (Milan: Bompiano, 2001); and to WilliamHarris Stahl and Richard Johnson’s translation in Marianus Capella and the Seven Liberal Arts,vol. 2, The Marriage of Philology and Mercury (New York: Columbia University Press, 1977).




writers, Berceo most likely among them.17 Jacqueline Beaumont has listedmany of the most important copies of and commentaries on Boethius’swork, explaining that ‘‘with the twelfth century, the study of De ConsolationePhilosophiae begins again to gather momentum’’ thanks possibly to the‘‘huge, comprehensive, academic and highly intelligent’’ commentary writ-ten by William of Conches at the beginning of that century and copied forwidespread distribution almost immediately.18 John Marenbon suggests,‘‘[The] Consolation was more influential in the Middle Ages even thanBoethius’s other works, and its pattern of influence is rather different. Thecommentaries, textbooks, and opuscula were studied intensively in the ear-lier Middle Ages and were among the texts that shaped twelfth-centurythinking; from 1200, their importance diminished. The Consolation enjoyeda similar fortune up to the end of the twelfth century (though it was morewidely read and had a distinctive literary influence). Its popularity did not,however, grow less after 1200.’’19 Thus, of the works of Boethius, it was theConsolatione that enjoyed a continuous readership, as Marenbon goes on toexplain, from its appearance in the sixth century to well beyond the Renais-sance. As noted, the monastic library of Santo Domingo de Silos owned twovolumes of Boethius’s works, but we also know that the Consolatione hadreached other parts of the Iberian Peninsula well before Berceo’s time.20

Another text that Berceo may have known is the anonymous tenth-centuryProvenzal ‘‘Poeme sur Boece’’ that appeared in northern Iberia by way ofthe pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. A troubadour’s renderingof the life of Boethius, the ‘‘Poeme’’ presents the unnamed feminine visitoras a radiant figure dressed in the most beautiful of gowns. She holds the

17. In her study of the library of Santo Domingo de Silos, Ann Boylan indicates that themonastery housed two tomes of Boethian works during the period in which Berceo lived andwrote—De consolatione in one, De musica and De arithmetica in the other. See Ann Boylan, ‘‘TheLibrary at Santo Domingo de Silos and Its Catalogues, XIth–XVIIIth Centuries,’’ Revue Mabil-lon 64 (1992): 84–85. Due to the proximity of the monasteries of Santo Domingo de Silos andSan Millan de la Cogolla, it would not be wrong to think that Berceo may have had the oppor-tunity to see and even read these texts. He may also have read them during the formative yearsof his education.

18. Jacqueline Beaumont, ‘‘The Latin Tradition of the De consolatione Philosophiae,’’ in Boe-thius: His Life, Thought, and Influence, ed. Margaret Gibson (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1981),298.

19. John Marenbon, Boethius (Oxford: University Press, 2003), 172–73.20. Alcuin of York, for example, had learned of the Consolatione through the works of Isi-

dore of Seville, particularly the Synonyma de lamentatione peccatricis, which claims that ‘‘the rem-edy for ills is to be found in the spiritual life and contemplation’’ (Howard Rolling Patch, TheTradition of Boethius: A Study of His Importance in Medieval Culture [New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 1935], 93). Five centuries after Isidore, at around 1140, Peter of Compostella wrote thetwo-book De consolatione rationis that most scholars consider a variation on Boethius’s work. SeePedro Blanco Soto’s edition of Petri Compostellani, De consolatione rationis libri duo (Munster:Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1912).




keys to paradise, and those who have faith in her teachings should not feardeath:

Ella’s ta bella reluz ent lo palaz;Lo mas o intra inz es granz claritaz;Ja no es obs fox i ssia alumnaz;Veder ent pot l’om per quaranta ciptaz

(162–65)

Bella’s la domna, e’l vis a tant preclarDavan so vis nulz om no s pot celar;Ne eps li omne qui sun untra la marNo potden tant e lor cors cobeetarQu’ella de tot no vea lor pessar:Que e leis se fia, morz no l’es a doptar

(170–75)

Ella smetessma ten las claus de paradis,Quoras que s vol, lainz col sos amigs.

(184–85)21

[She is so beautiful that she brightens the whole palace; / the place inwhich she enters is of great clarity; / there is no need for a fire to light it; /she is bright enough for forty towns. . . . / Beautiful is the woman, withsuch a brilliant face / that no man can hide from her countenance, / noteven those across the sea. / They can covet nothing in their hearts / thethought of which she cannot see: / he who in her has faith, shall not worryabout his death. . . . / She holds the keys to Paradise herself, / those wholove her, she welcomes as her friends].

The author describes her dress as having been made by the woman herself,with the Greek letters and ladder sewn onto it, as described in Boethius,and constructed of love and faith: ‘‘Bel sun li drap que la domna vestit: /De caritat e de fe sun bastit’’ (Beautiful are the gowns that the womanwears: / Of love and of faith are they made) (199–200). Perched on theembroidered ladder of her dress are a hundred thousand birds, thosecloser to the theta being a brighter color than those below. The poem goeson to explain that the ladder was created with alms, faith, and love—‘‘Calses la schala? de que sun li degra? / Fait sun d’almosna e fe e caritat’’ (Whatis the ladder? What are the steps made of ? / They are made of alms and

21. This version of the ‘‘Poeme sur Boece’’ is found in Choix des poesies originales des trouba-dours, ed. M. Raynouard, 6 vols. (Paris, 1816–21), 2:4–39. A brief study of the poem can befound in the Nouvelle anthologie de la lyrique occitane du Moyen Age, ed. Pierre Bec (Poitiers: Edi-tions Aubanel, 1970), 96–108. Numbers following the text of the ‘‘Poeme’’ refer to line num-bers since the poem is not divided into stanzas like that of Berceo.




faith and love) (216–17)—and that the birds represent people. Those atthe top of the ladder are of the greatest faith and have given up worldlydesire, whereas those toward the bottom once had great faith but now ‘‘fanperjuris e grant traicios’’ (commit perjury and great treachery) (236).

Despite the fact that the author of the ‘‘Poeme’’ based this work on theConsolatione, the personified figure remains nameless, and much of thepoem has been reworked into a more Christianized discourse. Due toBoethius’s imprisonment and impending death, the only virtue left to himis faith in the woman’s teachings. This is foreshadowed in lines 150–57 ofthe ‘‘Poeme,’’ where the narrator contends,

Bos xristias qui cre perfeitamentDeu la paterna lo rei omnipotent,Et en Jhesu que ac tan bo talent,Chi nos redems de so sang dolzament,E sanctum spiritum qui e bos omes desend,Que qu’el corps faca, eu li vai l’arma dozen:Bos christians, qui aital eschala s te,Cel no quaira ja per negu torment.

[Good Christians who believe perfectly / in the paternal God, kingomnipotent, / and in Jesus, who is of such great goodness, / Who redeemsus through his sweet blood, / And the Holy Spirit who into good peopledescends, / Whatever the body does, he follows with teachings for the soul: /Good Christians who have achieved that height, / from there will never fallto damnation.]

Thus, even before the beautiful figure appears to Boethius, the narratorcompares the lives of the faithful to a ladder—those who believe perfectlyin the Trinity should not fear eternal torment, for they have climbed theheights of spiritual perfection and have come near to the divine.

Considering that Berceo had access to the works of Boethius and Augus-tine, possibly knew some version of the ‘‘Poeme sur Boece,’’ and may havestudied either at Palencia or at one of the northern Iberian cathedralschools where he would have read such texts as those of Martianus Capellaand others like it, he had a wide range of imagery from which to choose inthe creation of Voxmea.22 The main difference between Berceo’s figure

22. We have no textual evidence for Berceo’s place of study. Marcelino Menendez y Pelayobelieved that the mester de clerecıa’s poetic texts were products of the cathedral schools and uni-versities (Historia de la poesıa castellana en la Edad Media, vol. 1 [Madrid: Librerıa General de Vic-toriano Suarez, 1913]). Isabel Urıa Maqua (Panorama crıtico del ‘‘mester de clerecıa’’ [Madrid: Cas-talia, 2000]) and Brian Dutton (‘‘Gonzalo de Berceo: Unos datos biograficos,’’ in Actas delprimer congreso internacional de hispanistas, ed. Frank Pierce and Cyril A. Jones [Oxford: Dol-phin, 1964], 249–54) do not present Palencia as Berceo’s definitive place of study but do agree




and previous descriptions is the manner in which their gowns are deco-rated. However, as we will see, indications throughout the text lead us tobelieve that Berceo did, in fact, have at least Augustine and Boethius inmind when creating Voxmea.

V O X M E A A N D T H E H O L Y T R I N I T Y

In her 1992 edition of the Poema de Santa Oria, Isabel Urıa Maqua says ofVoxmea that ‘‘dado el caracter simbolico de la escena, podrıa representarla voz de Dios: Vox Mea, en cuyo caso podrıa ser la que guıa a Santa Oria’’(given the symbolic character of the scene, she could represent the voiceof God: Vox Mea, in which case, she could be the one who guides SaintOria).23 Terry Mount is of the same opinion, asserting, ‘‘Voxmea means‘my voice’ in Latin; therefore, this woman is the spokesperson for God, orperhaps God’s (or Christ’s) voice personified.’’24 This cannot logically betrue, however, and Urıa Maqua retracted part of that interpretation in her2004 study Mujeres visionarias :

Teniendo en cuenta el abundante uso de los sımbolos que se hace en estepoema y el caracter simbolico de la propia escena, es tentador pensar queVoxmea simboliza la Voz de Dios, Vox Mea. Pero a esta sugerencia se oponeun hecho, y es que, cuatro coplas despues de las palabras que Voxmeadirige a santa Oria, el propio Dios responde. . . . Por tanto, no tiene sentidoque Voxmea represente la Voz de Dios cuando muy poco despues laspalabras del propio Dios no coinciden con las de ella e incluso lascontradicen.25

[Keeping in mind the abundant use of symbols in this poem and thesymbolic character of the scene itself, it is tempting to think that Voxmeasymbolizes the Voice of God, Vox Mea. But opposing this suggestion is thefact that, four stanzas later, God himself responds. . . . Consequently, itdoes not make sense that Voxmea represents the Voice of God when very

that its university was a possibility. Based on Berceo’s detailed knowledge of the history andsymbolism of the Mass, as seen in his Sacrificio de la Misa, his ability to read and translate Latintexts, and his capacity to manipulate language within the confines of strict clerecıa poetic style,Berceo’s education must have been at least that of a cathedral school. About Muno’s educa-tion we can say nothing. If, however, Berceo truly copied into vernacular verse form Muno’sLatin text, we must suppose that Oria’s confessor also had attained a certain level of educationthat included Augustine, Capella, and Boethius. Because of its dating, we cannot dismiss theidea that Muno might have known the Provenzal poem as well.

23. Isabel Urıa Maqua, in Berceo’s Obra completa (1992), 518.24. Terry Mount, trans., ‘‘The Life of Saint Oria,’’ in The Collected Works of Gonzalo de Berceo

in English Translation (Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2008),395.

25. Isabel Urıa Maqua, Mujeres visionarias de la Edad Media: Oria y Amuna en Berceo (Sala-manca: Seminario de Estudios Medievales y Renacentistas, 2004), 49–50.




shortly afterward the words of that same God do not coincide with, andeven contradict, hers.]

The contradiction to which Urıa Maqua refers is God’s unconditionalpromise of Oria’s return to heaven after her death, which opposes Vox-mea’s statement that Oria’s return is dependent upon her continued faith-fulness to her religious devotion—God’s promise is firm, but that of Vox-mea is subordinate to future action on Oria’s part. Thus, as Urıa Maquasuggests, we cannot interpret the figure of Voxmea as the voice of God: herwords contradict those of God and, at the same time, he does not require aphysical medium through which to speak, a personified image that standscorporeally in his place. As verses 103c–d state, Oria hears God perfectlywithout needing to see him: ‘‘fablolis Dios del Cielo, la voz bien la oyeron, /la su Majestat grande, pero non la vidieron’’ (God spoke to them from theHeavens, the voice they heard well, / that of his great Majesty, but theycould not see it).26 I would extend Urıa Maqua’s explanation further toinclude the Son of God who, like the Father, in quatrain 105 speaks to Oriain the form of a disembodied voice:

Como asmava Oria a su entendimiento,oyo fablar a Christo en essi buen conviento,mas non podio veerlo a todo su taliento,ca bien lieve non era de tal merecimiento.

[As Oria thought this over, / she heard Christ speak within this goodplace, / but she could not see him despite her desire, / for she had not yetreached such worthiness.]

As with God, Berceo has no need to represent Christ visually to Oria sincehis voice indicates his presence. If not for those voices, however, we couldaccept Voxmea as a figure of either God or Christ: throughout the Bible,God makes himself known through his voice, and the Gospel of John tellsus that God’s Word ‘‘was made flesh and dwelt among us’’ (1:14) in theform of Jesus Christ. Even more, Voxmea’s warning to Oria in quatrain 98that the recluse will be judged by her future actions could be interpreted asthe words of the Christ who sits in judgment of humankind at the end ofdays. We know, however, that this cannot be true. If Voxmea’s words con-tradict those of God, rendering null her personification of him, the sameholds true of Christ who, as the second person of the Trinity and One withGod, cannot contradict the words of the Father.

26. The object pronoun ‘‘la’’ grammatically refers to the voice of God, not to God himself.In effect, Berceo claims that everyone can hear God’s voice but not see it. I interpret this as anexample of synecdoche in which Berceo, knowing that a voice cannot be seen, nonethelessuses it in reference to the being from which it is emitted.




Considering them real ‘‘persons’’ with voices, Berceo has little need torepresent God or Jesus in the form of allegorical figures, which in his worksare normally restricted to incorporeal beings or abstract concepts.27 Forthe unlettered listener, indeed even the more educated readers, such per-sonifications ‘‘appeal to the affective and sensible parts of the soul, conse-quently adhering firmly in memory.’’28 I would argue, the contradictorystatements notwithstanding, that presenting God or Jesus in the form ofVoxmea would actually confuse and perhaps disconcert the reader or lis-tener. The fact that Oria cannot see God and Christ reflects not the needfor such a figure as Voxmea to represent them visually but rather a belief,common to medieval theologians, that the faces of God and Christ cannotbe looked upon until the soul has separated for eternity from its earthlybody and has experienced its ‘‘day of birth to the new life of heaven.’’29 InCity of God 22.29 (ca. 426), Augustine explains the vision experienced bythose in full communion with God after death:

Now just think, when God will be ‘‘all in all,’’ how much greater will be thisgift of vision in the hearts of all! The eyes of the body will still retain theirfunction and will be found where they now are, and the spirit, through itsspiritual body, will make use of the eyes. . . . What is meant is that in heaveneyes can see realities that are immaterial. It is the kind of vision that mayhave been given to holy Job even while he was in his mortal body, when hesaid to God: ‘‘With the hearing of the ear, I have heard thee, but now myeye seeth thee.’’ . . . It was the Divine Master who said: ‘‘Blessed are thepure of heart, for they shall see God.’’ Hence, no Christian reading thesewords in a spirit of faith has any doubt that, when God is to be seen, it willbe by the eyes of the heart. . . . The truth is that we shall draw near to Godby faith, which is a power to see which is not in our body, but in ourmind. . . . We shall see Him in a way different from the way in which His‘‘invisible attributes’’ are now seen . . . and we must rely more on the eyes of

27. Though the reader might be tempted to argue that God is an incorporeal being, wemust remember that the book of Genesis states that God created man in his own image, thusallowing for the visualization of God in male human form. Likewise, as a historical person, Jesusas image does not require the use of allegory since a writer or artist could just as easily depicthim in male human form. Berceo’s Milagros de Nuestra Senora (ed. Michael Gerli [Madrid: Cate-dra, 1997]), conversely, does present the Virgin Mary, another historical person, as an allegori-cal locus amoenus in the prologue, but there Berceo tells us directly that she is the ‘‘buen prado/ en qui trova repaire tot romeo cansado’’ (good meadow / in whom all tired pilgrims findrest) (19a–b) and goes on to compare her characteristics to the various natural elements of thegarden and of the heavens. By explicitly telling the reader to whom the allegorical images refer,he leaves no room for interpretation or possible error.

28. Emily Francomano, Wisdom and Her Lovers in Medieval and Early Modern Hispanic Litera-ture (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), 16–17.

29. James Burke, ‘‘The Four ‘Comings’ of Christ in Gonzalo de Berceo’s Vida de SantaOria,’’ Speculum 48 (1973): 298.




faith, whereby we believe, than on the eyes of the body, whereby we see thebeauty of the material universe.30

One will notice the emphasis that Augustine places on the sense of hearingand on faith. Though while still in human form the spirit may perceive Godaudibly, as does Oria, the direct sight of him can only come when the spirit,through faith, leaves the body and reaches the level of sanctity that permits itto understand God in all his perfection.31 Isidore of Seville concurs: ‘‘Mosessaw through an angel or other creature the back of God’s glory. And Peterand the other disciples witnessed the divinity of Christ shining through thehuman body; if they had perceived divinity through its very self, it is impossi-ble that they could afterwards continue to live in the flesh.’’32 Since Oria’ssoul is still attached to her body, she has not yet reached the ‘‘mereci-miento’’ (worthiness) necessary to experience the ‘‘divinity through its veryself,’’ and God does not allow her to perceive him in both audible and visi-ble forms. Following these teachings, Berceo remains within the limits oforthodoxy by presenting God’s majesty not in anthropomorphic form butrather as an omniscient presence that is recognized through God’s ownimmaterial voice.

Common among medieval Christian writers was the personification ofGod and Christ through the female figure of Wisdom. Such is the interpre-tation that Simina Farcasiu makes of Berceo’s Voxmea: ‘‘[The] figure ofVoxmea is the figure of Wisdom. The phrase ‘vox mea’ occurs only once inthe Vulgate, in Proverbs 8:4: ‘O viri, ad vos clamito, et vox mea ad filios homi-num.’ The detail of Voxmea’s ‘preciosa vestidura, / Mas preciosa que oro,mas que la seda pura’ (91ab) manifests the same symbol as Oria’s name. . . .Thus Voxmea and Oria, through their names, are identified with Wisdom;they are, symmetrically, prefiguration and hagiographic fulfillment of theWord of God.’’33 Farcasiu does not develop the Voxmea/Wisdom connec-tion in any detail; Urıa Maqua objects that ‘‘decir que Oria y Voxmea se

30. Augustine, City of God, trans. Gerald Walsh et al., ed. Vernon Bourke (New York: Dou-bleday, 1958), 535–39.

31. In the twelfth chapter of De Genesi ad litteram (ca. 415), Augustine outlines a tripartite the-ory of vision—visio corporealis, visio spiritualis, and visio intellectualis—the last type of vision beingthat of divine and perfect understanding in the presence of God. See John Hammond Taylor,trans., The Literal Meaning of Genesis (New York: Newman, 1982), or the original in Jacques-PaulMigne, Patrologia cursus completus, series Latina, 221 vols. (Paris, 1841–64), 33:219–86.

32. Isidore of Seville, De ordine creaturarum 15.2, translated in Anthony Lappin, Berceo’s ‘‘Vidade Santa Oria’’: Text, Translation, and Commentary (Oxford: European Humanities ResearchCentre, 2000), 150; Lappin hereafter cited parenthetically.

33. Farcasiu, ‘‘Exegesis and Iconography,’’ 327. The verse numbers here refer to IsabelUrıa Maqua’s earlier version of the Poema de Santa Oria (Logrono: Consejo Superior de Investi-gaciones Cientıficas, 1976).




identifican con la Sabidurıa a traves de sus nombres es muy forzado’’ (to saythat Oria and Voxmea are identified with Wisdom by way of their names isvery forced).34 I agree with Urıa Maqua on this point. For the medievalChristian writer, Wisdom would not be a ‘‘prefiguration’’ of the Word ofGod but rather God himself in either the first or second person of the Trin-ity. Justin of Caesarea (2nd century), for example, described Jesus as theincarnation of divine wisdom, the logos ‘‘that had been active in the worldthroughout history.’’35 Emily Francomano points out that the Glossa ordi-naria, the most widely read commentary on the scriptures in the MiddleAges, links wisdom directly to Christ when it declares, ‘‘Sapientia, id estChristus.’’36 In City of God 8.1, Augustine contends, ‘‘I may add that, sincedivine truth and scripture clearly teach us that God, the Creator of allthings, is Wisdom, a true philosopher will be a lover of God.’’37 Thus, repre-senting the voice of Wisdom as separate from that of God or Christ is theo-logically inconsistent. If Voxmea represents Wisdom, that is, the divine logosthat emanates from God through Christ, then why represent the latter twothrough their own words in the same scene in which Voxmea appears?Alternately, if Voxmean represents God’s wisdom, why allow her words tocontradict God’s promise to Oria?

If Voxmea represents neither the Father nor the Son, and by virtue ofthat cannot represent Wisdom, then what about the Holy Spirit? As anincorporeal being, the Holy Spirit requires an allegorical form when repre-sented visually. This form does not, however, imply personification, for themost common symbol of the spirit is a dove, four of which we see in thePoema de Santa Oria. Urıa Maqua’s careful analysis of the doves in the poemclarifies that those carried by the three virgins who guide Oria towardheaven ‘‘son sımbolos de sus almas, y la blancura sobrenatural de las palo-mas simboliza su pureza’’ (are symbols of their souls, and the supernaturalwhiteness of the doves symbolizes their purity).38 The fourth dove, whichflies upward in quatrain 44, guiding Oria toward paradise, ‘‘no representa

34. Urıa Maqua, Mujeres visionarias, 64.35. Karen Armstrong, A History of God: The 4000-Year Quest for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

(London: Heinemann, 1993), 94.36. Francomano, Wisdom and Her Lovers, 38.37. Augustine, City of God, 144. Augustine makes very similar comments in his Confessions

and Soliloquies. Following in his tradition, in the twelfth century Hugh of St. Victor, whose writ-ings were known in the cathedral schools and universities of England, France, Italy, and Spainduring Berceo’s time, explained in his De sacramentis and Didascalicon that Wisdom is God andthat he is the ‘‘moderator over all human actions’’ (The ‘‘Didascalicon’’ of Hugh of Saint Victor: AMedieval Guide to the Arts, trans. Jerome Taylor [New York: Columbia University Press, 1991],51).

38. Urıa Maqua, Mujeres visionarias, 27.




su alma, sino el Espıritu Santo, que la conforta y le da fuerzas durante suascension a los cielos’’ (represents not her soul but the Holy Spirit, thatcomforts her and gives her strength during her ascent into the heavens).39

Guided by the Holy Spirit, Oria does not require the help of the angelswho come to the aid of the other three, for it is the presence of the HolySpirit that allows her entrance into the great garden of paradise.40 Becausethe Holy Spirit has appeared to Oria in the form of a dove, it is unlikely thatBerceo would have chosen another symbol with which to represent it laterin the narration.

V O X M E A A S T H E C H U R C H P E R S O N I F I E D

Another interpretation of the Voxmea figure that differs slightly fromthose already explored, but that still links her to Christ, is that of AnthonyLappin. In his critical edition of the poem, he asserts:

Vox Mea is not an angel or a saint or any usual dweller in the heavenlyrealms. She is described as having three attributes: her name, her clothes,and her sex. Each of these attributes points toward her being identified asthe heavenly Church. Her name, ‘‘Vox Mea,’’ means ‘‘My Voice,’’ retainedas Latin by Berceo when rendering the rest of Munno’s Latin text intoRomance. The presence in heaven of a figure named Vox Meaimmediately calls to mind Christ, the incarnate Son of God, the ‘‘Word ofGod spoken by the Father’s mouth.’’ We may link Vox Mea to Christ. (36)41

39. Ibid., 31.40. Ibid. Anthony Lappin claims that the scene of the four virgins’ ascent into heaven ‘‘was

undoubtedly suggested to Oria by a miniature within a Beatus manuscript she read,’’ the Silosfragment being the most likely candidate. For Lappin, the dove that guides Oria upward ‘‘linksher vision to John’s Apocalypse, and, indeed, the vision might be seen as a foretaste of the LastJudgment’’ (120–21). This is doubtful, for several reasons. On the one hand, we have no evi-dence that Oria had received an education sufficiently adequate to read and understand theBeatus commentaries. On the other, it is highly unlikely that a deluxe manuscript, such as oneof the tenth- or eleventh-century Beatus manuscripts, would have been given to Oria for herpersonal solitary study in the cell from which she never left. The few women religious whoexisted in tenth- and eleventh-century Iberia rarely studied theological works but rather thePsalms or other minor devotional texts and almost always under the guidance of a male reli-gious counterpart.

41. In a footnote to his translation of the Voxmea scene, Terry Mount agrees with Lappin,remarking that ‘‘Voxmea’s garment serves various symbolic functions. Since she is the voice ofGod or Christ, she represents the Church, which guarantees the salvation of the just. Thenames of the just upon her garments echo biblical listings such as the Book of Life (Revelation20:12) and Aaron’s garments.’’ He also compares Voxmea’s dress with the Arab attire com-mon in southern Spain during Berceo’s time: ‘‘In addition, the fabric of Voxmea’s robe evokesthe inscribed textiles highly valued by Iberian Muslims and Christians during the Middle Ages.Arabic tiraz tunics had inscriptions embroidered or woven into the fabric of the tiraz. . . . Theburial tunic of Archbishop Ximenez de Rada, who was contemporary with Berceo, is an exam-




Explaining that the New Testament and patristic writers, as well as theeighth-century Spanish Beatus of Liebana, identify the Old Testament fig-ure of Wisdom with Christ, Lappin says that ‘‘Vox Mea, then, representsthe Church which is the Body of Christ, the voice which transmits the Wordof God, and which allows that Word to be heard, God to be perceived’’(37). As personification of the church, Voxmea thus represents the brideof Christ who promises Oria a ‘‘sharing in the spiritual marriage with Christat her death as one of the Church in heaven, one of those who are saved’’(39). Furthermore, as ‘‘bearer of authority,’’ Voxmea ‘‘speaks for Christ’’because she ‘‘is his voice,’’ both when Oria inquires about the chair andwhen she expresses a desire to stay in heaven (39). Lappin concludes hisdiscussion of Voxmea with a contradictory commentary on the necessity ofVoxmea in the vision: ‘‘The voice of Christ is not conterminous with VoxMea, the Church. The latter is the Word incarnate, the Body of Christ,since, just as a word, to be pronounced, requires a voice, so the Word ofGod, to be revealed, required a human body’’ (41). Because Oria appealsboth to God and to Christ after Voxmea tells her that she must return toher earthly body, Lappin believes that the recluse has reached a spiritualstate that allows her to supersede the church as mediator and to communi-cate directly with the divine.

On the one hand, Lappin states that both Christ and Voxmea are theWord of God and that both represent the body through which God’s wordhas become incarnate. On the other, despite the fact that both God andChrist speak directly to Oria, Lappin seems to believe that God’s messagemust be transmitted to her through Voxmea, who speaks as representativeof the godhead, the church eternal whom, as he states, Oria wishes to‘‘bypass or go beyond’’ (41) in a way that is, he says, ‘‘surprisingly Protestant’’(43). If we are to accept the first point, that both Christ and Voxmea are theincarnate Word of God, then we equate the one with the other, fusing theminto one person with two representations in the poem. Based on what hasalready been said, this cannot hold true since the unity of the two precludestwo separate and even contradictory messages. The second point, Voxmeaas personification of the church, is a more complicated argument and onethat we must discard based on textual evidence. It is true that sacred tradi-tion accepts the church as the metaphorical body of Christ on earth, theofficial authority through whom God gives his directives, but this body doesnot require a ‘‘human body’’ to be perceived or to be followed. I wouldargue that in heaven, just as on earth, Oria continues to be in the church,and that Voxmea represents the virtue of faith that has kept her there andwill continue to do so upon her death. From a purely architectural point of

ple of an inscribed garment from the Arabic tradition being used by eminent ecclesiastics’’(Mount, ‘‘Life of Santa Oria,’’ 397).




view, we know that medieval monasticism considered the monastery andthe church as representations of heaven on earth.42 In Oria’s first vision,one has the impression that she has, indeed, entered a large Gothic abbeyor church. Following the dove of the Holy Spirit up the ladder into the locusamoenus of colorful flowers and the great green tree—the metaphoricalcloister—Oria passes through ‘‘finiestras foradadas’’ (opened windows) (49)into the court of heaven where, as if painted on a massive retable, she is ableto see the various levels of the court and the inhabitants of each one.43 Addi-tionally, light inundates the entire scene, brighter at the top, as if pouringin through the tall windows that characterize Gothic structures.44

At various moments in the Poema, Oria demonstrates not a parting fromthe ‘‘voice’’ of the church but rather a participation in it. She does not showa desire to supersede the authority of the church, as Lappin suggests, butto respect it and to allow its teachings and traditions to strengthen her spiri-tually. From the beginning we know that she follows the directive to confessher sins, for the text that Berceo claims to translate was written by Oria’sown confessor, Muno, as stated in quatrain 7:

El qui lo escrivio non dirie falsedat,que omne bueno era, de muy grant sanctidat;bien conoscio a Oria, sopo su poridat,en todo quanto dixo, dixo toda verdat.

[He who wrote it would not speak falsely / since he was a good man, of verygreat sanctity; / he knew Oria well, he heard her secrets; / in all that hesaid, he said complete truth.]

42. Jean Leclercq’s classic The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Cul-ture (New York: Fordham University Press, 1961), offers an in-depth study of medieval monasti-cism as preparation for the afterlife and the monastery as a symbol of heaven. Robert Scott,Gothic Enterprise: A Guide to Understanding the Medieval Cathedral (Berkeley: University of Califor-nia, 2003), presents the theology of architecture accepted by most theologians of the time ofBerceo.

43. Urıa Maqua interprets these open windows through which Oria and her companionsenter heaven as doors: ‘‘Berceo las llama finiestras por exigencias metricas. El propio contextoda a entender que se trata de ‘puertas,’ pues por ellas salen tres angeles del cielo, y luego entrancon las vırgenes: Entraron por el cielo que avierto estava (54a). En realidad, en latın, fenestra no solosignifica ‘ventana,’ sino tambien ‘entrada’ (Terencio), ademas de ‘abertura’ y ‘camino’’’ (Ber-ceo calls them finiestras because of poetic requirements. The proper context indicates that herefers to ‘‘doors’’ since through them three angels ‘‘come’’ from the sky and later enter with thevirgins: ‘‘They entered through the sky, which was open’’ [54a]. In reality, in Latin, fenestra notonly means ‘‘window’’ but also ‘‘entrance’’ [Terence], as well as ‘‘opening’’ and ‘‘way’’) (Mujeresvisionarias, 39).

44. For a discussion of the theology of light and how its role in Gothic architecture, see,among others, Scott, Gothic Enterprise; and Roland Recht, Believing and Seeing: The Art of GothicCathedrals (University of Chicago Press, 2008).




From an early age, indeed ‘‘Desque mudo los dientes, luego a pocos anos’’( Just a few years after she had lost her first teeth) (19a), Oria takes up thedress ‘‘de los monges calanos’’ (similar to that of the monks) (19c) anddedicates her life to reading the Hours and praying. Likewise, as a symbolicact of unity with the church, at the end of her life Oria ‘‘fizo cruz en sufruente, santiguo su mollera’’ (made a cross on her forehead, blessed thetop of her head) (179d). She then dies in the company of the abbot, Pedro,and the ‘‘monges e hermitanos, un general conviento’’ (monks and her-mits, the entire convent) (181c), who dress her body in the habit of herorder before burying it (182).

Oria’s first vision also gives us vivid details of the role of the church’sauthority in her spiritual formation, for the people that she encounters inheaven are, for the most part, figures of ecclesiastic power. She sees bishopsin ‘‘casullas de preciosos colores’’ (chasubles of beautiful colors) (61a), car-rying their staffs and chalices; a chorus of virgins (66); hermits (83); martyrs(86–88); and the apostles and first evangelists (89), of whom her guides say:

Estos son nuestros padres, cabdiellos generales,prıncipes de los pueblos, son omnes principales,Jesu Christo fue papa, estos los cardenales,que sacaron del mundo las serpientes mortales.

(90)

[These are our fathers, our general leaders, / princes of the people, menof great importance, / Jesus Christ was pope, these the cardinals, / whoripped from the world the deadly serpents.]

Through these descriptions Berceo underscores the importance of theecclesiastic order that Oria should accept as guidance in her own spiritualformation. Thus, it is improbable that either Berceo or Muno would havecreated a personification of the church whose words the recluse feels shecan trump by appealing to the Lord. The church of the faithful is madepresent through both the physical structure of heaven, as Oria sees it, andin the assembly of the faithful who have been allowed entrance into thatplace: ‘‘Church is a Greek word that in Latin means assembly since it calls allpeople to come to it.’’45

V O X M E A A S F A I T H P E R S O N I F I E D

Quatrain 25 of the poem tells us that Oria is a ‘‘vaso de caridad’’ (vessel ofcharity), ‘‘templo de pacıencia e de humilidat’’ (temple of patience and of

45. ‘‘Ecclesia graecum est, quod in latinum vertitur convocatio propter quod omnes ad se vocet’’(Beatus of Liebana, Obras completas y complementarias, vol. 1, ed. Joaquın Gonzalez Echegaray,Alberto del Campo, and Leslie Freeman [Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, 2004], 122).




humility), ‘‘luz’’ (light), and ‘‘confuerto’’ (comfort) to those around her. Insum, she embodies the life of faith to which the New Testament Christiansaspired, as recounted in Hebrews 11, 1 Peter 1, and 2 Corinthians 5. Nothaving come to the end of her life, however, and soon to face grave illnessthat will test her ‘‘pacıencia’’—she begs to be allowed to die in order toascend to heaven—Oria must encounter the personified Faith in her firstvision in order to receive the spiritual counsel that her soul requires inorder to be able to see God in his fullness after her death. It is to Faith thatthe dove of the Holy Spirit leads Oria in her journey toward heaven, andit is the message of Faith that she must carry with her upon awaking andduring the days left to her on earth. Her faith that she will indeed receivewhat has been promised to her underscores all of her words and actionsupon waking.46

The author of the letter to the Hebrews tells us, ‘‘Faith is the realizationof what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. Because of it theancients were well attested. By faith we understand that the universe wasordered by the word of God, so that what is visible came into being throughthe invisible.’’47 Thirty-four verses follow in which the author enumeratesacts of faith, from the Old Testament to his own time, listing names andshowing how each received his or her just reward because of that faith. Thefollowing chapter, which serves structurally as the conclusion to the faithlesson, opens with ‘‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloudof witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to usand persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyesfixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith’’ (Heb. 12:1–2). In this pas-sage we see the faithful gathered around Continence in Augustine’s Confes-sions, as well as the names on the gown that Voxmea wears. We find anotherparallel in Berceo’s liturgical commentary on the Sacrificio de la Misa, wherehe describes the vestments of the priests of the Old Law as inscribed with‘‘los nomnes de los padres, prophetas principales, / e los nomnes derechosque son patrıarchales’’ (the names of the fathers, principal prophets, / andthe legitimate names of the patriarchs) (109b–c) and the vestments ofthe Christian ‘‘prestes ordenados’’ (ordained priests) as decorated with thenames of the ‘‘apostolos e martires’’ (apostles and martyrs) (115c–d).48 In

46. In a brief but noteworthy explanation of the terms ‘‘religion’’ and ‘‘faith,’’ Beatus of Lie-bana defines the latter as a pact between God and man in which man receives what God haspromised after man has completed what he has promised to God that he would do (ibid., 142).

47. Heb. 11:1–3. New Testament quotations are taken from the Catholic Bible, ed. JeanMarie Hiesberger (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995).

48. Quotations from the Sacrificio de la Misa are given with stanzas and lines indicated bynumbers and lowercase letters, respectively, in Berceo, Obra completa, 946–1033. Hugh of St.Victor, a possible source for Berceo’s commentary on the Mass, gives a historic and symbolicdescription of the priest’s vestments in his De sacramentis (ca. 1134). See Hugh of Saint Victor on




stanza 238 of this liturgical guide, Berceo says of the saints named on thevestments:

Non serien en la missa cutiano ementadossi non fuessen de Dios de coracon amados;mas amaronlo ellos e fueron d’El laudados,son en la sancta missa por testigos clamados.

[They would not be mentioned at daily Mass / if they were not loved inGod’s heart; / since they loved him and were praised by him, / during theMass they are called as witnesses.]

One should note here the word ‘‘witness,’’ which links the New Testamentteachings to the names that appear on Voxmea’s gown and to the inhabi-tants that Oria encounters in heaven. The three virgins who accompanyOria to heaven are martyrs, as are those in the procession in the upperlevels of heaven (quatrains 86–88). Beatus of Liebana tells us that the term‘‘martyr’’ signifies those who have died as witnesses to the faith, who ‘‘suf-fered for testifying for Christ and fought to the death in favor of the truth,’’and that there are, in fact, two types of martyrs—those who suffer ‘‘publictorment’’ at the hands of their enemies and those who voluntarily suffer‘‘in the hidden virtue of their soul.’’49 Following Beatus, we should consideras martyrs the recluses who comprise the majority of the names on Vox-mea’s gown, a sign to Oria that her suffering through faith will end withher name added to the list displayed there.

Berceo also describes Voxmea’s gown as ‘‘mas preciosa que oro’’ (moreprecious than gold) (93b), which finds its parallel in the lesson on faithfrom 1 Peter. There, the apostle exhorts the first Christians to remain faith-ful in their belief, despite possible sufferings, for the end result will be salva-tion:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his greatmercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection ofJesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable,undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you who by the power of Godare safeguarded through faith, to a salvation that is ready to be received inthe final time. In this you rejoice, although now for a little while you mayhave to suffer through various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith,more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, mayprove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.(1 Pet. 1:3–7)

the Sacraments of the Faith, trans. Roy Deferrari (Cambridge, MA: Mediaeval Academy of Amer-ica, 1951), 273–78.

49. ‘‘Testes autem ideo vocati sunt, quia propter testimonium Christi passiones sustinuer-unt, et usque ad mortem pro veritate certaverunt. . . . Duo sunt autem martyrii: unum inaperta passione, alterum in occulta animi virtute’’ (Beatus of Liebana, Obras completas, 137).




We see these verses reflected both in the material from which Voxmea’sgown is made and in the chair that she guards. The salvation that is ‘‘readyto be received’’ and in which the faithful rejoice is to be found not only inOria’s eventual arrival in heaven for eternity but, more specifically, in thechair about which Berceo comments, ‘‘bien fue felix la alma por la queestava’’ (happy was the soul for which it was there) (92d). Oria indeedrejoices in quatrains 99 and following, having learned immediately before-hand that the chair and everything she sees there will be hers as long as sheremains faithful in her service to God. This service will include the ‘‘varioustrials’’ mentioned in the letter from Saint Peter about which Voxmea fore-warns Oria—‘‘de tornar as al cuerpo, yazer emparedada’’ (you must returnto your body, lie within your walls) (100d)—and that God himself repeatslater—‘‘aun ave un poco el cuerpo a lazrar’’ (your body must still suffer awhile longer) (104c). Though this saddens Oria, the promise made to herby God will later bring about the joy that she shows throughout the rest ofthe poem as well as the desire to return to the chair guarded by Voxmea.This desire finds inspiration in other verses from 1 Peter: ‘‘Although youhave not seen him, you love him; even though you do not see him now yetbelieve in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, as youattain the goal of your faith, the salvation of your soul’’ (8:9).

In his Soliloquies (ca. 387), Augustine expounds on the nature and effectsof faith in a way that we see illustrated in Oria’s actions after she awakensfrom her heavenly vision. Augustine writes,

Now the eyes of the soul are fit when she is pure from every fleshly taint,that is, when all desire of mortal things is purged and far away, which taskFaith alone is, at the outset, equal to. For this cannot be made manifest to asoul marred and diseased by lust, since unless sound she cannot see, norwill she apply herself to the labor of making herself sound if she does notbelieve, that, when so, she will be able to see . . . even while the soul is inthe body, although it may behold most fully, that is, may apprehend God,nevertheless since the senses of the body serve in their own proper office,though they may cause doubt, they cannot cause delusion, and that whichopposes them and believes rather that which is contrary to them to be true,so far, be called Faith.50

Fearing the loss of the chair and of the joy of heaven promised to her byGod, Oria sets to work to ensure that her name will appear among the faith-ful on Voxmea’s gown. Berceo informs us that Oria ‘‘non dio en sı entradaa nulla vanagloria’’ (did not allow any form of vainglory to affect her)(114b) and that ‘‘non fazie a sus carnes nulla misericordia’’ (she showed

50. Augustine, Soliloquies, trans. Rose Elizabeth Cleveland (Boston: Little, Brown, 1910),21–24.




her body no mercy) (114d). In quatrain 115 Berceo tells us that Oria, inorder to remain faithful,

Martiriava las carnes dandolis grant lazerıo,cumplie dıas e noches su ministerio,jejunios e vigilias e rezar el salterio;querie a todas guisas seguir el Evangelio.

[Martyred her flesh with great pains, / day and night she fulfilled herministry, / fasts, vigils, and prayed the Psalms; / she wanted in every way tofollow the Gospel.]

Oria purges her soul of what she believes to be its diseased state, the sintrapped within, in order to ‘‘apprehend God’’ in the way that Augustinedelineates. She castigates herself physically and mentally through fasting,continued prayer, and possibly self-flagellation. Like her mother, who ear-lier in the poem ‘‘martiriava sus carnes’’ (martyred her flesh) (21c), Oriadoes whatever possible to protect her ‘‘senses of the body’’ from falling intothe devil’s snare. As O’Connell observes, ‘‘Faith is depicted as grounding,motivating the task of self-purification’’ that forces the believer to turn hergaze inward upon herself in order to prepare the soul ‘‘to ascend the disin-carnate steps toward that light’’ that is Christ.51 Through these acts of faith,Oria becomes a martyr (indicated not only by Beatus but also by Berceo’suse of the verb ‘‘martiriava’’), thus cleansing herself and joining her soul toChrist’s suffering.

Comparing Voxmea’s gown to that worn by the personified figure ofthe anonymous Provenzal ‘‘Poeme sur Boece,’’ we find several similaritiesthat support the idea of Voxmea as a personification of faith. We knowfrom line 200 of this poem that the brilliant gown has been made of loveand faith and that the ladder embroidered on it was made with alms, faith,and love. Faith is, then, one of the primary elements of the figure’s essence.Even more, like the degrees of brilliance or obscurity with which the namesof the faithful are written on Voxmea’s gown, the birds on the gown in the‘‘Poeme’’ symbolize degrees of faith through their placement and color.Besides the details of their gowns, we also see a parallel in the message thateach of the personifications pronounces. The ‘‘Poeme’’ figure states thatthose who grow in faith will climb the ladder toward union with the divine,though she also points out that those souls who falter in their faith fall far-ther down the ladder. In like manner, Voxmea encourages Oria in herworks of faith but also warns her of the consequences of giving in to temp-tation. Though Berceo does not put the keys of the kingdom of heaveninto Voxmea’s hands, as the Provenzal poet does with his figure, the guard-ianship of Oria’s chair does seem to give Voxmea a degree of authority over

51. O’Connell, Art and the Christian Intelligence, 45.




the soul of the recluse. Through her final words, however, Voxmea putsthat authority into the hands of Oria herself by way of her future decisionsand acts of faith. Faith is the voice of the personal spirit—Oria’s own innervox mea—that she must confront and accept, and that guides her along themystical and ascetic path toward the rewards that await her. The dove ofthe Holy Spirit leads her upward; God and Christ make promises to her;the virgins encourage her; Voxmea warns her and admonishes her to stayher course of faithfulness. Ultimately, the voice of personal faith that Oriacarries inside—the voice of her own desire not only to believe in but also toobey God’s commands, the voice that prevents her from falling into temp-tation—is the voice to which she must listen. This is the lesson that Conti-nence teaches Augustine, that Philosophy teaches Boethius, that Voxmeagives to Oria, and, quite possibly, that Berceo—in the last years of his life—wished to give his reader.




On the Figure of Voxmea in Gonzalo de Berceo's Poema de Santa Oria (journal article)

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