Note 336 — PART II THE DIVINE COMEDY COMPARED WITH OTHER MOSLEM LEGENDS ON THE AFTER-LIFE (continued 2)
Harold Sunderland translation
Tixeront, s.v. eschatologie. Origenes (Ibid. I, 303) and St. Ephrem (II, 221) alone appear to mention the astronomical heavens. Accordingly Perrone says (II, 110, n. 2):—
“Non levis inter aliquot ex antiquis Patribus dissensio occurrit, ubi agitur de statuendo loco, in quem justorum animae abscedentes a corpore deferantur. Alii coelum, alii sinum Abrahae, isti locum quietis, illi paradisum censent sive appellant. Paradisus ipse apud aliquos aut ipsum coelorum regnum significat, aut saltem in coelorum regione situs creditur; apud alios in ignota hujus terrae plaga. Sunt et paucissimi qui sub terra sive in inferis....”
St. Thomas, in explaining the passage in the Gospel according to St. Matthew, V, 12, agrees with St. Augustine that “Merces sanctorum non dicitur esse in corporeis coelis” (Summa theol. 1-2ae, q. 4, a. 7, ad 3). Nor is mediæval art any more precise, for in the French cathedrals Paradise is shown as the bosom of Abraham. Cf. Mâle, 427.