Canto III of Paradise

Ave Maria Gratia Plena.
The convent of the Sisters of Charity.

Quel sol che pria d'amor mi scaldò 'l petto,
di bella verità m'avea scoverto,
provando e riprovando, il dolce aspetto;

  e io, per confessar corretto e certo
me stesso, tanto quanto si convenne
leva' il capo a proferer più erto;

  ma visione apparve che ritenne
a sé me tanto stretto, per vedersi,
che di mia confession non mi sovvenne.

  Quali per vetri trasparenti e tersi,
o ver per acque nitide e tranquille,
non sì profonde che i fondi sien persi,

Jeanne who had warmed my heart with Love had taught me, the soft aspect of truth. 
And, to show her that I was redressed and full of conviction, I raised my head very high, to speak. 

But then, appeared to me, a spectacle such, that it required all my concentration, 
and I forgot my confession. I saw through the calm water of the brook, 
several figures reflecting such as in a mirror and who seemed disposed to speak to me, 
I easily took them for Undines who fed all my desires. 

I  turned around, seeing that their image ignited my heart, and I did saw nothing, 
if not the sneering smile of Jeanne:
 "Do not be astonished that I smile to myself, of your puerile thoughts, 
because what you see here, are true substances, installed here to have been diverted 
from their wishes. Also listens to them because their desire of Truth is without limit." 

I addressed myself to the shadow who seemed to have the greatest desire to speak. 
And such as a man, too curious to know everything, I asked: 
"Spirit who seems created to dispense Happiness, and who reflects 
such an amount of softness which one can have an idea only after having tasted it, 
it would be pleasant for me to know your name and your condition." 

And she answered to me: 
"Our charity does not close the door to any right desire, like That of God fills all the desires. 
I am named Marguerite,  I was in the world, Courtesan, and if you think well about it, 
my great beauty could not make you forget that I am a Sister of Charity, 
and placed with the blessed ones at the lower degree. 
This condition was allotted to us because our charity consisted in alleviating, 
by our charms rather than by prayer, the suffering of the male, exacerbated by desire, 
so that he returns, thus, his soul liberated, to his legitimate Wife or Beauty."

 I answered her: 
"The resplendent aspect that you have made me forget your previous appearance, 
this is why I was not prompt to remember, but it is now easier for me to recognize 
those from whom one receives, and I was one of them, the grace of the carnal pleasure. 
But tell me, although happy here, do you wish  to rise higher,
 where your graces will be more useful?" 

She smiles as well as the other shadows and she answered to me, happy, as if she burned with love: 
"Brother, our desires are appeased by the virtue of charity, which makes us want 
only what we give and do not allow us to have another thirst." 

It then appeared to me more clearly, that in Heaven, any place is the Paradise although 
the grace of the sovereign Good, does not go down there, in an equal and democratic way. 

She added then: 
"The gift of oneself and a high merit places higher in Heaven, a woman, according to whether 
she wears the robe to love, or that she removes it, or that she sleeps with only one Husband all her life, 
or that she lies down with all, that does remove nothing to her wish of charity which is to distribute Happiness.
Still young, I fled the world, I exchanged the dress of the Princess for that of Courtesan,
 and I was locked up in this Convent, for which I promised to follow the rule.
  And this other splendid shadow who, on my right, shows herself to you, so beautiful and so naked, 
bears the name of Prudence; some men,  more accustomed to evil than to good, tore off her dress
 and imprisoned her in this Convent, and God knows it, what happened of her life, but in her heart, 
 she still  wears the robe. And she says to me, she recognised you for having appeased you, 
 somewhere in a cloister  on the Left Bank of the Seine;  her soul remains all in flame for you. 
 She asks me whether you would not bear the soft name of Marco."

She spoke to me thus, then they started to sing: 
"Ave Maria Gracia plena!" 
And, while singing, they disappeared like shadows. My glances were fixed as much 
as it was possible to me, towards these objects of such intense desire. 
Then I looked towards Jeanne; I saw her, thundering like the lightning with such a glare, 
that my sight could not support it, and I felt myself, more reticent to question her.