[30] I translate literally. The sense would seem to be, "or if it does so, it does so only," &c.
[31] It is curious to observe the mind perverted by the church doctrine of self-abnegation to such a point as to become incapable of seeing that human nature cannot be more Godlike than when it does justice "for its own natural pleasure."
[32] This phrase, "open the eye of your mind," occurs with wearisome repetition in Catherine's writings.
[33] The expression in the original is, "lie over their heads."
[34] That is to say, whom they pretended to have elected, in order to quiet the populace, who insisted on having a Roman Pope. They did elect the Archbishop of Bari; but gave out that they had elected the Cardinal of St. Peter, intending that to be believed only till they could leave the Conclave and get into safety.
[35] The favours, that is to say, begged of Urban, who of course could grant none such, if he were not Pope. It is in truth clear enough, that the excuses of those Cardinals who deserted the party of Urban, were mere afterthoughts. They deemed him truly enough elected, till they found that they had given themselves a severer master than they had reckoned on.
[36] The construction of this sentence is defective in the original; "truth" in the singular being the nominative case to the two verbs, which are in the plural, as if governed by "servants of God."
[37] The Saint is wrong here, in matter of fact. More than one recognised saint was of the party of Clement, afterwards definitively judged by the Church to have been an anti-Pope. Burlamacchi is sadly gravelled by this awkward fact, and labours hard in his note on the passage to show that the saints of Clement's party were not warm partisans in his favour; but if our saint is right, they must have been damned.
[38] The context would seem to require "ye" in place of "we" here. I translate the phrase as I find it. Burlamacchi has no remark on the passage.
[39] She alludes to the Sorbonne.