Folio 27v - Item de columba; Also of the dove.
to its neighbour, the other is raised in contemplation to God. From these wings spring feathers, that is, spiritual virtues. These feathers gleam with the brilliance of silver, since word of their renown has the sweet ring of silver to those who hear it. The Greek word cleros is what we call in Latin sortes, shares allocated by lot. In life, there are four such 'shares': fear and hope, love and desire. They are 'shares', because they allot to us a place in our Father's heritage. Fear and desire are extremes, hope and love intervene. Fear throws the soul into confusion, desire tortures the mind, and unless something intervenes between them, the soul has no peace. We must, therefore, place hope and love between desire and fear. For hope transforms fear, love moderates desire. Anyone who is between hope and love, therefore, between the two inner shares, sleeps soundly; anyone who is between the two outer ones, namely, fear and desire, lies awake and loses his wits. If, therefore, you are a dove, or the feather of a dove, when you fear and desire, you lie sleepless between the outer shares; when you hope and love, you sleep soundly between the inner. 'And its tail feathers are in the pale colour of gold.' Burdens are usually carried on the back, which can be said to signify toil; but by the tail feathers, which lie behind the back, is meant the expectation of reward. We believe that after enduring the labours of the present, the righteous will be rewarded for their merit in the future. For God will reward his saints for their labours and lead them on a wondrous road; this, we believe, is represented by 'the pale colour of gold', because 'precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints' (Psalms, 116:15). On the flight feathers, therefore, there is silver, as there is eloquence on tongues; but on the tail feathers there is gold - the reward that follows toil. Also of the dove 'If you sleep among the sheepfolds...a dove, its wings sheathed in silver and its tail feathers in the pale colour of gold' (see BSV, Psalmi, 67:14; NEB, Psalms, 68:11-13). The silver-coloured dove means any prelate, or dignitary of the Church hierarchy still living, without the bile of malice. 'If you sleep among the sheepfolds...' What the Greeks call cleros, we call sortes, shares allocated by lot; therefore, the proper meaning of clerimonia is an inheritance
Folio 27v - Item de columba; Also of the dove. | The Aberdeen Bestiary | The University of Aberdeen