Chapter 31
- Kempe talks about a harrowing moment when she lost her special "wedding ring to Christ" in a boarding house in Rome.
- Kempe hints that the woman who runs the house had a guilty eye about her—and then the woman finds her ring and asks Kempe to pray for her soul.
- Kempe then goes off to the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi (about 98 miles northeast of Rome) on a mini-pilgrimage.
- Kempe meets an English Franciscan friar there who is very impressed with her "homely" or intimate experiences of God.
- Kempe meets a gentlewoman named Margaret Florentyne who is on her way back to Rome. Margaret travels with Knights of Rhodes (the former Knights Hospitaller) and several other gentlewomen, so Kempe has Richard ask her if they might join the group. You know, for safety.
- Thankfully, Margaret is kindhearted and lets Kempe join the group. When they get to Rome, Kempe's original traveling companions see her enter with pomp and are jealous. Burn.
- Kempe now clothes herself in white and goes to an English hospice in Rome to take Communion.
- Kempe screams and weeps a lot, but somehow, the master of the hospital loves her, anyway.
- But that doesn't last for long. As usual, Kempe has haters, and pretty soon she's cast out of the hospital and has to find someplace else to take Communion.
Chapter 32
- Kempe doesn't let bullies get her down, so she hops over to the Italian church across the street to see if she can receive Communion there.
- The parson does not speak English, so he and Kempe communicate in the few ecclesiastical Latin words they need for confession and Communion.
- Then Kempe does something pretty amazing. Hindered by the language barrier, she decides to have confession in her soul with none other than St. John the Evangelist (apparently, he speaks English).
- When she's not chatting up St. John, Kempe talks with Jesus. She asks him to keep the tears coming so that she can show her devotion to him.
- Jesus tells Kempe that she can best show her devotion by believing that he loves her.
Chapter 33
- Kempe meets a priest of the church of St. John Lateran in Rome. She takes a liking to him, but he also can't speak English. They speak through an interpreter, and Kempe tells him to pray that they may understand each other.
- After thirteen days of this, Kempe and the priest meet again and can understand each other with no help. She confesses to him and does a lot of screaming and crying in the church.
- People don't like this, and they say that the devil is working through Kempe—but the priest believes she is holy. At least, mostly.
- When the priest has doubts, Kempe learns about his wicked ways from God and tells the priest that she knows what he's been up to. Yeah, it's spiritual blackmail, but it works.
- The priest gives all his time to supporting Kempe against those who speak evil of her. But he still makes one more trial of her sincerity, to make sure she's not just showboating.
- The priest takes Kempe into another church, one that is empty after Mass, to give her Communion. He figures that if she's screaming to show off, she won't do it without an audience.
- But Kempe screams and weeps, anyway. The priest is satisfied that the tears are from the Holy Spirit.
- Not everyone is so pleased with Kempe—especially other English people in Rome. She tells us that her arch-nemesis is a priest who hates her. He tries to make her change out of her white clothes.
Chapter 34
- Unfortunately, Kempe's foreign priest-friend from St. John Lateran is affected by the smack that the wicked English priest has been talking.
- The Italian priest also asks if Kempe will drop the white clothing and dress like a regular woman again.
- Since Kempe promises obedience, she does it. But it's okay, since she realizes that God is pleased with her obedience.
- Kempe has a run-in with the angry English priest, who accuses her again of having a devil in her. Kempe tells him that she would be angry with him if she did—and she's not.
- That really gets the English priest's goat. God tells her not to listen to him, because he has no love for this priest.
- God does, however, declare his love for Kempe again, and tells her that he is crucified again every time she endures sharp words from anyone.
- The friendly priest then tells Kempe that she needs to serve a poor woman for six weeks in penance.
- Kempe has a hard time of it, but she completes her service with flair.
Chapter 35
- Kempe continues church-hopping in Rome and finds herself at the Church of the Apostles around November 9, 1414.
- Kempe has her first conversation with God the Father (as opposed to his son, Jesus, the second person of the Trinity).
- God tells Kempe that they are to be married. It freaks her out.
- Kempe explains that she is very devoted to the humanity of Jesus and is unfamiliar with "the Godhead" (i.e. God the Father).
- Kempe feels so much love for Christ that if she sees boy babies or handsome men in Rome, she bursts into tears thinking they are images of him.
- Jesus chimes into the conversation and asks what Kempe thinks about this whole wedding thing. She's totally upset: she doesn't want to be parted from Jesus in any way.
- Jesus apologizes to his father for Kempe's hesitation. She really doesn't understand, he says.
- God is down with it and takes Kempe's "spiritual hand" to marry her (um, keep in mind that this is a mystical marriage, not a bodily one).
- Many saints and angels are present as God speaks his vow to Kempe—a pretty ordinary vow, to be totally honest.
- Kempe comes around a little bit after the "ceremony," when everyone in heaven is celebrating. She thanks God for the favor he has shown but is subdued.
- After this, Kempe tells us that she had many signs of favor: sweet smells, music in her ears, sparkly white dots in the air, and a burning fire of love in her heart.
- At first, Kempe's pretty freaked out by these sensations. But Jesus explains that they are all marks of favor to her, to reassure her of the presence of God.
- Jesus also tells Kempe that she pleases him most when she is silent and allows him to speak to her, rather than when she says prayers or does penance.