A Declaration to His Superior

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⊕Introduction to this work from the Opera Omnia, vol. 41.Behold, good reader, the final product of a most fruitful pen, which the pious author brought forth in the year 1469 as a conclusion to his many great labors. For, having finished his work On Meditation in that same year, he intended to move on "to a harbor of untroubled silence" in order to prepare himself for a "safe departure."⊕cf. On Meditation, art. 14. From then on he stopped writing and composed nothing else, except perhaps certain letters and this declaration which we include below. We decided to place it at the end of this vast work as a swan song, even though it was already printed in the prologues.

On his motivation for writing commentaries on both Testaments, and his other works.

I, Brother Denis, declare with all my heart that the task of explaining the Holy Scriptures completely transcends my insignificance, by reason of my profession and the degree of my knowledge (for I am a monk, whose role is to mourn and to be enlightened, rather than to teach or to enlighten others); and also by reason of my life, which is so wretched and imperfect. Yet trusting in the goodness and grace of the Holy Spirit—who tends to choose base and contemptible things, things that are not, and even the weak and foolish things of the world⊕1 Corinthians 1:27-28.—I have continued that practice until now. And I am prepared to continue it to the best of my ability, provided it would be pleasing to the judgment of your wisdom. But I pray the goodness of the Holy Spirit would see fit to incline your mind to that which is for his greater glory and for the benefit of myself and others.

Translation in Progress