ABSTRACT
Paul Claudel describes the risen Christ as passing through time without breaking its measure, enjoying a super-temporality which gives him continuous contact with time in a way that remains respectful of its structure. In the last few lines of La nuit de Pques, Claudel turns in quick succession to the women at the Easter sepulchre, his own soul, the churches of Christendom, and all the faithful. The Easter period has its climax in the solemnity of Pentecost to which Claudel devotes the longest of the poems in the cycle Corona benignitatis anni Dei. For his part, Claudel declares the rose of the sixth month, the Sacred Heart feast, to have an excellent odour, since for him a love that lacks the divine suffering would say little. The feast of Christ the King was introduced in Claudel's lifetime, chiefly as a response to the marginalization of the social role of the Church by the totalitarian regimes.
