ABSTRACT
After his encounter with Despair, Redcrosse is taken by Una to the house of Holiness which is governed by Caelia (or Coelia), the heavenly one, the mother of the virtues. She lives a life balanced between prayer and good works: ‘All night she spent in bidding of her bedes,/And all the day in doing good and godly deedes’ (FQ I x 3; cf Corceca, iii 1314). Through the ministrations of her household, Redcrosse is prepared for his ascent of the Mount of Contemplation: this is ‘the way to heavenly blesse’ (x argument).
