Bernard, absorbed in contemplation of the Virgin while Dante is absorbed in him — a chain of love — speaks as a guide who knows every detail of the Rose by heart. He traces its divisions: the Rose is divided vertically by the faith in Christ as past (left side) versus faith in Christ as future (right). Those who died before the Incarnation face those who died after it. The horizontal tiers descend by degrees of beatitude.
He names the great figures: Rachel and Beatrice (divine wisdom and the specific wisdom that guided Dante) below Mary; Sarah, Rebekah, Judith, and Ruth in the next tier — the great women of the Hebrew Bible. Bernard then raises a question that has troubled theologians: children who died before the age of reason are here, distinguished by degree of beatitude, yet they had no personal merit. How is one higher than another? Bernard's answer: the divine will, operating through the varying excellence of the spiritual preparation of their parents and the original grace distributed before birth — predestination, in the strict sense. The mystery is not resolved but acknowledged: God acts, and the reason for the differentiation of grace is not human merit but divine sovereign love. Bernard closes by telling Dante to prepare himself: he must now look at the Queen of Heaven, for she alone can open his eyes sufficiently for the final vision.