| One of the four scenes (bottom left) from the altarpiece painted in 1290 for the Templars' Church in Palma. It depicts Bernard in a white cowl with hands clasped in prayer in very much the same position as in the Lactation scene (PA012), but this time he kneels before an altar on which a crucifix and book are placed and gazing up at the much smaller figure in the clouds supported by two angels. Six tonsured monks stand behind Bernard before a lectern on which an open book is placed as if they are forming a schola. Duran describes the scene as that of the apparition of Bernard's frined St Malachy, archbishop of Armagh, and all other scholars have subsequently accepted this view. This identification is based on the account in the Vita Prima. The figure, however, has none of the attributes normally associated with a bishop, and as the figure is quite clearly cross-nimbed, it must represent Christ, his right hand raised in blessing. It refers to the vision of Christ appearing to Bernard to assure him that Malachy is a saint, as a result of which Bernard changed the Collect to that commemorating a saint bishop instead of that for a departed brother. On the altar is the little book which may have contained the Collect. You can see the amazement of the brothers when they see in the book on the lectern that Bernard has read the wrong text. See also PA011 for the central portrait of Bernard and PA012, PA014 & PA015 for the other three scenes. The same scene is depicted on SC40.
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