gain a deeper spiritual understanding, which helped some of them ultimately reach martyrdom. Sight: When Valerian asks Cecilia to see the angel, she says, "That angel you shall see… so long you believe in Christ and are baptized." Tiburce, also, only sees the angel after he gets baptised by Saint Urban. Elizabeth Robertson states that, "Chaucer validates the body's ability to apprehend the meaning of Christianity through senses." Overcoming their limited sight and seeing the angel, parallels to them gaining a deeper understanding of Christianity and religion. According to "Truth and Sight: Generalizing without Universalizing", "with the type of psychology that the awareness of deceit creates, the idea that what is seen is more truthful than what is reported in speech seems an obvious way in order to bypass human...deceit". Smell: Tiburce was immediately able to smell the sweet odour of the crowns of lilies and roses, even if he could not see them. These crowns are symbolic of the divine and his brother's and Cecilia's faith in God, and they lure Tiburce to seek this divinity and become a believer. Robertson confirms this by saying, "the flowers create in Tiburce a desire to know more about the spiritual truth, a desire that leads him to affirm his belief in God." Touch: Valerian is unable to touch Cecilia's body, because the angel of God will kill him, so long as he is still a non-believer. Later, Cecilia tells Almachius to go beyond the materialised idols, and touch what he cannot see. However, Almachius is unable to do so, thus preventing him from gaining deeper spiritual understanding and belief. References External links Read "The Second Nun's Tale" with interlinear translation Modern Translation of the Second Nun's Tale and Other Resources at eChaucer The Second Nun's Tale study guide & teaching guide with analysis of plot, characters, themes, quotes, literary devices "The Second Nun's Tale" – a plain-English retelling for non-scholars. The Canterbury Tales