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diff --git a/36407-8.txt b/36407-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3636eca --- /dev/null +++ b/36407-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2351 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Mediaeval Mystic, by Vincent Scully + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Mediaeval Mystic + A Short Account of the Life and Writings of Blessed John + Ruysbroeck, Canon Regular of Groenendael A.D. 1293-1381 + +Author: Vincent Scully + +Release Date: June 13, 2011 [EBook #36407] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MEDIAEVAL MYSTIC *** + + + + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + A MEDIÆVAL MYSTIC + + + A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE + AND WRITINGS OF BLESSED JOHN + RUYSBROECK, CANON REGULAR OF + GROENENDAEL A.D. 1293-1381 + + BY + DOM VINCENT SCULLY, C.R.L. + + (_Permissu Superiorum_) + + + LONDON + THOMAS BAKER + MCMX + + + PRINTED BY + HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD., + LONDON AND AYLESBURY. + + + TO + THE RIGHT REV. AUGUSTIN H. WHITE, C.R.L. + LORD ABBOT OF WALTHAM + + + + + CONTENTS + + + Page + INTRODUCTION ix + I. EARLY YEARS AND EDUCATION 1 + II. AS A SECULAR PRIEST IN BRUSSELS 6 + III. FALSE MYSTICS 10 + IV. THE HERMITAGE OF GROENENDAEL 17 + V. THE CANONS REGULAR OF GROENENDAEL 25 + VI. PRIOR OF GROENENDAEL 33 + VII. RUYSBROECK'S TREE 43 + VIII. A DIRECTOR OF SOULS 47 + IX. RUYSBROECK AND GERARD GROOTE 50 + X. RUYSBROECK AND WINDESHEIM 58 + XI. THE WRITINGS OF RUYSBROECK 67 + XII. THE TEACHING OF RUYSBROECK 93 + XIII. SOME APPRECIATIONS 105 + XIV. LAST DAYS 118 + XV. THE CULTUS OF BLESSED JOHN RUYSBROECK 124 + + + + + INTRODUCTION + + +The object of the following unpretentious little volume is to give a +simple and readable account in English of the life and writings of a +remarkable Flemish Mystic of the fourteenth century, a contemporary of +our own Walter Hilton. Though his memory and honour have never faded in +his own native Belgium, and though France and Germany have vied with each +other in spreading his teaching and singing his praises, the very name of +Blessed John Ruysbroeck is practically unknown this side of the water. We +are acquainted with only one small work in English dealing directly with +the Saint or his work at all, viz. _Reflections from the Mirror of +Mystic_,[1] giving the briefest sketch of his life and some short +extracts from his writings as translated from the French rendering of +Ernest Hello. + +The original authorities for the history of Ruysbroeck are practically +reduced to one, the biography by Henry Pomerius, a Canon Regular of +Groenendael, entitled _De Origine monasterii Viridisvallis una cum vitis +B. Joannis Rusbrochii primi prioris hujus monasterii et aliquot +coaetaneorum ejus_, re-edited by the Bollandists, Brussels, 1885. It is +certain that a disciple of John Ruysbroeck, John of Scoenhoven, also of +Groenendael, who undertook the defence of Blessed John's writings against +Gerson, composed a short biography, but this was embodied in the work of +Pomerius, and thereby as a separate volume fell out of use and memory. +Pomerius had Scoenhoven's MS. to work upon, and some of Ruysbroeck's +contemporaries were still living at Groenendael when he composed his +biography there. The brief references by the Venerable Thomas à Kempis in +his _Vita Gerardi Magni_ are likewise of great interest and intrinsic +worth. + +For the purposes of this brief biography, which lays no claim whatever to +original research, the compiler has made very great use of the labours of +Dr. Auger, _De Doctrina et Meritis Joannis van Ruysbroeck_, Louvain, and +Willem de Vreese, _Jean de Ruysbroeck_, an extract from the _Biographie +Nationale_, published by l'Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et +des beaux-arts de Belgique, Brussels, 1909. This indebtedness is +especially true of the summarised analysis of the various works of +Ruysbroeck. + +Later it may be possible to give a complete and faithful English +rendering of all Ruysbroeck's Works from the critical edition which is at +present preparing in Louvain; where there is an active revival of +interest in this great and holy Mystic of the Netherlands. + +For the judgment of competent witnesses as to the permanent value and +extraordinary sublimity of B. John's writings the reader is referred to +the body of this work under the heading, _Some Appreciations_. + +The usual protest is made according to the Decrees of Urban VIII. +concerning alleged miracles, etc., recorded in these pages. + +St. Ives, Cornwall, + + _Feast of Our Lady's Nativity_, 1910. + + + + + A Mediæval Mystic + + + + + I + + Early Years and Education + + +Blessed John Ruysbroeck, surnamed the Admirable and the Divine Doctor, by +common consent the greatest Mystic the Low Countries have ever produced, +was born, A.D. 1293, at Ruysbroeck, a village some miles south of +Brussels, lying between that city and Hal. According to the fashion of +those days, especially with Religious, he was named after his birthplace, +John van Ruysbroeck, or John Ruysbroeck. The Venerable à Kempis, the +Latinised form of van Kempen, is a case in point; Thomas was so named +after his native town, Kempen, though his patronymic was Haemerken. Of +Ruysbroeck, however, we know of no other surname; neither do his +biographers so much as mention his father. But like many another great +servant of God, John was blessed with a good mother, a devout woman who +trained her child from the cradle to walk in the paths of Christian piety +and perfection. She is charged with only one fault, that she loved her +son too tenderly! + +Perhaps we are to understand by this that the poor woman opposed the +boy's early aspirations after a more retired life than could be found +even in the peaceful shelter of his own pious home. This would also +explain John's first recorded act. At the age of eleven years he ran away +from home! How many a lad before and since has torn himself away from a +loving mother's too fond embrace to quell the ardour of a restless spirit +in the quest of adventure! John also was eager and dissatisfied; but the +larger sphere for which he sighed was to be sought along the unaccustomed +ways which lead to the sublime heights and the rarified atmosphere of +mystic contemplation. + +The pious truant made his way to Brussels, there to call upon an uncle of +his, one John Hinckaert, a major Canon of St. Gudule's. The son and heir +of a wealthy magistrate of the city, and possessed, moreover, of a rich +benefice, for many years John Hinckaert had been somewhat worldly in his +ways; but one day Divine grace found him out as he was listening to a +sermon, and drew him sweetly and strongly to a life of extreme simplicity +and mortification. His example was soon followed by a fellow Canon, by +name Francis van Coudenberg, a Master of Arts, possessed of considerable +means, and a man of great repute with the people. These two agreed, for +their mutual edification and support, to live together in common. Their +material requirements were reduced to the barest necessaries; and the +surplus of their revenue was distributed among the poor. In this devout +household the lad John met with a kindly welcome; and there he found at +once a home after his own heart in an atmosphere saturated with +"other-worldliness" and prayer. His good uncle also took charge of his +education. For four years Ruysbroeck followed the ordinary course of +Humanities in the public schools of Brussels, and then, with a view to +the priesthood, he devoted himself to the more congenial study of the +sacred sciences. + +Meanwhile the bereaved mother had discovered the place of John's retreat +and had quitted her village of Ruysbroeck to reside with him at Brussels. +As, however, she was not permitted to dwell in the Presbytery, she made +her abode in a _Béguinage_ hard by. Thus she had at least the consolation +of seeing her son from time to time. She must have been much comforted +also for the deprivation of his company by the constant evidence of his +growing sanctity. And, further, we are assured that she set herself to +make profit of her sacrifice by emulating in her own person the holy life +of her son John, and his saintly masters, Hinckaert and van Coudenberg. + + + + + II + + As a Secular Priest in Brussels + + +In due course Canon Hinckaert procured for his nephew one of the lesser +prebends of St. Gudule's, and John was ordained priest in the year 1317, +at the age of twenty-four. His good mother did not survive to witness +this happy event in the flesh, nevertheless even beyond the grave she had +good cause to rejoice therein. After her departure from this world she +had often appeared to her son, lamenting her pains, beseeching his +prayers, and sighing for the day when he would be able to offer for her +the holy Sacrifice. And John was unceasing in his supplications. But +immediately after the celebration of his first Mass, as he related to his +Religious Brethren later, God granted him a vision full of consolation: +when the sacred oblation was accomplished, his mother came to visit and +thank him for her deliverance from Purgatory. The touching incident is +well worth recording, if only to show that it was through no lack of +natural affection that the child John had so unceremoniously forsaken +home and mother. Moreover, of these two holy souls it was singularly true +that _having loved each other in life, in death they were not parted_, +for they were privileged often to converse together, and finally it was +from his mother that Ruysbroeck learned the date of his own approaching +departure. + +For twenty-six years in all Blessed John lived as a secular priest in +Brussels. Content with his modest chaplaincy in the Church of St. Gudule, +and with his holy companions Hinckaert and van Coudenberg continuing +happily in apostolic simplicity and poverty the Common Life on which he +had entered a mere child, Ruysbroeck passed his days in peaceful +retirement and almost uninterrupted prayer and contemplation. + +A characteristic episode of this period reveals to us the man as in a +flash, his mean garb, his emaciated figure, his absorbed demeanour, his +utter abandonment in God. He was passing through a square of Brussels one +day, silent and recollected, as was his wont, when two laymen remarked +him. + +"My God," exclaimed one, "would I were as holy as that priest!" + +"Nay, for my part," returned the other, "I would not be in his shoes for +all the wealth of the world. I should never know a day's pleasure on +earth." + +"Then you know nothing of the delights which God bestows, or of the +delicious savour of the Holy Ghost," thought Ruysbroeck to himself, for +he happened to overhear the words, and he proceeded tranquilly on his +way. + + + + + III + + False Mystics + + +But with all his love of peace and retirement, when it was a question of +guarding the integrity of the Faith and of warding off peril from +immortal souls, Ruysbroeck hesitated not to stand in the breach; even +though others of much higher position in the Church and of much higher +repute for theological learning than the obscure chaplain of St. Gudule's +should raise not a finger nor so much as utter a warning word. + +The student of history is well aware of the many and startling contrasts +and contradictions presented by the Middle Ages. It was an epoch of +magnificent virtues and of gross vices, of splendid heroism and of +unspeakable cruelty, of superb generosity and of disgusting meanness, +and, which is more to our point at present, of intense devotion and of +the most revolting vagaries in doctrine and morals. While also on the one +hand there was much genuine zeal, much earnest endeavour to reform crying +abuses in Church and State; on the other hand hypocrites and fanatics +abounded, who aimed at the destruction of the principle of authority on +the plea of amending those in power, or who, the while they inveighed +against the futility of a merely exterior religion and insisted on the +supreme need of purity of heart, themselves fell into the excess of +neglecting all external form, and at times all outward decency and +observance of morality. + +In varying degrees these latter errors are to be encountered under one +shape or another in every age; but at the period of which we treat they +were especially intense and extreme. The _Beghards_ and the _Béguines_ +(when and where these broke loose from ecclesiastical control), the +_Flagellants_, the _Brethren of the Free Spirit_ were chief of a group of +extravagant sects which afflicted the Church in Italy, France, Germany, +and the Netherlands; while England at the same time was disturbed by the +fanaticism of the Lollards. In general their peculiar tenets were a +strange admixture of pantheism, false mysticism, apparent austerity, and +very real immorality. The following is one of their characteristic +propositions, condemned by Clement V. in the Council of Vienna, A.D. +1311-1312: "That those who are in the aforesaid grade of perfection and +in the spirit of liberty (contemplatives) are not subject to human +authority and are not obliged to obey any precepts of the Church, because +(as they say) _where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty_." + +It so happened that contemporary with our Saint in Brussels was a +prominent leader of the heretics of the _Free Spirit_, a woman whose name +is given as Bloemardinne, a good type, to judge by the description of +Ruysbroeck's biographer, of the whole genus of such teachers in those +days and in our own.[2] So great was this creature's reputation for +sanctity that it was commonly reported that two Seraphim accompanied her +to the altar when she approached to receive Holy Communion. She always +delivered her teachings, whether by word or in writing, seated on a +throne of silver. At her demise this chair was presented to the reigning +Duchess of Brabant. After Bloemardinne's death also cripples came to +touch her body in the persuasion that they would be miraculously healed +thereby. Her teaching was of the kind indicated above, concerned chiefly +with the so-called liberty of the spirit; the passion of lust she had the +impudence to call seraphic love. She issued numerous pamphlets remarkable +for their subtlety; and by one means and another she managed to win and +retain a very considerable number of disciples. + +Moved by zeal and compassion on witnessing the ruin and loss of souls +thus effected, John Ruysbroeck set himself to confute this heretic's +various publications point by point as they appeared. In consequence, he +incurred not a little hostility and persecution. Possibly it was this +opposition which finally decided Ruysbroeck and his holy companions to +quit Brussels for the more peaceful retirement of the neighbouring forest +of Soignes. But meanwhile he never for a moment desisted from his efforts +in defence of the Faith, and in the propagation of the doctrines of sane +mysticism. Of the treatises published professedly against Bloemardinne +there is nothing extant. But in all his works Ruysbroeck keeps an eye on +the errors of the day. He returns to them again and again, analysing +their sources, describing their characteristics, indicating the mischief +they work, and offering a reasoned and solid confutation. At the same +time, with wondrous sureness and perspicacity, from the rich stores of +his own intimate experience, he points out the safe and sure paths which +lead the soul to loving union with God. + +Some thirty years after Ruysbroeck's death, in 1410, the Archbishop of +Cambrai called his disciples, the Canons Regular of Groenendael, to come +and aid him in preaching against the successors of the notorious +Bloemardinne--a fact eloquent both of the obstinacy of this particular +heresy and of Blessed John's reputation as its most vigorous opponent. + + + + + IV + + The Hermitage of Groenendael + + +It appears that it was on the suggestion of Francis van Coudenberg that +the three holy priests resolved to abandon Brussels to seek elsewhere for +themselves a refuge of greater security and retirement. It was through +the influence also of van Coudenberg with John III., Duke of Brabant, +that they obtained the cession of an ideal property for their purpose, +the hermitage, namely, of Groenendael, with its lands and lake. + +The spot had already been sanctified by the prayers and penances of holy +recluses for nigh forty years. The first to retire thither had been one +John Busch, of the ducal house of Brabant, who, weary of the strife, +frivolities, and perils of court life, obtained from his kinsman, John +II., leave to retire into the forest of Soignes, to build himself a hut +and enclose a space of land there to be cultivated with his own hands for +his support. The deed of gift was dated the Friday after the Assumption +of Mary, 1304, and it stipulated that on the death or departure of the +grantee, another hermit should take his place, and so on for ever. In +effect, the noble John Busch was succeeded by one Arnold of Diest, who, +on entering, made a vow never to sally forth save on festivals for the +purpose of hearing Mass and receiving Holy Communion in the Parish Church +of St. Clement at Hoolaert. God rewarded this generous sacrifice by a +singular favour: Arnold was passionately devoted to the memory of the +Holy Apostles and Martyrs of Rome, and he was transported in spirit so +frequently thither that the shrines and sanctuaries of the Eternal City +became as familiar to him as to a native. When in a green old age he came +to die, Arnold surprised the bystanders with the request that he should +be laid to rest in the hermitage grounds. They objected that the +enclosure was not consecrated: he responded that one day it would be the +site of a monastery, the home of saintly Religious, and the Mother-house +of a holy congregation. However, he was buried in the Parish Church of +Hoolaert before the altar of St. Nicholas. His successor, Lambert, the +last of the Groenendael hermits, was so poor in spirit as not to be +attached even to his cell. He cheerfully yielded place to John Hinckaert, +van Coudenberg, and Ruysbroeck, and retired to a cell which they had +procured for him at Hoetendael, the modern Uccle. Groenendael was handed +over to the three companions by the Duke of Brabant on Easter Wednesday, +1343, on the condition that they should forthwith erect a house to +accommodate a community of at least five, two of whom should be priests +_viventes religiose_. + +The taking of possession is recorded in the Groenendael Chronicle thus: +"In 1344 the aforesaid, with the bishop's consent, began to build a +chapel in Groenendael. And the Vicars of Lord Guy, then Bishop of +Cambrai, inspected the building on March 13, 1344, and decreed that it +should be consecrated, together with a cemetery adjacent, two altars, and +other necessary appurtenances. On the same day of the same year the said +Vicars conferred on Dom Francis the cure of the brethren, the household, +and the servants, appointing him their Father and Parish Priest. Then the +same year, on March 17, the Venerable Lord Brother Matthias, Bishop of +the Church of Trebizond (Coadjutor of Cambrai), by faculty and licence of +the said Vicars of the Lord Bishop Guy, consecrated the aforesaid first +church in the honour of St. James, and erected it into a Parochial Church +for the same Dom Francis, his brethren and household." + +For five years Dom Francis van Coudenberg and his companions continued to +live thus in community, bound by no other rule than their own profound +spirit of prayer and intense desire of perfection. Nor were they long +left to enjoy alone the solitude of their retreat. Many sought admission +into their company; still larger numbers flocked from Brussels and +elsewhere to seek spiritual aid and consolation. If he had consulted his +own inclination and bent, Ruysbroeck would have denied himself to all; +but van Coudenberg represented that they should not in charity refuse +assistance to souls in need. And Blessed John yielded the more easily, +remarks one of his biographers, because for his part he was assured of +being able to repose in God amid the most distracting calls and absorbing +occupations. + +One of their earliest associates, John van Leeuwen, attained a high +reputation for sanctity. A poor and ignorant layman of Afflighem, he had +offered his services as their domestic _gratis_. Before long he was known +far and wide as the "Good Cook of Groenendael." The multitude of visitors +upon whom he was called to attend left him but little leisure, yet he +found time not only to be absorbed in prayer and contemplation, but even +to compose treatises of an exalted spirituality. Like his master +Ruysbroeck, whom he venerated profoundly, he was deeply recollected amid +the most exacting duties, and frequently he was favoured with heavenly +visions. It was while in a state of ecstasy that the sublime gifts and +heroic holiness of Blessed John were revealed to him; ever after no terms +seemed to him too exalted in which to describe the worth of the servant +of God. The general esteem in which van Leeuwen himself was held is +sufficiently attested by the inscription on his tomb: "Reliquiae Fratris +Joannis de Leeuwis vulgo Boni Coci viri a Deo illuminati et scriptis +mysticis clari obiit anno MCCCLXXVII. V. Februarii." _The Remains of +Brother John van Leeuwen, commonly called the Good Cook, a man +enlightened by God and renowned for his mystic writings. He died February +5, 1377._ + +Much more distracting to the recluses than the frequent visits of pilgrim +penitents or the arrival of fresh neophytes was the constant coming and +going of huntsmen from the household of the Duke of Brabant. The forest +of Soignes, in which Groenendael is situate, was a favourite resort for +the chase, and the position of the hermitage itself, within a few miles +of the capital, made it a very convenient place of rest and refreshment +for the hunters and their hounds. But the noise and bustle attendant on +such company were scarcely conducive to the spirit of prayer, and the +demands thus made on the hospitality of the young Community were a heavy +drain on its resources. Nevertheless the solitaries were naturally +fearful of giving offence to the followers of their Patron the Duke. +Moreover, since they were not established as a regular Religious +Community, they could not claim the privileges of the cloister. + + + + + V + + The Canons Regular of Groenendael + + +The inconveniences just noted, together with the continual increase in +their numbers, gave point and force to a strong remonstrance addressed to +Francis van Coudenberg and his Brethren by Pierre de Saulx, Prior of the +Canons Regular of St. Victor, Paris, concerning the _irregularity_ of +their unaccustomed manner of life. Herein the good Prior was in effect +only voicing the opinion of many zealous and prudent leaders among both +clergy and laity. The times were so rife in sects and societies of false +mystics, and so much mischief was wrought under the guise of piety, that +any form of community life outside the cloister and the three regular +vows was regarded with strong suspicion and dislike. A few years later +Gerard Groote, a disciple of Ruysbroeck, and Florence Radewyn, the first +spiritual Director of the Venerable Thomas à Kempis, founded a lay +association of _Devout Brothers and Sisters of the Common Life_, and this +society also was subjected to a fierce opposition arising from the same +sentiment of distrust for all religious movement outside the beaten +track. Happily, the Brothers were able to weather the storm by producing +irrefragable proofs of their orthodoxy, and of their entire submission to +the ecclesiastical authorities. But also, by the advice and according to +the desires of Gerard Groote himself, they placed themselves under the +protection and guidance of a Religious Order springing from their own +body, namely the Canons Regular of Windesheim, of which congregation the +Venerable à Kempis was one of the earliest members as well as the +brightest ornament. + +Prior Pierre de Saulx urged on van Coudenberg and his associates to +regularise their status, silence suspicion, and escape the many +inconveniences to which at present they were exposed by embracing the +Rule and adopting the habit of some already established Religious Order. +With edifying humility the Community of Groenendael accepted the reproof +and its accompanying counsel; and applied at once to Peter Andrew, Bishop +of Cambrai, for the necessary authorisation to adopt the Institute of the +Canons Regular under the Rule of St. Augustin of Hippo. This permission +the Ordinary granted most readily. With his own hands he clothed Francis +van Coudenberg, John Ruysbroeck and their companions in the canonical +habit, March 10, 1349, and the following day he appointed Dom Francis +Provost,[3] and John Ruysbroeck he made Prior of the new Canonry. To van +Coudenberg the other members of the Community, with one exception, +professed canonical obedience, according to St. Augustin's Rule. The +Bishop bestowed upon them many privileges and exemptions; while the Duke +took them under his special protection and endowed them with sufficient +revenues for the upkeep of a large establishment. + +The one exception noted above was Ruysbroeck's uncle and van Coudenberg's +old friend and master, John Hinckaert. At this date John Ruysbroeck was +fifty-six years of age, and Francis van Coudenberg was several years his +senior. They must certainly have been men of great zeal and courage to +undertake the full rigour and discipline of the Canonical Life, as they +understood it, at so advanced an age. Hinckaert, again, was much older +than either. And for fear lest out of consideration for his failing +powers the others should be induced to temper in any degree the austerity +of their observance, the good old man resolved to forgo for himself the +happiness of joining them in the profession of the vows. We can picture +what a source of regret this separation must have been to all three. +However, Hinckaert remained as near his friends as possible until the +end. A little cell was built just outside the cloister, and there after a +few years he peacefully passed away, their predecessor to eternal glory +as he had been their forerunner in the way of perfection. + +The Canon Regular, Prior Pierre de Saulx, had reason to be well content +with the issue of his intervention in the affairs of Groenendael. +Seventeen years later we find him addressing to the Community another +characteristic rebuke. This time he complained of the formula of their +profession, which ran as follows: "I, N. , offer and deliver myself +with these gifts to the service of this Church of St. James, Apostle. And +I promise God in the presence of clergy and people that I will abide here +henceforth to the end of my days without proprietorship, according to the +rule of the Canons and Blessed Augustin, to the best of my knowledge and +power. I also promise stability to this place as long as in any way I can +obtain what is needful for my soul and body, nor shall I for any motion +of fickleness or under any pretext of a more strict Order change this +habit or quit this cloister. I also promise obedience to all the prelates +of the aforesaid Church whom the better part of the Community shall +canonically elect, in order that I may receive a hundredfold and life +everlasting." + +As a matter of fact, this form of profession was quite adequate. +Implicitly it contained the vow of chastity, since chastity is an +integral part of the Canonical Rule. However, the Prior of St. Victor +resided in Paris, the metropolis of scholasticism, and he strenuously +argued and maintained that, whereas chastity is one of the three +essential vows of Religion, and the formula made no mention thereof, the +said formula was incomplete, erroneous, contrary to the decretals and +canonical sanctions. And again he urges the Provost and the Brethren to +conform themselves in this, as in all else, to some fully authorised +branch of the institute of the Canons Regular. + +Once more the good men humbly acquiesced; and it seems that they modelled +their religious family upon the famous Congregation of St. Victor, of +which their zealous counsellor was then the chief Superior. + + + + + VI + + Prior of Groenendael + + +Meanwhile the Community of Groenendael grew and flourished. The holy +Prior continued to make progress in the practice of heroic virtue, his +gifts of contemplation became ever more sublime, and still his reputation +for sanctity increased. His contemporary biographers, after the fashion +of their day, catalogue the Christian virtues, and one by one show how +they excelled in him. Let it suffice here to remark that those virtues +which he the most earnestly commends and the most highly exalts in his +writings, he the most constantly exercised in his own person. Chief of +these was humility, which he terms everywhere the foundation of +perfection; then obedience to men and resignation to the will of God, a +most tender devotion towards Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament of the +Altar, and, in fine, an ardent love of God and the neighbour. A few +instances may be given in illustration. + +On one occasion Blessed John was seriously ill; consumed by fever and +tortured by an intense thirst, he begged the Brother Infirmarian for a +drink of water. The Provost, who happened to be present, forbade the +draught, fearing it might do him harm. He was literally dying of thirst, +and his lips were cracking, they were so parched, yet Ruysbroeck humbly +acquiesced. But later, reflecting how great would be the grief and +remorse of his friend and superior if he actually died of his agony, he +quietly remarked: "Father Provost, if I have not a drink of water now I +shall certainly not recover from this malady." Thereupon, in great alarm, +Dom Francis immediately bade him drink. And from that moment the holy man +began to regain his strength. + +Another and a continual proof of his humility was the willingness with +which he took part in the heavy manual labour of the Community. His +dignity, his advanced age, his inexperience in such work, the many other +calls upon his time and strength--all this and the like the brethren +urged as motives wherefore he should be exempt; but he refused to listen. +Truth to tell, the material advantage from his toil was but little: his +frame was enfeebled by years and austerities, and in his ignorance he was +liable, for instance, to root up seedlings in the garden instead of +weeds! But the spiritual gain to the Brethren was incalculable; there was +not only the example of his humility, but of his unfailing recollection +too. In the midst of his labour he never lost his sense of the nearness +of God's presence. Indeed he was wont to say that it was easier for him +to raise his soul to God than to lift his hand to his forehead. + +His humility also and his zeal for the regular observance prevented him +ever seeking dispensation from the customary exercises of the community +life, or exemption from any of the monastic austerities, vigils, or +fasts. + +His love for the neighbour was shown by the readiness and affability with +which he received and welcomed innumerable claimants on his sympathy, +help, and counsel. No soul ever left his presence dissatisfied; every one +went back from a visit to Groenendael greatly edified and inwardly +refreshed. On one occasion the Brethren were distressed for the moment by +an apparent exception. Two Parisian clerics had visited the holy old man +and had demanded some word or motto for their guidance and encouragement. + +Ruysbroeck merely observed: "You are as holy as you wish to be." +Suspecting him of sarcasm, the strangers retired deeply mortified, and +they complained to the Canons that they were much disappointed in the +Prior, who evidently was not so saintly a man as rumour had led them to +believe. Learning the cause of their chagrin, some of the Brethren led +the clerics back to Blessed John and begged him to explain his meaning. +"But is it not simple?" he cried. "Is it not quite true? You are as holy +as you wish. Your good-will is the measure of your sanctity. Look into +yourselves and see what good-will you have, and you will behold also the +standard of your holiness." And then the visitors retired appeased and +edified. + +Naturally his own Brethren were the first and chief to benefit by the +holy Prior's charity and zeal. He denied himself to none; he made himself +all to all. Sometimes he gave a spiritual conference after Compline, and +then perhaps he would be so carried away as he enlarged upon the goodness +of God and the bliss of heaven, for instance, that neither he nor his +listeners would note the passage of time. The midnight Office bell would +surprise them still hanging upon his words. But such was the fervour +infused by his burning eloquence that not one felt the loss of the three +or four hours' accustomed sleep. + +Ruysbroeck always spoke without any immediate preparation; but it was +characteristic of the man that when requested by the Canons or by +strangers for a Conference, he would sometimes confess in all simplicity +that inspiration was lacking, that he had nothing to say. It was the same +with his written treatises: at the close of his life he was able to +declare that he had never committed anything to writing save under the +immediate motion of the Holy Spirit. + +As so often happens with the Saints, Blessed John's love for the +neighbour overflowed in tenderness for his brothers and sisters of the +lower creation also. Knowing this trait, the Canons would remark to him +on the approach of winter: "See, Father Prior, it is snowing already. +What will the poor little birds do now?" And with expressions of +heartfelt compassion this sublime mystic, who was habitually lost in +dizziest heights of contemplation, would give instructions that the +feathered choristers outside the cloister should not be abandoned to +perish of hunger. + +Very frequently in his works Blessed Ruysbroeck takes occasion to treat +of the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, and ever he speaks of this sacred +mystery in terms of the most vivid faith and intense devotion, discussing +it as a supreme proof of God's love for men, on a par with the gifts of +Creation, the Incarnation, and Redemption. His biographers tell us of his +personal love for the Blessed Eucharist, and especially of his ecstatic +devotion in offering the great Sacrifice. To the close of his long life, +even when his failing sight could no longer distinguish the figure of the +Crucified stamped upon the Host, nothing but grave sickness could hold +him back from daily celebration. Sometimes he swooned from the excess of +the sweetness with which his soul was inundated during the canon of the +Mass. + +On one such occasion not only did he faint, but he seemed on the point of +expiring, so that the terrified server reported the matter to the +Provost. Attributing the faintness to advancing age and weakness, the +Superior was about to forbid the holy old man to celebrate any more, when +Blessed John humbly besought him to forbear, assuring him that the swoon +was due not to the failing of years but to the overpowering of divine +grace, _non propter senium sed divinae gratiae collatum xenium_. "Even +to-day," he added, "Jesus Christ appeared to me, and filling my soul with +a deliciousness all divine, He said to my heart, _Thou art Mine and I am +thine_." + +Such heavenly favours seem to have been by no means rare with our Saint. +He was frequently ravished with a vision of Our Divine Lord in His sacred +Humanity. Christ appeared to him, accompanied by His Blessed Mother and a +numerous retinue of Saints, and conversed familiarly with him. On one +such occasion, penetrating his whole being with a sense of wondrous +sweetness, He greeted him with ineffable condescension thus: "Thou art My +dear son, in whom I am well pleased." Then Jesus Christ embraced him and +presented him to Our Lady and the attendant Saints with the words: +"Behold My chosen servant!" + + + + + VII + + Ruysbroeck's Tree + + +Whenever Blessed John felt the Spirit of God full upon him, even the +solitude of the cloister was not sufficiently retired for the intimacy of +the divine union. He would wander away into the depths of the forest +surrounding the monastery, there to abandon himself to the action of the +Holy Ghost undisturbed. On these occasions also he was wont to take with +him a stylus and a wax tablet, in order to jot down such thoughts and +lights as he was moved to preserve in writing. Of these notes a fair copy +was made on his return to the Priory. Towards the end of his days, when +his sight was failing and otherwise the effort of making these notes was +too much for him, one of the Canons always accompanied him into the +forest to write down at his dictation whatever he was moved to +communicate. Sometimes days or whole weeks would pass, and for want of +inspiration not a line nor a word would be added to the treatise in hand. +But when again the Spirit breathed, he continued from the very sentence +or phrase where he had paused, just as if there had been no interval +between. + +One day the Saint had retired as usual into the forest, and the Brethren, +knowing his occupation, respected his privacy. But when hours passed and +there was no sign of his return, they became alarmed and set out to scour +the woods in search of him. One of the Canons was especially intimate +with the Prior and loved him most tenderly. Perhaps his anxiety urged him +ahead of the rest. In a glade of the forest his eye lighted upon a +wondrous scene. He perceived a tree as it were in flames. On nearer +approach he discovered that it was in fact encircled with fire. And under +the tree, in the midst of the mysterious conflagration, John Ruysbroeck +was seated, manifestly rapt in ecstasy. + +The memory of this miracle was never lost in the Community. For +generations the tree was known and venerated as _Ruysbroeck's Tree_. At +the close of the fifteenth century the Prior, James van Dynter, planted a +lime-tree in the same place, which received the respect shown hitherto to +the original, which presumably had died down. When in 1577 the Canons +were obliged to abandon Groenendael on account of the vexations of the +religious wars, it is said that this tree withered away until only its +bark was left; but when the Community returned in 1607, it revived and +flourished again. + +This episode also has fixed the traditional representation of Blessed +John Ruysbroeck. He is usually pictured seated under a tree, a stylus in +his hand and a wax tablet resting on his knee, while Saint and tree alike +are encircled in brilliant rays of celestial light. + + + + + VIII + + A Director of Souls + + +It is no wonder that as the fame of these and similar marvels spread +abroad, multitudes of the faithful, young and old, clergy and laity, +flocked to see and hear the holy Prior of Groenendael. They came to him +from Flanders, Brabant, Holland, Germany, and France. Ruysbroeck received +all with unvarying simple courtesy, and his unpremeditated words were +ever found to meet exactly the needs of each. Many placed themselves +unreservedly in his hands, and frequently sought his direction by +correspondence, or came long distances to consult him in person. + +One of these penitents was the Baroness van Marke, of Rhode-St.-Agatha, +which lies midway between Groenendael and Louvain. This lady conceived +such a veneration for the holy Prior that when she went to visit him, she +walked the journey, pilgrimwise, barefoot. Finally, his exhortations to +flee and despise the passing vanities of the world prevailed so much with +her that she entered a Convent of Poor Clares in Cologne, and her son +Ingelbert joined the Community of Groenendael. + +We are told of another disciple, who once fell into a grievous sickness +and at the same time into a still more grievous affliction of spirit. She +sent for Blessed John, begging him to visit her. She told him of her +distress; behold, she was abandoned by God, on the one hand no health or +strength was left her to perform her accustomed works of mercy, and on +the other hand physical suffering took away all taste for prayer! What +was she to do? "You can do nothing more pleasing to God, my dear child," +responded the Saint, "than simply and utterly to submit to His holy will. +Strive to forsake your own desires and to give Him thanks for all +things." Such unction accompanied these simple and characteristic words +that the good lady felt deeply consoled, and she repined no more. + +Among the more famous to frequent Groenendael, there to sit and learn at +the feet of Ruysbroeck, is mentioned the well-known German mystic Tauler. +But authorities are divided at present as to whether or no these visits +to Groenendael can be fitted in with other ascertained facts of Tauler's +life. However, it is certain that Tauler was well acquainted with the +writings of our Saint; to a great extent he followed his method, and at +times, in the free-and-easy style of those days, he did not hesitate to +transfer bodily from Ruysbroeck's volumes into his own. + + + + + IX + + Ruysbroeck and Gerard Groote + + +A greater than Tauler, and one whose influence was eventually far more +widespread, undoubtedly owed much to the recluse of Groenendael and +freely acknowledged Blessed John his master. This was the famous Gerard +Groote, the founder, as already noted, of the _Devout Brothers and +Sisters of the Common Life_, and through them of the Windesheim +Congregation of Canons Regular. The occasion and circumstances of +Groote's first visit to Groenendael are narrated by the Venerable Thomas +à Kempis in his _Vita Gerardi Magni_. The passage is so graphic and +characteristic that it is well worth transcribing.[4] + +"The pious and humble Master Gerard, hearing of the great and widespread +fame of John Ruysbroeck, a monk and Prior of the Monastery of Grünthal, +near Brussels, went to the parts about Brabant, although the journey was +long, in order to see in bodily presence this holy and most devout +Father; for he longed to see face to face, and with his own eyes, one +whom he had known hitherto only by common report and by his books; and to +hear with his own ears that voice utter its words from a living human +mouth--a voice as gracious as if it were the very mouthpiece of the Holy +Ghost. He took with him therefore that revered man, Master John Cele, the +director of the School of Zwolle, a devout and faithful lover of Jesus +Christ; for their mind and heart were one in the Lord, and the fellowship +of each was pleasant to the other, and this resolve was kindled within +them that their journey, which was undertaken for the sake of spiritual +edification, should redound in the case of each to the Glory of God. + +"There went also with them a faithful and devout layman, named Gerard the +shoemaker, as their guide upon the narrow way, and their inseparable +companion in this happy undertaking. + +"When they came to the place called Grünthal, they saw no lofty or +elaborate buildings therein, but rather all the signs of simplicity of +life and poverty, such as marked the first footsteps of our Heavenly +King, when He, the Lord of Heaven, came upon this earth as a Virgin's +Son, and in exceeding poverty. As they entered the gate of the monastery, +that holy Father, the devout Prior, met them, being a man of great age, +of kindly serenity, and one to be revered for his honourable character. +He it was whom they had come to see, and saluting them with the greatest +benignity as they advanced, and being taught by a revelation from God, he +called upon Gerard by his very name and knew him, though he had never +seen him before. After this salutation he took them with him into the +inner parts of the cloister, as his most honoured guests, and with a +cheerful countenance and a heart yet more joyful showed them all due +courtesy and kindness, as if he were entertaining Jesus Christ Himself. + +"Gerard abode there for a few days conferring with this man of God about +the Holy Scriptures; and from him he heard many heavenly secrets which, +as he confessed, were past his understanding, so that in amazement he +said with the Queen of Sheba, 'O excellent Father, thy wisdom and thy +knowledge exceedeth the fame which I heard in mine own land; for by thy +virtues thou hast surpassed thy fame.' After this he returned with his +companions to his own city, greatly edified; and being as it were a +purified creature, he pondered over what he had heard in his mind and +often dwelt thereon in his heart; also he committed some of Ruysbroeck's +sayings to writing, that they might not be forgotten. + +"This sojourn on his visit to the Prior was not a time of idleness, nor +was the discourse of so holy a father barren; but the instruction of his +living voice gave nurture to a fuller love and an increase of fresh zeal, +as he testifies in a letter which he sent to these same brethren in the +Grünthal, saying: 'I earnestly desire to be commended to your director +and Prior, the footstool of whose feet I would fain be both in this life +and in the life to come; for my heart is welded to him beyond all other +men by love and reverence. I do still burn and sigh for your presence, to +be renewed and inspired by your spirit and to be a partaker thereof.'" + +Other details of this interesting visit are supplied by the biographers +of Ruysbroeck. Speaking in the fullness of the intimacy that had sprung +up between them, Gerard Groote ventured to express surprise that, in +dealing with the sublime matters which usually formed the subject of his +discourse, the holy Prior should employ words and phrases which laid him +open to the charge of those very errors, especially pantheism, against +which his writings were commonly directed. It was then that Ruysbroeck +declared that he had never set down aught in his books save by the +inspiration of the Holy Ghost and in the presence of the Ever Blessed +Trinity. This solemn assurance the holy man repeated to his brother +Canons on his deathbed. + +On another point also, like the trained and exact theologian he was, +Gerard Groote wished to correct his friend. He insisted that the +boundless confidence which Ruysbroeck expressed in the mercy of God +seemed to savour somewhat of presumption, and he proceeded to quote the +most terrifying passages from Scripture anent the penalties of the +wicked. Blessed John quietly replied: "Master Gerard, I assure you that +you have quite failed to inspire me with fear. I am ready to bear with +unruffled soul whatever the Lord shall destine for me in life or in +death. I can conceive of nothing better, nothing safer, nothing more +sweet. All my desires are restricted to this, that our Lord may ever find +me prepared to accomplish His holy will." + +This first visit was the beginning of most cordial relations between +Ruysbroeck and Gerard Groote. The latter returned several times to +Groenendael and resided there for months together. He also corresponded +frequently with the holy Prior and the Canons and translated some of our +Saint's works into Latin. He read over his MSS. before publication, and +begged him at times to change or modify expressions which might give a +handle to the hostile or scandal to the weak. The writings of Ruysbroeck +were likewise among those which were the most frequently transcribed and +multiplied by the copyists of the _Devout Brothers of the Common Life_. A +few years later one of the most diligent and skilled of these scribes was +the future author of the _Imitation of Christ_. + + + + + X + + Ruysbroeck and Windesheim + + +In fact, widespread as was the influence of Blessed John Ruysbroeck on +his contemporaries and incalculable as was the fruit of his writings in +the many cloisters, through which they were rapidly diffused, the means +by which Divine Providence chose chiefly to preserve and propagate his +power was precisely this friendship with Gerard Groote. Gerard +continually strove to imbue his own disciples with the spirit which he +had imbibed from the Prior of Groenendael. For himself and for his +followers he took as a rule of life the motto of Ruysbroeck, _to make it +a chief study to meditate upon the life of Jesus Christ_. "Let the +fountain-head of thy study and thy mirror of life be first the Gospel of +Christ, for there is the life of Christ." The Scriptures should be read +rather than the Fathers, and the New Testament more than the Old, _for +there is the life of Christ_. And herein again what is profitable for a +devout and spiritual life is to be sought rather than the subtleties of +theology and the schools. + +When a friend of Gerard's, Reinalt Minnenvosch, projected the founding of +a monastery, Groote advised him to establish a Priory of Canons Regular +on the model of Groenendael. The Canonry of St. Saviour's at Emstein was +the result. At Groote's request, a professed priest came from Groenendael +to initiate the new Religious into the Canonical Life; and later it was +at Emstein that the first members of Gerard's own Congregation of +Windesheim made their noviciate preparatory to Profession. + +This was after Gerard Groote's death, but it was in accord with his +express desire. Wishful to establish a Religious Institute in connection +with his _Devout Brothers and Sisters of the Common Life_, who, whether +lay or cleric, were dwelling together without the binding force of the +vows, Gerard fixed upon the Order of Canons Regular for this purpose, +principally, so Thomas à Kempis assures us, because of his profound +veneration for the Prior and Brethren of Groenendael. "He was moved to +institute this Order of Regulars chiefly by his singular reverence and +love for the venerable Dom John Ruysbroeck, the first Prior of +Groenendael, and of the other most exemplary Brethren living there +religiously in the Regular Order." + +For further information concerning the _Devout Brothers_ and the +Windesheim Canons the reader is referred to the various works which have +been published of late years on the Venerable à Kempis.[5] Both Brothers +and Canons were living examples of the mystic teachings of Ruysbroeck put +to the test of daily practice. Flight from the pleasures and vanities of +the world, unbounded humility, constant meditation on the life and +especially the Passion of Jesus Christ, the most complete and absolute +abandonment to the Divine Will, an intense devotion full of the personal +love of God--these were the salient points of Blessed John's example and +doctrine, perpetuated and propagated by the works, words, and writings of +the Windesheim Canons Regular and their secular associates, the _Brothers +of the Common Life_. It is scarcely needful to remark also that these are +the chief features of the teaching of the _Imitation of Christ_, that +golden little treatise, which, embodying the whole spirit of the School +of Windesheim and Groenendael, has carried and still carries light, +healing, and consolation to thousands upon thousands who have never so +much as heard of either Windesheim or John Ruysbroeck.[6] + +It may be mentioned here that in 1409 the Priory of Groenendael was +instituted the Mother-house of a congregation of that name. But a few +years later this congregation, with its dependent Priories, was +affiliated to the more numerous Windesheim Canons. Thus the twin +institutes were merged into one, and the Windesheim Congregation became +the direct heir of the virtues and teaching of Blessed John Ruysbroeck. +But finally Windesheim was aggregated to the Lateran Congregation of +Canons Regular; and thus it is that to-day the Canons Regular of the +Lateran are privileged, with the clergy of Mechlin, to keep with proper +Office and Mass the Feast of Blessed John Ruysbroeck. + +Connected thus intimately with Gerard Groote and Tauler, it is not +surprising that Ruysbroeck shares with these, as with à Kempis, Suso, and +others, the doubtful honour of being proclaimed in certain quarters as a +precursor of the sixteenth-century "Reformation." In support of this +position it is easy enough to gather together expressions of the most +poignant sorrow and of the most bitter invective for the lax morality of +clergy and laity, mendicant friars, and highly placed prelates. But the +same argument would convict several Popes of being heralds of Luther! Not +to labour the point at unnecessary length in a non-controversial work of +this kind, let it suffice to mention the touchstone which never fails to +distinguish the genuine reformer from the mere sectarian: while boldly +attacking the vices of those in office, Blessed John Ruysbroeck never +assails the office itself. He always speaks in the most submissive and +reverent terms of the authority of the Church and of the dignity of the +priesthood. His writings without exception treat in the orthodox sense on +the subject of grace, the sacraments, etc. We have already remarked his +ardent devotion towards the Blessed Eucharist. To this may be added a +most tender love for the Virgin Mother of God. Note, finally, his +frequent and fervent exhortations to the perfect observance of the three +vows of religion, and one can imagine how comfortable he would feel in +the company, say, of Luther and his renegade nun! + + + + + XI + + The Writings of Ruysbroeck + + +Blessed John's writings cannot be called voluminous, and yet for a purely +contemplative author they are comparatively considerable. The list of his +works authenticated up to the present--for earnest students are at work, +and other MSS. may yet be discovered--comprises the following, giving an +English equivalent for the Old Flemish or Latin titles: (1) The Kingdom +of the Lovers of God; (2) The Splendour of the Spiritual Espousals; (3) +The Brilliant; (4) Of Four Subtle Temptations; (5) Of the Christian +Faith; (6) Of the Spiritual Tabernacle; (7) Of the Seven Cloisters; (8) +The Mirror of Eternal Life, or, a Treatise on the Blessed Sacrament; (9) +The Seven Degrees of Spiritual Love; (10) Of the Supreme Truth; (11) The +Twelve Béguines. And these others are less certainly proved to be his: +(12) Of the Twelve Virtues; (13) Seven Letters; (14) A Summary of the +Spiritual Life; (15) Two Canticles; (16) A Short Prayer. + +Pending a complete and faithful English rendering of all these works, the +following descriptive analysis of the principal of them may not prove +unacceptable. + + + The Kingdom of the Lovers of God + +This treatise is a detailed interpretation and a mystic application of +the text adapted from Wisdom x. 10: _Justum deduxit Dominus per vias +rectus et ostendit illi regnum Dei_ in the Breviary Office of a +Confessor. Upon these words Ruysbroeck bases a division of his work into +five books. The first book treats of God, _Dominus_, His power and +sovereignty. In the second Blessed John explains how Christ conducted, +_deduxit_, man into the liberty of the children of God, chiefly by +redemption and by the institution of the seven Sacraments. In the third +he treats of the just man, _justum_, and works out eight items which +render a man just, both in the active and in the contemplative life. The +fourth book expounds the right ways, _vias rectas_, which lead to the +Kingdom of God: _the exterior way_, namely, the material universe of +three heavens and four elements, the contemplation of which should excite +man to the praise of the Creator; _the way of natural light_, the +acquisition of the seven virtues; finally, _the supernatural and divine +way_, the infusion of the supernatural virtues and the gifts of the Holy +Ghost. In the last book we have a disquisition on the kingdom of God, +_ostendit illi regnum Dei_, of which we are told there are five aspects +or divisions: the sensible kingdom, exterior to God, in which the author +finds scope for a description of the last judgment and the qualities of +risen bodies, the kingdom of nature, the kingdom of the Scriptures, the +kingdom of grace and of glory, and finally the Divine Kingdom itself, +which is God. This treatise is full of reflections and considerations of +the most elevated order, and there is much therein that is by no means +easy to grasp or understand. + + + The Splendour of the Spiritual Espousals + +For his text Ruysbroeck takes Matt. xxv. 6, _Ecce, sponsus venit, exite +obviam ei_. He makes a division into three books, treating respectively +of the active, the interior, and the contemplative life. Each book is +further subdivided into four parts, corresponding to the four divisions +of the text in each stage of perfection as follows. Ruysbroeck expounds +and illustrates (1) the rôle of the vision, _ecce_; man must turn his +eyes to God; (2) the divers comings of the Bridegroom, _sponsus venit_, +the manner, namely, in which God approaches the soul; (3) the going forth +of the soul on the path of the virtues, _exite_; (4) and finally, the +embrace of the soul and the heavenly spouse. In no one work does Blessed +Ruysbroeck give a complete account of his mystic teaching; but if his +system were to be examined and explained by any one book, it would +certainly be this of the _Spiritual Espousals_. It has always been +considered as his chief work, and in this light also Ruysbroeck himself +seems to have regarded it. He sent a copy of it himself to his friends in +Germany, and expressed the desire that it might be multiplied and made +known even to the foot of the mountains. In the four last chapters of the +second book the author confutes some current errors of the day, +apparently the teachings of Bloemardinne and almost certainly of Eckart. + + + The Brilliant + +Gerard Naghel tells us the story of the origin of this treatise. One day +Ruysbroeck had been conversing with a certain hermit on matters +spiritual, when on parting the latter begged the holy Prior to commit the +matter of his discourse to writing for the edification of himself and +others. To satisfy his desire, says Naghel, Ruysbroeck composed this +work, which contains instruction sufficient to lead a man to perfection. +The treatise seems a supplement, and in some sense a corrective of the +_Spiritual Espousals_. After a brief description of the means by which +the just man acquires the interior life and rises thence to the +contemplative, the holy man shows how the precious stone, or white +counter, _calculus candidus_, of Rev. ii. 17, is no other than Christ +Himself, Who gives Himself without reserve to contemplative souls. God +calls all men to intimate union with Himself. But not all men respond to +His appeal. Sinners utterly despise the invitation; while the just +respond, though these again in varying degrees. Some keep the +commandments chiefly from fear of the penalties attached to +transgression; they are as _mercenaries_. Others sincerely endeavour to +conquer nature and unruly desires, they have true faith in God, and God +is the only motive of their actions; these are the _faithful servants_. +However, these still suffer many impediments from the exterior life which +they lead, and a more intimate union is attained by the _intimate +friends_, who observe the counsels as well as the precepts. Finally, the +highest degree of union and contemplation is attained by the _hidden +sons_, who are utterly divested of all self-love and self-seeking, and +whose life is hidden with Christ in God. + + + Of Four Subtle Temptations + +In this tract Ruysbroeck inveighs against the chief errors and abuses of +his own times. The first, says Ruysbroeck, is love of ease and comfort, +indolence, the source of sensuality, and luxury, an abuse very prevalent +in monasteries and among the clergy. The second is hypocrisy, which, +under the cloak of a seeming austerity, claiming even visions and +ecstasies, conceals a corrupt interior and depraved morals. The third is +the desire to understand everything, to attain to the contemplation of +the divine nature by the sheer force of the intellect, without the +assistance of God's grace. The fourth and the most formidable is the +so-called _liberty of spirit_, the error and heresy of those who, casting +aside all interior effort, pretend to acquire contemplation by ludicrous +mortifications, by extravagant bodily posturing, and by a senseless +quietism. The third error is that of Eckart, and the fourth was proper to +the Brothers and Sisters of the Free Spirit. Ruysbroeck concludes his +tract with a discussion of the ways and means of avoiding these snares, +viz. by holiness of life, the practice of all the virtues, obedience to +superiors and the authority of the Church, and imitation of Jesus Christ. + + + Of the Christian Faith + +A dogmatic commentary on the Athanasian Creed. Starting with the +principle that the true Christian Faith is indispensable for the union of +the soul with God, Ruysbroeck proceeds to explain the chief tenets of our +belief, and to show their bearing on the interior life. His explanations +are brief, his speculations sublime. The more forcibly to exhort to the +practice of virtue, he dwells at considerable length on the last +judgment, on the rewards of the just, and on the penalties decreed to +each particular class of sinner. His picture here of the happiness of +heaven and the sufferings of hell is most apt and striking. + + + Of the Spiritual Tabernacle + +The most lengthy this of all Ruysbroeck's works. It consists of a mystic +interpretation, a long-drawn-out allegory, in which the Tabernacle of the +Old Testament is considered as a type of the course of love. The outer +and the inner courts, the altar of sacrifice, the hangings, the pillars +and their sockets, the rings, the names of the workmen, the seven-branch +candlestick, the brazen laver, the priestly ornaments, the ephod and the +twelve stones, the holy oils and the incense, the table of the loaves of +proposition, the different sacrifices with the distinction between the +clean and the unclean animals, the holy of holies, the ark and its +appurtenances,--all are applied with a wealth of detail, which, however, +never lacks dignity, and with a wondrous skill to Ruysbroeck's usual +three divisions of the exterior moral life, the interior, and the purely +contemplative. The Tabernacle was a subject which naturally lent itself +to allegory and to mystic interpretation, and Hugh of St. Victor had +already preceded our author, as doubtless also he inspired him with his +_De Arca mystica_. Though sometimes the thread is lost in the +multiplicity of details, this treatise is most attractive and contains +some of the best pages of Blessed Ruysbroeck. + + + Of the Seven Cloisters + +This was composed for a penitent of our Saint, Margaret von Meerbeke, a +Poor Clare of Brussels, and it gives a rule of life for Religious. The +holy Prior traces out an order of the day, insisting especially on the +need of cultivating the interior life; he mentions the virtues which his +penitent should exercise, and inveighs against the abuses which have +crept into convents, pointing out the danger of communication with the +outer world. In all things Margaret should imitate the example of her +foundress, St. Clare, who gained her glorious place in Heaven by shutting +herself up within the seven cloisters. After dwelling on these, viz., by +expounding seven means of retreating from the world and living close to +God, the author turns again to practical details and condemns the +softness and luxury of certain Religious in their dress. Each day, he +says, should close with a peep into three books: the book of our own +conscience, which shows the imperfections which must be purified; the +book of the Life and Passion of our Lord, which we should imitate; and +finally the book of eternal life, to which we ought to tend with all our +strength. + + + The Mirror of Eternal Life + +This also was addressed to a nun, probably the same Poor Clare. It +explains again the three degrees of the mystic life, but with special +reference now to the cloister and the Blessed Eucharist. Some are in the +purgative way: if they persevere in virtue and progress in perfection, +they shall partake of the table, Ps. xxiii. 5, which is no other than the +banquet of the Holy Eucharist. Ruysbroeck dwells on the virtues necessary +for the worthy reception of the Sacrament, and narrates the manner of its +institution by our Divine Lord at the Last Supper, showing what were the +matter and form used by Christ. He discourses on the evidence of God's +love to be found in this mystery of the altar; and then refutes +objections as to the manner of the Divine Presence, expressly teaching +Transubstantiation. Those who approach the altar rails are divided by him +into seven classes, and here the author shows a wondrous and intimate +knowledge of the working of the human heart. The treatise closes with a +description of the contemplative life. + + + The Seven Degrees of Spiritual Love + +In a simile familiar to spiritual writers of all ages, Ruysbroeck +compares life to a ladder, or stairway of seven steps, leading up to +perfection and union with God. These stages are respectively: (1) +Conformity with the holy will of God; (2) Voluntary poverty; (3) Purity +of soul and chastity of body; (4) Humility, with her four daughters, +obedience, gentleness, patience, and the forsaking of self-will; (5) The +desire of the divine glory, involving three spiritual exercises, namely, +acts of love and adoration, acts of supplication, and acts of +thanksgiving; (6) The contemplative and perfect life, by which man +finally attains the last stage of, (7) sublime ignorance. (Compare Walter +Hilton's "darksome lightness" in his _Scale of Perfection_.) + + + Of the Supreme Truth + +This treatise was issued by way of explanation of some difficult passages +in his first work, concerning especially the gift of counsel, and indeed +as a kind of defence and apology of his whole mystic teaching. He +protests that he has never admitted that the creature can be raised to a +state of identity with God, and once more he explains his conception of +the union of the soul with her Divine Spouse. There is a union common to +all the just, brought about by the grace of God, with the forsaking of +vice, the practice of virtue, and submission to the authority of the +Church. Then there is a more intimate union, like unto that of fire and +iron, which, when united, seem but one matter, though in fact they remain +two distinct substances. Those who attain this love God and live in His +presence, but as yet arrive not at a complete knowledge of His essence. +After this again there is even a yet closer union, whereby the Eternal +Father and man become one, not indeed with oneness of substantial unity, +but in a oneness of love and bliss. It is evident that language here +fails the holy author to express the sublimity of his concept and his +experience; in his endeavour to show the intimacy of this last method of +union he is driven to use expressions which, taken as they stand, have +that pantheistic ring which it is his first object here to disclaim. + + + The Twelve Béguines + +After the _Tabernacle_, this is the most lengthy of our Saint's works, +and it is of great importance as throwing considerable light on +Ruysbroeck's ideas and system. We are introduced to twelve Béguines +discoursing together on the love of Jesus Christ, whence an easy transit +to the real subject-matter of the tract, the contemplative life. To +attain the state of contemplation, four conditions are required: a ray of +divine light, producing illumination, whence, on the part of the soul, a +looking at God, or speculation, passing into contemplation, and this +stage again merging into a state of sublime, ecstatic love. There are +four distinct acts or states of love, corresponding respectively to each +of these stages. Ruysbroeck also shows here the action of the Holy Ghost +in forming the soul to a more intimate knowledge of God. + +The second part of the book then opens with a fresh order of ideas. +Ruysbroeck divides mankind into good Christians and wicked men. Holiness +consists of the union of the active and the contemplative life. There +are, however, some who practise neither one nor the other and yet give +themselves out as the most holy of all. Among these Ruysbroeck proceeds +to distinguish four kinds of errors or heresies: (1) Errors against the +Holy Ghost and His Grace; (2) Errors against God the Father and His +power; (3) Errors against God the Son and His Sacred Humanity; and +finally errors against God and all that makes up Christendom, namely, the +Scriptures, the Church, and the Sacraments. On the other hand, the good +Christian is one who loves God with all his heart and mind and soul and +strength. + +Blessed John then goes on to discourse of the Divine Nature in Unity and +Trinity. He also discusses man in his material and in his spiritual +nature. The spiritual part of man alone he says, can elevate him to the +mystic life (of which once more the three ways are expounded), and alone +also can show him the reasons wherefore God created the universe. The +three ways of the mystic life are symbolised by the three heavens. The +stars and the planets exercise an influence on terrestrial creatures, +that is to say, upon our bodies, for God alone can touch the soul, +leading it to good and restraining it from evil. Thence also Ruysbroeck +describes the various temperaments of men by reference to the planets and +their conjunction with the signs of the zodiac. + +A chapter on our Divine Lord, held up as the Model Religious, serves as a +transition to the third part, which is a treatise, largely symbolical, on +the Passion of Christ, divided and subdivided according to the sequence +of the Canonical Hours. + +This is perhaps the most discursive of Ruysbroeck's works, and in that +sense the most difficult to follow, because of the number and length of +the digressions. For instance, when he comes to speak of the planet +Venus, he mentions the sign of the Balance, and this suggests a whole +treatise of thirty-nine chapters on the _Balance of Divine Love_. The +love of God for us, and all the blessings, spiritual and temporal, which +flow from it, are cast into one pan of the balance, and we must weigh +down the other pan with our virtues; and there follows a long +disquisition on the virtues we should practise, prominent among which, as +usual, he ranks humility. Here, further, he finds occasion to work out +his distinction between the spirit and the reasonable soul; and the whole +digression closes with a sad and striking comparison between the fervour +of primitive Christianity and the laxity of his own days. + +Bossuet very severely criticised this work, holding it up as an example +of forced allegories, and so forth, and speaking of Ruysbroeck as +involved in the vain speculations of astrologers. This opinion, though +not surprising, is not just, for the author is careful to insist that the +planets have not influence on the will of man as such. But it is natural +that Bossuet should regard such works with suspicion and dislike, for he +had considerable trouble with false mystics, the quietists of his own +day; and even Ruysbroeck's own friends and contemporaries found much in +the volume that was strange, even to startling, and Gerard Groote advised +him not to publish it in its entirety. + + + Of the Twelve Virtues + +The reader will not be surprised to learn that Blessed John contrives +here to speak of considerably more virtues than just twelve. The +principal and first is said to be humility, and this again twofold--one +humility inspired by the contemplation of the power of God, the other by +the consideration of His goodness. The daughter of humility is obedience, +and obedience naturally involves denial of self-will, poverty of spirit, +and patience in adversities. He then proceeds to treat very beautifully +and at length of interior detachment, remarking that to secure this it is +not necessary to flee external occupations, but that the attainment of +perfection consists in a perfect abandonment to the will of God and the +forsaking of our own will. When we have arrived thus far, we shall no +longer sin. For past sins there must be continued sorrow, but external +penances are not equally for all. And those who cannot endure great +bodily austerities must apply themselves to imitate the austere life of +Christ by interior self-denial. + + + The Letters of Ruysbroeck + +These are spiritual letters, of course, conferences in epistolary form. + +The first is addressed to Margaret van Meerbeke, the Poor Clare of +Brussels mentioned above. Ruysbroeck writes: "When I was at your convent +last summer, you appeared sad; methought God or some special friend had +forsaken you; therefore am I writing you as follows." And he proceeds to +console his spiritual daughter, and to warn her against the dangers which +may be found even in the cloister. He declaims against the abuses which +sometimes creep into monasteries, and almost always through _self-will_, +whereas every Religious should strive to have all things _in common_, to +be submissive to superiors and affable to all. The holy author closes +with a description of the terrible punishments to be meted out to those +Religious who fail to keep their rule and lead a holy life. + +The second, addressed to Matilda, the widow of John of Culemberg, is of +more importance. After treating of the Apostles' Creed, the seven gifts +of the Holy Ghost, the Decalogue, the vows of religion and the precepts +of the Church, the Incarnation and death of Christ, Ruysbroeck expounds +the Catholic doctrine on the seven Sacraments, and especially the Blessed +Eucharist. He describes the fruits which flow from a worthy Communion, +and treats again of the three ways of the contemplative life, and +describes the elements of superessential contemplation. + +The third was sent to three Recluses of Cologne. Blessed John exhorts +them to persevere in their holy manner of life. He treats of the +spiritual life, comparing Christ to the precious pearl, the hidden +treasure. And finally he earnestly exhorts them to constant meditation on +the Passion of Our Lord. + +The fourth was addressed to Catherine of Louvain, a devout young lady +living in the world; and the other three were likewise sent to persons in +the world. All are full of wise spiritual maxims, and all insist on the +need of humility and the abnegation of self-will. + + + + + XII + + The Teaching of Ruysbroeck[7] + + +In no one work, as already remarked, does Blessed John Ruysbroeck give a +complete outline of his doctrines; the elements rather are to be found +dispersed among the various treatises. + +In common with most of the German mystics, Ruysbroeck starts from God and +comes down to man, and thence rises again to God, showing how the two are +so closely united as to become one. In His essence God is simple unity, +the one supremely pure and supernatural being, devoid of all mode, in +Himself still and immovable, and yet at the same time the first cause and +active principle of all things. This principle is the divine _nature_, +which does not in reality differ from the essence, and which is fruitful +in the Trinity. The Father is the essential principle, and yet He is +consubstantial with the other two Persons. The Son, the uncreated Image +of the Father, is the Eternal Wisdom. The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the +other two, and returning unto them, is the eternal Love, which unites +Father and Son. As regards Persons, God is eternally active: as regards +essence, He abides in unbroken repose. Creatures have been existing as +ideas in God from all eternity. + +In man, whose body is merely a perishable instrument, there is a +spiritual, immortal principle, like unto God, though less than He. In +this principle Ruysbroeck distinguishes, with a distinction of the +reason, soul and spirit; the former is the principle of the merely human +life, uniting together the lower powers; the other is the principle of +man's supernatural life in God, gathering together his higher faculties. +The soul has four inferior powers: the _irascible_, and the +_concupiscible_, which two become bestial when not under the ruling of a +virtuous will; _reason_, by which man is distinguished from the brute, +and _freedom of choice_, an exercise of the higher faculty of the will. +The spirit has the three superior faculties, memory, understanding, and +will. In every man likewise there is a triple unity, or oneness: the +unity of the lower faculties in the soul, the unity of the higher in the +spirit, and the unity of the whole being in God, on Whom all things +essentially depend for their being. + +Blessed John delivers the accepted teaching of the Church on the Fall, +the Incarnation and Redemption, on the need and on the means of divine +grace, the institution of the Sacraments, the establishment of the +Church, the gifts of the Holy Ghost, etc. + +But coming now to his more purely mystical doctrine, we find that +Ruysbroeck distinguishes three degrees, or states--the active life, the +interior life, and the contemplative life. The active life consists of +the effort to conquer sin and to draw nigh to God by exterior works. Here +in Christ is the Divine Exemplar, for in His life He practised the three +fundamental virtues of humility, charity, and patience. Humility is the +foundation of the whole building, and it is exercised chiefly in +obedience, which engenders the abdication of our own will, and patience, +or submission in all things to the holy will of God. When a man has +arrived so far, he can exercise charity, shown at this stage chiefly by +compassion for Christ suffering on the Cross for all men, and bringing +with her the four cardinal virtues of prudence, temperance, fortitude, +and justice, whereby also the Christian is enabled to fight and conquer +his three deadly enemies, the devil, the world, and the flesh. +Perseverance in this active life is crowned by union with God, a union +wherein God alone is regarded as the exemplar and the final end, wherein +He alone is sought and loved. Thus does a man become a _Faithful +Servant_. + +As yet, however, there is only an imperfect knowledge of God, and to +become more closely united with God, as an _Intimate Friend_, one must +strive to attain the second stage of the mystic way, namely the _interior +life_. For this three preliminary conditions are requisite. On the part +of God, there must be a yet stronger movement of divine grace, and on the +part of man, an absolute recollection, with freedom from sensible images, +attachments, and cares, and then the gathering together of all the powers +in the unity of the Spirit. Christ, then, the Eternal Sun, enkindles in +the soul thus duly prepared a divine fire, which engenders a warm, +sensible love, a devotion full of ardent desires, with thankfulness for +the divine mercies and affliction at one's own unworthiness. Then, as the +action of the sun draws up the moisture in the form of vapour, to fall +back again in refreshing and fertilising showers of rain, so if the soul +persevere Christ sends down a fresh shower of consolations, which fill +the whole being with a chaste pleasure and an indescribable sweetness +superior to all the delights of the earth, rising even to a species of +spiritual intoxication, which may manifest itself in outward acts. As yet +there are no severe trials for the soul, but she must beware of pride and +presumption, and of leaning too much on these sensible delights instead +of on the Divine Giver. Meanwhile the Sun of Justice is reaching its +apogee in the heavens, and Christ draws up all the powers of the soul, so +that the heart is enlarged and fit to burst with love, and at the same +time it begins to suffer from the wound of love, because of the urgency +of the power drawing upward and its own impotency to follow; whence also +a spiritual languishing, a very madness and impatience, or fever of love, +capable even of wasting the bodily strength. Love is liable to be so +intense at this stage, that visions and ecstacies are granted; but at the +same time care must be taken against the delusions of the evil one. + +But thence the Sun enters on the sign of the Virgin and its downward +path, that is, Christ hides Himself and deprives the soul of the warmth +of sensible love and the like. It is the autumn, the time of gathering +the really ripe and lasting fruits; but to the soul a time of seeming +abandonment, aridity, darkness, etc. She must then beg the prayers of +others, be glad to leave herself in God's hands, willing to suffer and to +sacrifice all sweetness. Likewise, she must be careful not to compromise +God's favour by seeking earthly pleasures and delights, the consolations +of human friendship, and so forth. + +Then there is a second coming of the Divine Spouse, bringing with Him the +gifts of the Holy Ghost, whereby He adorns the three supreme faculties of +the spirit. Pure simplicity empties the memory of all external images and +renders it stable. Spiritual brightness gives the intelligence a sure +discernment of the virtues. And a spiritual fervour arouses the will to a +boundless love for God and men. + +There is yet a third coming, which affects the supreme union of the +spirit with God. It is a species of intimate contact with God in the very +depths of the soul. The intellect cannot comprehend the manner of this +union, it can only witness its effects upon the reason and the will. The +power of loving increases with the intimacy of this union, and the +intimacy increases the power of love; and hence also a kind of loving +strife ensues, each wishing to possess the other and each wishing to give +himself to the other utterly. + +This is the apogee of the interior life, the meeting, the union of the +soul with God. It may be brought about in three different ways: (1) Man, +struck by a light coming forth from God, forsakes all images; he is +plunged into the union of fruitive love; he meets God without any medium, +a spirit like unto Him; it is the state of absolute repose in God, utter +emptiness and leisure. (2) At other times man adores God and consumes +himself in continual love, which ceaselessly feeds on the presence of +God; it is the mediate stage, the state of affective love, needful for +the attainment of the preceding. (3) Finally, it is possible to unite +enjoyment with activity: man enjoys a most profound peace and produces +all the acts of love; he receives God; and His gifts in the superior +faculties, images and sensations in the lower powers; it is the most +perfect state, the state of combined activity and repose. + +Even so, it is not the most sublime state. Above the interior life there +is the superessential contemplative life; above the _faithful friends_ +there are the _Intimate Sons_ of God. This third stage of perfection can +never be acquired by any act of the intelligence or will; and so sublime +is it that he only who has experienced it can attempt its description, +and then in terms the most halting and imperfect. This contemplation +consists in an absolute purity and simplicity of the understanding; it is +a knowledge and possession of God, without modes, without limits, without +medium, without any consciousness of the difference of His qualities. +Nevertheless, it is not God, it is the light by which He is seen. It is +the death and destruction of self to behold only the Being eternal and +absolute. Its essence is union with God, the still contemplation of God, +abandonment to God, so that He alone acts, and not the soul. This repose +of the spirit engenders a supernatural contemplation of the Trinity +without any medium, a feeling of bliss unspeakable, a sublime ignorance; +the last consciousness of the difference between God and the +creature--being and nothingness--disappears. + +This is the honeymoon of Christ with the soul, to which the preceding +stages are only a preparation. The spirit is led from brightness to +brightness; and since no medium comes between it and the divine +splendour, since the brightness by which it sees is the light itself +which it sees, in a certain sense itself becomes this brightness; it +attains a consciousness of its own superessential being, of the unity of +its essence in God. + + + + + XIII + + Some Appreciations + + +Arrived thus at the summit of mystic speculation, Ruysbroeck finds +himself on the confines of pantheism. However, he constantly insists, as +we have already remarked, on the essential difference between the created +spirit and the Spirit Eternal. Man, he says, must become deiform as far +as that is possible for the creature; in the union with God it is not the +difference of personality which is destroyed, it is only the difference +of will and of thought, the desire to be anything apart in oneself which +must disappear. He declares: "There where I assert that we are one in +God, I must be understood in this sense that we are one in love, not in +essence or in nature." His own strenuous opposition to the pantheists of +his day proves his orthodoxy in this matter; yet it must be confessed +again that from the very nature of his sublime discourse, his expressions +are at times exceedingly bold and seemingly unorthodox. The truth is that +the resources of human language prove inadequate to describe even the +foretaste on earth of that "which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor +hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive." + +In B. John's own lifetime Gerard Groote was alarmed, and wrote once to +the Canons of Groenendael of a Doctor in Theology, and of one Henry of +Hesse, who had declared that the _Spiritual Espousals_ contained errors. +Twenty years after Ruysbroeck's death, John Gerson, the famous Chancellor +of Paris, in a letter to one Bartholomew, a Carthusian, who had given him +a copy of this treatise, praises the first two books, but declares that +the third teaches a kind of pantheism. This charge brought forth a +lengthy and spirited defence from a Canon Regular of Groenendael, named +John Scoenhoven; and then in a second letter Gerson maintained his +objections, but acquitted the holy author of all intentional error. A +similar stand was taken later by Bossuet, who excuses Ruysbroeck but +condemns his manner of expression. It must be remembered that these two +were engaged in confuting false mystics, and naturally they would +discredit the writings of even a holy man, however orthodox, which would +appear to favour the erroneous tenets of their opponents. Once more, we +remark that not only was Ruysbroeck manifestly free from all culpable +error, but throughout in his own mind he never lost sight of the +essential distinctions, though at times his language must necessarily +sound exaggerated to unaccustomed ears. + +On the other hand, to outweigh the unfavourable opinion of these two +French critics, we have a host of writers of Ruysbroeck's own and +subsequent days who not only defend the orthodoxy of his writings, but +who also speak of them in terms of the deepest admiration, and regard +their author almost as inspired. + +We have already seen the esteem in which the holy Prior of Groenendael +and his writings were held by Tauler, Gerard Groote, and the Venerable +Thomas à Kempis, and the vigour with which his memory was vindicated by +John of Scoenhoven, But his advocates were by no means confined to the +limits of his own Order, period, or country. + +Henry van Herp, a Franciscan, compiled a _Mirror of Perfection_, taken +almost exclusively from the _Spiritual Espousals_; and by his means the +teachings of Blessed Ruysbroeck were propagated among the followers of +St. Francis, particularly of the Third Order. + +Denys the Carthusian is unstinted in his praises. He calls him the +_Divine Doctor_. "I name him the Divine Doctor," he writes, "because his +only master was the Holy Ghost. Of this the abundance of wisdom wherewith +he was gifted is a sure guarantee.... Ignorant man as I am, I confess +that nowhere have I found such sublimity and such knowledge, save in the +works of Denys the Areopagyte. But in his writings the difficulty arises +especially from the style, whereas it is not so with the Prior of +Groenendael.... As they say of Hugh of St. Victor that he is another St. +Augustin, so I will say of Ruysbroeck that he is another Denys the +Areopagyte." + +Thomas of Jesus, a Carmelite, in his _De Divina Oratione_, frequently +quotes from Ruysbroeck and adopts his method. + +The Carthusian Surius translated all the works of Ruysbroeck into Latin, +and this translation has been the chief source of familiarity with the +Belgian mystic for readers and writers not acquainted with his native +tongue. The following extracts from the _Introduction_ to Surius's +translation seem worth quoting for the sake of some who may imagine that +the works of Blessed John Ruysbroeck can be of profit only to those who +are far advanced in the contemplative life: + +"I do not believe there is a man who can approach these magnificent and +simple pages without great and singular profit. Let none excuse himself +from reading this book on the plea of the inaccessible sublimity of +Ruysbroeck. The great man has accommodated himself to all, and the most +abandoned soul on earth may find again on reading him the path of +salvation. Arrows dart from the pages of Ruysbroeck, aimed by no hand of +man, but by the hand of God; and deeply they embed themselves in the soul +of the reader who is a sinner. Innocent reader, reader of unstained robe, +Ruysbroeck is at once most lowly and most sublime. In his description of +the _Spiritual Espousals_ he surpasses admiration, he surpasses praise; +all the commencement, all the progress, all the height, all the +transcendent perfection of the spiritual life is there." + +It was from Surius that the Benedictine Blosius, or Louis de Blois, +learned to know and appreciate Ruysbroeck. His works are impregnated with +the teachings of the Mystic of Groenendael, and his well-known +_Consolatio Pusillanimum_ (_Comfort for the Fainthearted_) is replete +with extracts taken from Ruysbroeck. + +Lessius, the Jesuit Theological Professor of Louvain University, used to +say that he read Blessed John Ruysbroeck daily; and he would add that if +his holy works had emanated from the Society they would not have remained +in obscurity so long. + +In more recent times Ernest Hello brought our Saint to France by a +translation of extracts, prefaced by an anonymous contemporary life, +which was first published in 1869. In his own _Introduction_, Hello +writes: "Among those who, soaring beyond the realms of human light, have +sought refuge in the shadow of the great altar, the grandest, according +to Denys the Carthusian, are St. Denys the Areopagyte and John Ruysbroeck +the Admirable. St. Denys lays down the general laws of mystic theology, +John Ruysbroeck applies them. St. Denys presents the lamp, John +Ruysbroeck kindles the flame. Both are blind with excess of light, both +immovable with excess of motion. Speech with them is a visit paid to men +from motives of charity. Silence is their native land. The beauty of +their language is the condescendence of their goodness; the sacred +darkness in which they spread their eagle wings is their ocean, their +booty, their glory." + +Reviewing the work of Hello, Louis Veuillot, the French Catholic +publicist, remarked: + +"Ruysbroeck was illiterate. He was a humble Flemish priest of the +fifteenth century. None the less, in the order of genius the uncultured +Ruysbroeck, as a theologian, and consequently as a philosopher and a +poet, is as far above Bossuet as Dante, for instance, is above Boileau. +Face to face with the mysteries that shroud God and man, Bossuet seeks, +argues, and, so to speak, gropes; Ruysbroeck knows, describes, or rather +sings, and contemplates. This illiterate mystic of an obscure age finds +himself at home in the sublime as in his own sphere; he speaks of what is +familiar to him; the wise doctor of the world remains without. Bossuet +does not enter, he does not open, he does not see. Bossuet spins words, +Ruysbroeck pours out streams of light. It seems as if Bossuet were that +mighty wind which was heard in the Upper Chamber; the brief words of +Ruysbroeck are the tongues of fire, living and enlightening flame." + +Truly has Time brought its revenge in such a comparison by a compatriot +of Bossuet with Ruysbroeck. + +Finally, Maeterlinck brought out his translation of the _Spiritual +Espousals_ in 1891 with a characteristic appreciation of the Flemish +mystic. And Maeterlinck's name has given a strong impetus to the +popularity, so to speak, of Blessed Ruysbroeck in modern France. But +neither of these translations can be regarded as authoritative or exact. + +The real, scholarly work towards extending and encouraging the cult of +Blessed John Ruysbroeck, whether among the learned or the devout, is +being performed, as is seemly, in the Catholic University of his native +Belgium, namely, at Louvain, where a Chair has been instituted for the +study of Old Flemish, chiefly for the sake of a correct understanding and +rendering of the writings of the Holy Mystic of Groenendael. + +And here we may note that while it is customary with some to speak of +Ruysbroeck as illiterate, this term must be taken in a strictly limited +sense. Possibly, he could not have composed in fluent and elegant Latin: +he was not a classical scholar; but certainly the Latin of the Bible and +the Fathers was quite familiar to him. His writings, moreover, display an +intimate knowledge of the Scriptures, the Fathers, theology, liturgy, +apologetics. The natural science of the day was not unknown, as witness +his applications from astronomy, and, it must be confessed, from +astrology. With St. Denys the Areopagyte he shows himself very intimate, +and his pages contain whole passages borrowed or adapted from St. Anselm, +St. Ambrose, St. Gregory, and especially St. Augustin. Nearer his own +days St. Bernard and Hugh of St. Victor seem to have influenced him very +considerably. + +Experts in Old Flemish assure us that his style is most chaste, his +language vigorous and clear. He was in truth a poet. When carried away by +the beauty or sublimity of his subject, he indulges in a wealth of +imagery, comparison, metaphor, astounding at times in boldness and +originality. Occasionally even he lapsed into verse; but on the whole his +verse is of less beauty and strength than his prose, as he himself seems +to have been aware. On the other hand, his prose, after the manner of St. +Bernard, St. Bonaventure, the two Victors, and later Thomas à Kempis, +frequently gives evidence of deliberate rhythm and rhyme. In a word, far +from being illiterate in the strict sense of the word, Blessed John was +well acquainted with all the rules and arts of rhetoric; he knew how to +employ them; and for all the sublimity of his discourse he did not +disdain the use of these aids to interest and persuasion. Finally, it is +to be noted that we are expressly informed by contemporaries of +Ruysbroeck that he wrote by preference in the vulgar tongue, the more +readily and effectively to meet and refute the erroneous doctrines +published in the language of the people by the false mystics of his day. + + + + + XIV + + Last Days + + +Of the life of our Saint there remains little to be told save the record +of the last days and the after glory. He had attained the good old age of +eighty-eight, when his mother appeared in a vision to warn him to make +ready for the approaching end. It must seem to us there was little need +for such warning to one whose whole life had been one long preparation +for the coming of the Spouse! He was taken with dysentery, accompanied by +fever, and for his greater comfort, and that his lifelong friend van +Coudenberg might be at hand to console and assist him, they put him to +bed in the Provost's chamber. But the humble Prior besought them to treat +him as any of the lowliest brethren and to bear him to the common +infirmary. This was accordingly done. There he lay for a fortnight, +gradually wasting away with the burning fever, and still more, doubtless, +with his burning desires to be dissolved and to be with Christ, for he +was constantly heard murmuring such ejaculations as that of the Psalmist, +_Sicut desiderat cervus ad fontes aquarum_. He received all the last +rites, and the end came in the greatest peace, while his weeping brethren +prayed around him, on the Octave day of St. Catherine, V.M., December 2, +1381, in the eighty-eighth year of his age, the sixty-fourth of his +priesthood. + +That same night the Dean of Diest, watching by the holy remains, seemed +to behold our Saint, clad in the priestly vestments and all radiant with +glory, ascend the altar steps as if to celebrate the sacred mysteries. +The Dean had always held Ruysbroeck in the deepest veneration and, having +some skill in medicine, he had come over to Groenendael on hearing of the +Prior's illness to see whether he could administer any relief. His +charity was rewarded by the edifying sight of his happy death, and by +this consoling vision after. + +And, as the Venerable à Kempis informs us, "God also revealed to Gerard +[Groote] the death of this most beloved Father, which revelation he made +manifest in the hearing of many of the citizens by the tolling of the +bells; and more privately he made known to certain of his friends that +the soul of the Prior, after but one hour of Purgatory, had passed to the +glory of Heaven." We may note here that à Kempis himself was a child of +three years when Ruysbroeck was called to his reward. Gerard Groote +followed his friend and spiritual father to the grave three years later. + +The Groenendael Canons offered the holy Sacrifice and all the wonted +suffrages for their departed Prior's repose, but they prayed with the +conviction that they needed his impetration rather than he theirs. They +were all eager to possess themselves of any little thing which had been +his. Some cut off locks of his hair, and one managed to secure a tooth! +Appropriately enough, this relic later cured a Mechlin lady of a severe +attack of toothache. However, in all simplicity the Brethren laid Blessed +John to rest in the little chapel which his own hands had helped to +raise. + +Five years later his saintly associate, the Provost Francis van +Coudenberg, rejoined him beyond the grave. The Bishop of Cambrai, John +T'Serclaes, came to assist at the obsequies. During his visit he heard so +much of the heroic virtues of the late Prior that he ordered an +exhumation of Ruysbroeck's body with a view to a more honourable burial +by the side of the Provost in the new church, which had now replaced the +little chapel. They were all filled with awe and wonder to find the +entire body, save only the tip of the nose, incorrupt, and the priestly +vestments intact. Also a most sweet odour exhaled from the holy remains. +To satisfy the devotion of the people, the Bishop commanded that the body +should be exposed to their veneration for three days. On the third day, +amid a vast concourse of the faithful, Ruysbroeck was laid to rest by the +side and in the tomb of his lifelong friend van Coudenberg. Over the +sepulchre was placed the following simple inscription: + + _Hic jacet translatus Devotus Pater + D. Joannes de Ruysbroeck + I. Prior hujus monasterii + Qui obiit anno Domini + MCCCLXXXI + II. Die Decembris_ + +"Here lies transferred the Devout Father, Dom John of Ruysbroeck, First +Prior of this cloister, who departed in the year of the Lord 1381, +December 2." + + + + + XV + + The Cultus of Blessed John Ruysbroeck + + +Numerous pilgrims now wended their way to visit Ruysbroeck's tomb. +Ex-votos were suspended there in acknowledgment of favours received. His +picture also was honoured in various churches. And each year on the +Monday following Trinity Sunday the Chapter of St. Gudule's came over to +Groenendael to assist the Canons at a Mass sung in his honour. In a word, +on all sides the holy Prior was regarded and, as far as possible, treated +as a Saint in glory. + +Yielding to representations and entreaties from many quarters, James +Roonen, Archbishop of Mechlin, ordered another translation of the +remains, November 1622. This was duly performed with all the prescribed +formalities. The skeleton was found entire. The bones were carefully +taken and reverently washed and then placed in a new reliquary. The water +used in this cleansing emitted a delicious odour, and it was afterwards +instrumental in effecting many miraculous cures. The Infanta Isabella of +Spain laid the foundation stone of a chapel to be erected at her expense +near _Ruysbroeck's Tree_ as a suitable shrine for the relics. She also +provided a magnificent sarcophagus. As this chapel was outside the +monastic enclosure, ladies were now able to pay their devotions at +Ruysbroeck's tomb itself, whereas hitherto they had been able to +reverence the relics only from a distance. + +So far, however, no authoritative recognition of the heroic virtues of +John Ruysbroeck had come from Rome. In 1624 the Archbishop commissioned +the learned Albert le Mire to draw up the necessary preliminary documents +to be submitted to the Sacred Congregation. These were approved, and +three commissioners were appointed to Initiate the apostolic process, so +called. Their labours were completed by 1627. Then, on account of the +wars and other troubles which afflicted the Low Countries at the time, +the Cause was suspended. + +When the French overran the Netherlands in 1667, to prevent profanation +of the holy relics, they were carried to a place of greater safety in +Brussels; they were restored again in 1670. In 1783 the Priory itself +shared the fate of so many other Religious Houses, and was suppressed by +the Emperor Joseph II.; whereupon the relics were again transferred to +Brussels and laid to rest in a side-chapel of St. Gudule's. + +Another attempt was then made by the Chapter of St. Gudule's to obtain +from Rome an authorised Office and Mass in honour of John Ruysbroeck. The +petition was favourably received; but once more there was a violent +interruption, this time from the upheaval of the French Revolution. + +St. Gudule's was sacked by the _sans-culottes_ in 1793, and the reliquary +of Ruysbroeck was desecrated. It is said, however, that the relics were +not actually dispersed, and that they were afterwards sealed up again by +a Notary named Neuwens; but unhappily at the present day all trace of +them has disappeared. + +Finally, in 1885, the late Cardinal Goosens, Archbishop of Mechlin, +approached the Sacred Congregation once more, and a tribunal was +appointed to examine into the Cause, February 8, 1900. This was brought +to a happy issue in 1908 by a Decree of the Sacred Congregation, dated +December 1st, and approved by His Holiness, Pius X., December 9, +confirming the cultus "shown from time immemorial to the Venerable +Servant of God, John Ruysbroeck, Canon Regular, called the Blessed." +Later, August 24, 1909, the Congregation granted and approved an Office +and Mass of Blessed John Ruysbroeck for the Mechlin clergy. The privilege +of this Office and Mass has also been extended to the Canons Regular of +the Lateran, who are the lineal representatives of the Canons of +Groenendael and Windesheim, and therefore in a special sense the children +of Blessed John. + +For the moment there may seem to be but little in common between this +Mediæval Mystic and the bustling modern world, so little as to suggest +the thought that Blessed Ruysbroeck can have no message to deliver to our +day. On the contrary, the Solitary of the Forest of Soignes stands for a +profound truth, oblivion of which is rendering Society sick unto death +to-day. John Ruysbroeck preaches to the world its utter need of God. + +For the Catholic he enforces his lesson in a special manner. Unlike false +mystics, who invariably pretend to dispense themselves and their +adherents from the chief normal means of grace, namely the Sacraments, +Ruysbroeck insists upon frequent recourse to the Sacraments, but more +especially to the Blessed Eucharist, as the speediest and most +efficacious means of bringing each soul into true union with God. Our +present Holy Father, desirous and ambitious of "restoring all things in +Christ," has pointed to the same divine remedy for the renewal of our +souls. May there not be seen in this a providential reason wherefore the +solemn beatification of this holy Religious has been delayed six +centuries, to be reserved to our own days? + +The proper prayers of our Saint's Mass beautifully summarise the lessons +of his life as follows: + + + Collect + +God, Who didst vouchsafe to adorn Blessed John, Thy Confessor, with +sublime holiness of life and with heavenly gifts, grant us, through his +merits, and after his example, to despise the fleeting things of the +world, and to desire only the joys of heaven. + + + Secret + +May the intercession of Blessed John, who in offering the Sacrifice +merited to overflow with heavenly delights, make us worthy, we beseech +Thee, Lord, of the bread of angels. + + + Post-Communion + +We beseech Thee, Lord, by the intercession of Blessed John, grant to us +who are refreshed with the heavenly banquet, that, delivered from worldly +desires, we may be ever fervent in Thy love. + + + + + Footnotes + + +[1]By Earle Bailie. London: Thomas Baker. 1905. + +[2]_Cf._ the Polish sect of _Mariavites_, or _Mystic Priests_, under the + misguidance of the woman Mary Frances, whose extravagances were + condemned by Rome, September 1904, and again April 1906. + +[3]Provost is the equivalent in a College of Clergy of the Abbot in a + Monastery; though many Congregations of Canons Regular have borrowed + the title and style of Abbot from the monastic institute. + +[4]Translation by J. P. Arthur. _The Founders of the New Devotion._ Kegan + Paul. 1905. + +[5]Especially: _Outlines of the Life of Thomas à Kempis_. By Sir Francis + Cruise. _C.T.S._ of Ireland. _Thomas à Kempis_. By the same. London: + Kegan Paul. _Life of the Venerable Thomas à Kempis_. By Dom Scully. + London: Washbourne. _Thomas à Kempis and the Brothers of the Common + Life_. By Kettlewell. London: Kegan Paul. _Thomas à Kempis, His Age + and His Book_. By De Montmorency, London: Methuen. + +[6]Father Sharpe, in his recent admirable volume, _Mysticism: Its True + Nature and Value_, writes thus of the mystic teaching, properly so + called, of à Kempis's world-famous masterpiece: "_The Imitation of + Christ_ ... probably owes much of its vast popularity to its constant + recurrence to the elementary duties of religion and morality, and its + insistence on the necessity of their performance as the prerequisite + of the more exalted spiritual states. The 'purgative,' 'illuminative,' + and 'unitive' ways are seen, so to speak, together, and are dealt with + as aspects or constituents of the Christian life as a whole, to the + completeness of which all three are necessary and, in different ways, + of equal importance. The purely mystical passages are comparatively + few and short; and the abundance of practical directions the book + contains has sometimes caused its mystical character to be entirely + overlooked. This disproportion, however, is quite sufficiently to be + accounted for by the character of the work, which is that of a + directory of spiritual life in general, and not a scientific treatise + on any particular department of it. In such a book attempts at + describing the indescribable phenomena of mysticism would obviously + have been out of place, whereas the practical details of the lower and + preliminary states admit of and require minute explanation. But the + tone of the whole book is mystical, and the most commonplace duties + and the most humiliating strivings with temptation are in a manner + illuminated and glorified by the brilliancy of the result to which + they tend. Thus, in point of fact, the higher and lower elements, the + mystical and the non-mystical, the purgative, the illuminative and the + unitive, are blended in actual human experience" (pp. 188, 189). + +[7]The whole subject of mystic theology is excellently well treated by + Rev. A. B. Sharpe, M.A., in a volume entitled _Mysticism: Its True + Nature and Value_, already quoted, just published by Sands & Co. There + is frequent reference to our Saint and his writings. + + + FINIS + + + + + Transcriber's Notes + + +--Silently corrected a few palpable typos. + +--Moved footnotes from page footer to end of text + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Mediaeval Mystic, by Vincent Scully + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A MEDIAEVAL MYSTIC *** + +***** This file should be named 36407-8.txt or 36407-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/4/0/36407/ + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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