{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_36407/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_36407","id":"gutenberg_36407","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36407","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: History - Medieval/Middle Ages","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Ruusbroec, Jan van, 1293-1381"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by Stephen Hutcheson, Dave Morgan and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                           A MEDIAEVAL MYSTIC\n\n\n                      A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE\n                      AND WRITINGS OF BLESSED JOHN\n                      RUYSBROECK, CANON REGULAR OF\n                       GROENENDAEL A.D. 1293-1381\n\n                                   BY\n                       DOM VINCENT SCULLY, C.R.L.\n\n                        (_Permissu Superiorum_)\n\n\n                                 LONDON\n                              THOMAS BAKER\n                                  MCMX\n\n\n                               PRINTED BY\n                     HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD.,\n                         LONDON AND AYLESBURY.\n\n\n                                   TO\n                THE RIGHT REV. AUGUSTIN H. WHITE, C.R.L.\n                         LORD ABBOT OF WALTHAM\n\n\n\n\n                                CONTENTS\n\n\n                                                                     Page\n  INTRODUCTION                                                         ix\n     I. EARLY YEARS AND EDUCATION                                       1\n    II. AS A SECULAR PRIEST IN BRUSSELS                                 6\n   III. FALSE MYSTICS                                                  10\n    IV. THE HERMITAGE OF GROENENDAEL                                   17\n     V. THE CANONS REGULAR OF GROENENDAEL                              25\n    VI. PRIOR OF GROENENDAEL                                           33\n   VII. RUYSBROECK'S TREE                                              43\n  VIII. A DIRECTOR OF SOULS                                            47\n    IX. RUYSBROECK AND GERARD GROOTE                                   50\n     X. RUYSBROECK AND WINDESHEIM                                      58\n    XI. THE WRITINGS OF RUYSBROECK                                     67\n   XII. THE TEACHING OF RUYSBROECK                                     93\n  XIII. SOME APPRECIATIONS                                            105\n   XIV. LAST DAYS                                                     118\n    XV. THE CULTUS OF BLESSED JOHN RUYSBROECK                         124\n\n\n\n\n                              INTRODUCTION\n\n\nThe object of the following unpretentious little volume is to give a\nsimple and readable account in English of the life and writings of a\nremarkable Flemish Mystic of the fourteenth century, a contemporary of\nour own Walter Hilton. Though his memory and honour have never faded in\nhis own native Belgium, and though France and Germany have vied with each\nother in spreading his teaching and singing his praises, the very name of\nBlessed John Ruysbroeck is practically unknown this side of the water. We\nare acquainted with only one small work in English dealing directly with\nthe Saint or his work at all, viz. _Reflections from the Mirror of\nMystic_,[1] giving the briefest sketch of his life and some short\nextracts from his writings as translated from the French rendering of\nErnest Hello.\n\nThe original authorities for the history of Ruysbroeck are practically\nreduced to one, the biography by Henry Pomerius, a Canon Regular of\nGroenendael, entitled _De Origine monasterii Viridisvallis una cum vitis\nB. Joannis Rusbrochii primi prioris hujus monasterii et aliquot\ncoaetaneorum ejus_, re-edited by the Bollandists, Brussels, 1885. It is\ncertain that a disciple of John Ruysbroeck, John of Scoenhoven, also of\nGroenendael, who undertook the defence of Blessed John's writings against\nGerson, composed a short biography, but this was embodied in the work of\nPomerius, and thereby as a separate volume fell out of use and memory.\nPomerius had Scoenhoven's MS. to work upon, and some of Ruysbroeck's\ncontemporaries were still living at Groenendael when he composed his\nbiography there. The brief references by the Venerable Thomas a Kempis in\nhis _Vita Gerardi Magni_ are likewise of great interest and intrinsic\nworth.\n\nFor the purposes of this brief biography, which lays no claim whatever to\noriginal research, the compiler has made very great use of the labours of\nDr. Auger, _De Doctrina et Meritis Joannis van Ruysbroeck_, Louvain, and\nWillem de Vreese, _Jean de Ruysbroeck_, an extract from the _Biographie\nNationale_, published by l'Academie royale des sciences, des lettres et\ndes beaux-arts de Belgique, Brussels, 1909. This indebtedness is\nespecially true of the summarised analysis of the various works of\nRuysbroeck.\n\nLater it may be possible to give a complete and faithful English\nrendering of all Ruysbroeck's Works from the critical edition which is at\npresent preparing in Louvain; where there is an active revival of\ninterest in this great and holy Mystic of the Netherlands.\n\nFor the judgment of competent witnesses as to the permanent value and\nextraordinary sublimity of B. John's writings the reader is referred to\nthe body of this work under the heading, _Some Appreciations_.\n\nThe usual protest is made according to the Decrees of Urban VIII.\nconcerning alleged miracles, etc., recorded in these pages.\n\nSt. Ives, Cornwall,\n\n                 _Feast of Our Lady's Nativity_, 1910.\n\n\n\n\n                           A Mediaeval Mystic\n\n\n\n\n                                   I\n\n                       Early Years and Education\n\n\nBlessed John Ruysbroeck, surnamed the Admirable and the Divine Doctor, by\ncommon consent the greatest Mystic the Low Countries have ever produced,\nwas born, A.D. 1293, at Ruysbroeck, a village some miles south of\nBrussels, lying between that city and Hal. According to the fashion of\nthose days, especially with Religious, he was named after his birthplace,\nJohn van Ruysbroeck, or John Ruysbroeck. The Venerable a Kempis, the\nLatinised form of van Kempen, is a case in point; Thomas was so named\nafter his native town, Kempen, though his patronymic was Haemerken. Of\nRuysbroeck, however, we know of no other surname; neither do his\nbiographers so much as mention his father. But like many another great\nservant of God, John was blessed with a good mother, a devout woman who\ntrained her child from the cradle to walk in the paths of Christian piety\nand perfection. She is charged with only one fault, that she loved her\nson too tenderly!\n\nPerhaps we are to understand by this that the poor woman opposed the\nboy's early aspirations after a more retired life than could be found\neven in the peaceful shelter of his own pious home. This would also\nexplain John's first recorded act. At the age of eleven years he ran away\nfrom home! How many a lad before and since has torn himself away from a\nloving mother's too fond embrace to quell the ardour of a restless spirit\nin the quest of adventure! John also was eager and dissatisfied; but the\nlarger sphere for which he sighed was to be sought along the unaccustomed\nways which lead to the sublime heights and the rarified atmosphere of\nmystic contemplation.\n\nThe pious truant made his way to Brussels, there to call upon an uncle of\nhis, one John Hinckaert, a major Canon of St. Gudule's. The son and heir\nof a wealthy magistrate of the city, and possessed, moreover, of a rich\nbenefice, for many years John Hinckaert had been somewhat worldly in his\nways; but one day Divine grace found him out as he was listening to a\nsermon, and drew him sweetly and strongly to a life of extreme simplicity\nand mortification. His example was soon followed by a fellow Canon, by\nname Francis van Coudenberg, a Master of Arts, possessed of considerable\nmeans, and a man of great repute with the people. These two agreed, for\ntheir mutual edification and support, to live together in common. Their\nmaterial requirements were reduced to the barest necessaries; and the\nsurplus of their revenue was distributed among the poor. In this devout\nhousehold the lad John met with a kindly welcome; and there he found at\nonce a home after his own heart in an atmosphere saturated with\n\"other-worldliness\" and prayer. His good uncle also took charge of his\neducation. For four years Ruysbroeck followed the ordinary course of\nHumanities in the public schools of Brussels, and then, with a view to\nthe priesthood, he devoted himself to the more congenial study of the\nsacred sciences.\n\nMeanwhile the bereaved mother had discovered the place of John's retreat\nand had quitted her village of Ruysbroeck to reside with him at Brussels.\nAs, however, she was not permitted to dwell in the Presbytery, she made\nher abode in a _Beguinage_ hard by. Thus she had at least the consolation\nof seeing her son from time to time. She must have been much comforted\nalso for the deprivation of his company by the constant evidence of his\ngrowing sanctity. And, further, we are assured that she set herself to\nmake profit of her sacrifice by emulating in her own person the holy life\nof her son John, and his saintly masters, Hinckaert and van Coudenberg.\n\n\n\n\n                                   II\n\n                    As a Secular Priest in Brussels\n\n\nIn due course Canon Hinckaert procured for his nephew one of the lesser\nprebends of St. Gudule's, and John was ordained priest in the year 1317,\nat the age of twenty-four. His good mother did not survive to witness\nthis happy event in the flesh, nevertheless even beyond the grave she had\ngood cause to rejoice therein. After her departure from this world she\nhad often appeared to her son, lamenting her pains, beseeching his\nprayers, and sighing for the day when he would be able to offer for her\nthe holy Sacrifice. And John was unceasing in his supplications. But\nimmediately after the celebration of his first Mass, as he related to his\nReligious Brethren later, God granted him a vision full of consolation:\nwhen the sacred oblation was accomplished, his mother came to visit and\nthank him for her deliverance from Purgatory. The touching incident is\nwell worth recording, if only to show that it was through no lack of\nnatural affection that the child John had so unceremoniously forsaken\nhome and mother. Moreover, of these two holy souls it was singularly true\nthat _having loved each other in life, in death they were not parted_,\nfor they were privileged often to converse together, and finally it was\nfrom his mother that Ruysbroeck learned the date of his own approaching\ndeparture.\n\nFor twenty-six years in all Blessed John lived as a secular priest in\nBrussels. Content with his modest chaplaincy in the Church of St. Gudule,\nand with his holy companions Hinckaert and van Coudenberg continuing\nhappily in apostolic simplicity and poverty the Common Life on which he\nhad entered a mere child, Ruysbroeck passed his days in peaceful\nretirement and almost uninterrupted prayer and contemplation.\n\nA characteristic episode of this period reveals to us the man as in a\nflash, his mean garb, his emaciated figure, his absorbed demeanour, his\nutter abandonment in God. He was passing through a square of Brussels one\nday, silent and recollected, as was his wont, when two laymen remarked\nhim.\n\n\"My God,\" exclaimed one, \"would I were as holy as that priest!\"\n\n\"Nay, for my part,\" returned the other, \"I would not be in his shoes for\nall the wealth of the world. I should never know a day's pleasure on\nearth.\"\n\n\"Then you know nothing of the delights which God bestows, or of the\ndelicious savour of the Holy Ghost,\" thought Ruysbroeck to himself, for\nhe happened to overhear the words, and he proceeded tranquilly on his\nway.\n\n\n\n\n                                  III\n\n                             False Mystics\n\n\nBut with all his love of peace and retirement, when it was a question of\nguarding the integrity of the Faith and of warding off peril from\nimmortal souls, Ruysbroeck hesitated not to stand in the breach; even\nthough others of much higher position in the Church and of much higher\nrepute for theological learning than the obscure chaplain of St. Gudule's\nshould raise not a finger nor so much as utter a warning word.\n\nThe student of history is well aware of the many and startling contrasts\nand contradictions presented by the Middle Ages. It was an epoch of\nmagnificent virtues and of gross vices, of splendid heroism and of\nunspeakable cruelty, of superb generosity and of disgusting meanness,\nand, which is more to our point at present, of intense devotion and of\nthe most revolting vagaries in doctrine and morals. While also on the one\nhand there was much genuine zeal, much earnest endeavour to reform crying\nabuses in Church and State; on the other hand hypocrites and fanatics\nabounded, who aimed at the destruction of the principle of authority on\nthe plea of amending those in power, or who, the while they inveighed\nagainst the futility of a merely exterior religion and insisted on the\nsupreme need of purity of heart, themselves fell into the excess of\nneglecting all external form, and at times all outward decency and\nobservance of morality.\n\nIn varying degrees these latter errors are to be encountered under one\nshape or another in every age; but at the period of which we treat they\nwere especially intense and extreme. The _Beghards_ and the _Beguines_\n(when and where these broke loose from ecclesiastical control), the\n_Flagellants_, the _Brethren of the Free Spirit_ were chief of a group of\nextravagant sects which afflicted the Church in Italy, France, Germany,\nand the Netherlands; while England at the same time was disturbed by the\nfanaticism of the Lollards. In general their peculiar tenets were a\nstrange admixture of pantheism, false mysticism, apparent austerity, and\nvery real immorality. The following is one of their characteristic\npropositions, condemned by Clement V. in the Council of Vienna, A.D.\n1311-1312: \"That those who are in the aforesaid grade of perfection and\nin the spirit of liberty (contemplatives) are not subject to human\nauthority and are not obliged to obey any precepts of the Church, because\n(as they say) _where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty_.\"\n\nIt so happened that contemporary with our Saint in Brussels was a\nprominent leader of the heretics of the _Free Spirit_, a woman whose name\nis given as Bloemardinne, a good type, to judge by the description of\nRuysbroeck's biographer, of the whole genus of such teachers in those\ndays and in our own.[2] So great was this creature's reputation for\nsanctity that it was commonly reported that two Seraphim accompanied her\nto the altar when she approached to receive Holy Communion. She always\ndelivered her teachings, whether by word or in writing, seated on a\nthrone of silver. At her demise this chair was presented to the reigning\nDuchess of Brabant. After Bloemardinne's death also cripples came to\ntouch her body in the persuasion that they would be miraculously healed\nthereby. Her teaching was of the kind indicated above, concerned chiefly\nwith the so-called liberty of the spirit; the passion of lust she had the\nimpudence to call seraphic love. She issued numerous pamphlets remarkable\nfor their subtlety; and by one means and another she managed to win and\nretain a very considerable number of disciples.\n\nMoved by zeal and compassion on witnessing the ruin and loss of souls\nthus effected, John Ruysbroeck set himself to confute this heretic's\nvarious publications point by point as they appeared. In consequence, he\nincurred not a little hostility and persecution. Possibly it was this\nopposition which finally decided Ruysbroeck and his holy companions to\nquit Brussels for the more peaceful retirement of the neighbouring forest\nof Soignes. But meanwhile he never for a moment desisted from his efforts\nin defence of the Faith, and in the propagation of the doctrines of sane\nmysticism. Of the treatises published professedly against Bloemardinne\nthere is nothing extant. But in all his works Ruysbroeck keeps an eye on\nthe errors of the day. He returns to them again and again, analysing\ntheir sources, describing their characteristics, indicating the mischief\nthey work, and offering a reasoned and solid confutation. At the same\ntime, with wondrous sureness and perspicacity, from the rich stores of\nhis own intimate experience, he points out the safe and sure paths which\nlead the soul to loving union with God.\n\nSome thirty years after Ruysbroeck's death, in 1410, the Archbishop of\nCambrai called his disciples, the Canons Regular of Groenendael, to come\nand aid him in preaching against the successors of the notorious\nBloemardinne--a fact eloquent both of the obstinacy of this particular\nheresy and of Blessed John's reputation as its most vigorous opponent.\n\n\n\n\n                                   IV\n\n                      The Hermitage of Groenendael\n\n\nIt appears that it was on the suggestion of Francis van Coudenberg that\nthe three holy priests resolved to abandon Brussels to seek elsewhere for\nthemselves a refuge of greater security and retirement. It was through\nthe influence also of van Coudenberg with John III., Duke of Brabant,\nthat they obtained the cession of an ideal property for their purpose,\nthe hermitage, namely, of Groenendael, with its lands and lake.\n\nThe spot had already been sanctified by the prayers and penances of holy\nrecluses for nigh forty years. The first to retire thither had been one\nJohn Busch, of the ducal house of Brabant, who, weary of the strife,\nfrivolities, and perils of court life, obtained from his kinsman, John\nII., leave to retire into the forest of Soignes, to build himself a hut\nand enclose a space of land there to be cultivated with his own hands for\nhis support. The deed of gift was dated the Friday after the Assumption\nof Mary, 1304, and it stipulated that on the death or departure of the\ngrantee, another hermit should take his place, and so on for ever. In\neffect, the noble John Busch was succeeded by one Arnold of Diest, who,\non entering, made a vow never to sally forth save on festivals for the\npurpose of hearing Mass and receiving Holy Communion in the Parish Church\nof St. Clement at Hoolaert. God rewarded this generous sacrifice by a\nsingular favour: Arnold was passionately devoted to the memory of the\nHoly Apostles and Martyrs of Rome, and he was transported in spirit so\nfrequently thither that the shrines and sanctuaries of the Eternal City\nbecame as familiar to him as to a native. When in a green old age he came\nto die, Arnold surprised the bystanders with the request that he should\nbe laid to rest in the hermitage grounds. They objected that the\nenclosure was not consecrated: he responded that one day it would be the\nsite of a monastery, the home of saintly Religious, and the Mother-house\nof a holy congregation. However, he was buried in the Parish Church of\nHoolaert before the altar of St. Nicholas. His successor, Lambert, the\nlast of the Groenendael hermits, was so poor in spirit as not to be\nattached even to his cell. He cheerfully yielded place to John Hinckaert,\nvan Coudenberg, and Ruysbroeck, and retired to a cell which they had\nprocured for him at Hoetendael, the modern Uccle. Groenendael was handed\nover to the three companions by the Duke of Brabant on Easter Wednesday,\n1343, on the condition that they should forthwith erect a house to\naccommodate a community of at least five, two of whom should be priests\n_viventes religiose_.\n\nThe taking of possession is recorded in the Groenendael Chronicle thus:\n\"In 1344 the aforesaid, with the bishop's consent, began to build a\nchapel in Groenendael. And the Vicars of Lord Guy, then Bishop of\nCambrai, inspected the building on March 13, 1344, and decreed that it\nshould be consecrated, together with a cemetery adjacent, two altars, and\nother necessary appurtenances. On the same day of the same year the said\nVicars conferred on Dom Francis the cure of the brethren, the household,\nand the servants, appointing him their Father and Parish Priest. Then the\nsame year, on March 17, the Venerable Lord Brother Matthias, Bishop of\nthe Church of Trebizond (Coadjutor of Cambrai), by faculty and licence of\nthe said Vicars of the Lord Bishop Guy, consecrated the aforesaid first\nchurch in the honour of St. James, and erected it into a Parochial Church\nfor the same Dom Francis, his brethren and household.\"\n\nFor five years Dom Francis van Coudenberg and his companions continued to\nlive thus in community, bound by no other rule than their own profound\nspirit of prayer and intense desire of perfection. Nor were they long\nleft to enjoy alone the solitude of their retreat. Many sought admission\ninto their company; still larger numbers flocked from Brussels and\nelsewhere to seek spiritual aid and consolation. If he had consulted his\nown inclination and bent, Ruysbroeck would have denied himself to all;\nbut van Coudenberg represented that they should not in charity refuse\nassistance to souls in need. And Blessed John yielded the more easily,\nremarks one of his biographers, because for his part he was assured of\nbeing able to repose in God amid the most distracting calls and absorbing\noccupations.\n\nOne of their earliest associates, John van Leeuwen, attained a high\nreputation for sanctity. A poor and ignorant layman of Afflighem, he had\noffered his services as their domestic _gratis_. Before long he was known\nfar and wide as the \"Good Cook of Groenendael.\" The multitude of visitors\nupon whom he was called to attend left him but little leisure, yet he\nfound time not only to be absorbed in prayer and contemplation, but even\nto compose treatises of an exalted spirituality. Like his master\nRuysbroeck, whom he venerated profoundly, he was deeply recollected amid\nthe most exacting duties, and frequently he was favoured with heavenly\nvisions. It was while in a state of ecstasy that the sublime gifts and\nheroic holiness of Blessed John were revealed to him; ever after no terms\nseemed to him too exalted in which to describe the worth of the servant\nof God. The general esteem in which van Leeuwen himself was held is\nsufficiently attested by the inscription on his tomb: \"Reliquiae Fratris\nJoannis de Leeuwis vulgo Boni Coci viri a Deo illuminati et scriptis\nmysticis clari obiit anno MCCCLXXVII. V. Februarii.\" _The Remains of\nBrother John van Leeuwen, commonly called the Good Cook, a man\nenlightened by God and renowned for his mystic writings. He died February\n5, 1377._\n\nMuch more distracting to the recluses than the frequent visits of pilgrim\npenitents or the arrival of fresh neophytes was the constant coming and\ngoing of huntsmen from the household of the Duke of Brabant. The forest\nof Soignes, in which Groenendael is situate, was a favourite resort for\nthe chase, and the position of the hermitage itself, within a few miles\nof the capital, made it a very convenient place of rest and refreshment\nfor the hunters and their hounds. But the noise and bustle attendant on\nsuch company were scarcely conducive to the spirit of prayer, and the\ndemands thus made on the hospitality of the young Community were a heavy\ndrain on its resources. Nevertheless the solitaries were naturally\nfearful of giving offence to the followers of their Patron the Duke.\nMoreover, since they were not established as a regular Religious\nCommunity, they could not claim the privileges of the cloister.\n\n\n\n\n                                   V\n\n                   The Canons Regular of Groenendael\n\n\nThe inconveniences just noted, together with the continual increase in\ntheir numbers, gave point and force to a strong remonstrance addressed to\nFrancis van Coudenberg and his Brethren by Pierre de Saulx, Prior of the\nCanons Regular of St. Victor, Paris, concerning the _irregularity_ of\ntheir unaccustomed manner of life. Herein the good Prior was in effect\nonly voicing the opinion of many zealous and prudent leaders among both\nclergy and laity. The times were so rife in sects and societies of false\nmystics, and so much mischief was wrought under the guise of piety, that\nany form of community life outside the cloister and the three regular\nvows was regarded with strong suspicion and dislike. A few years later\nGerard Groote, a disciple of Ruysbroeck, and Florence Radewyn, the first\nspiritual Director of the Venerable Thomas a Kempis, founded a lay\nassociation of _Devout Brothers and Sisters of the Common Life_, and this\nsociety also was subjected to a fierce opposition arising from the same\nsentiment of distrust for all religious movement outside the beaten\ntrack. Happily, the Brothers were able to weather the storm by producing\nirrefragable proofs of their orthodoxy, and of their entire submission to\nthe ecclesiastical authorities. But also, by the advice and according to\nthe desires of Gerard Groote himself, they placed themselves under the\nprotection and guidance of a Religious Order springing from their own\nbody, namely the Canons Regular of Windesheim, of which congregation the\nVenerable a Kempis was one of the earliest members as well as the\nbrightest ornament.\n\nPrior Pierre de Saulx urged on van Coudenberg and his associates to\nregularise their status, silence suspicion, and escape the many\ninconveniences to which at present they were exposed by embracing the\nRule and adopting the habit of some already established Religious Order.\nWith edifying humility the Community of Groenendael accepted the reproof\nand its accompanying counsel; and applied at once to Peter Andrew, Bishop\nof Cambrai, for the necessary authorisation to adopt the Institute of the\nCanons Regular under the Rule of St. Augustin of Hippo. This permission\nthe Ordinary granted most readily. With his own hands he clothed Francis\nvan Coudenberg, John Ruysbroeck and their companions in the canonical\nhabit, March 10, 1349, and the following day he appointed Dom Francis\nProvost,[3] and John Ruysbroeck he made Prior of the new Canonry. To van\nCoudenberg the other members of the Community, with one exception,\nprofessed canonical obedience, according to St. Augustin's Rule. The\nBishop bestowed upon them many privileges and exemptions; while the Duke\ntook them under his special protection and endowed them with sufficient\nrevenues for the upkeep of a large establishment.\n\nThe one exception noted above was Ruysbroeck's uncle and van Coudenberg's\nold friend and master, John Hinckaert. At this date John Ruysbroeck was\nfifty-six years of age, and Francis van Coudenberg was several years his\nsenior. They must certainly have been men of great zeal and courage to\nundertake the full rigour and discipline of the Canonical Life, as they\nunderstood it, at so advanced an age. Hinckaert, again, was much older\nthan either. And for fear lest out of consideration for his failing\npowers the others should be induced to temper in any degree the austerity\nof their observance, the good old man resolved to forgo for himself the\nhappiness of joining them in the profession of the vows. We can picture\nwhat a source of regret this separation must have been to all three.\nHowever, Hinckaert remained as near his friends as possible until the\nend. A little cell was built just outside the cloister, and there after a\nfew years he peacefully passed away, their predecessor to eternal glory\nas he had been their forerunner in the way of perfection.\n\nThe Canon Regular, Prior Pierre de Saulx, had reason to be well content\nwith the issue of his intervention in the affairs of Groenendael.\nSeventeen years later we find him addressing to the Community another\ncharacteristic rebuke. This time he complained of the formula of their\nprofession, which ran as follows: \"I, N.       , offer and deliver myself\nwith these gifts to the service of this Church of St. James, Apostle. And\nI promise God in the presence of clergy and people that I will abide here\nhenceforth to the end of my days without proprietorship, according to the\nrule of the Canons and Blessed Augustin, to the best of my knowledge and\npower. I also promise stability to this place as long as in any way I can\nobtain what is needful for my soul and body, nor shall I for any motion\nof fickleness or under any pretext of a more strict Order change this\nhabit or quit this cloister. I also promise obedience to all the prelates\nof the aforesaid Church whom the better part of the Community shall\ncanonically elect, in order that I may receive a hundredfold and life\neverlasting.\"\n\nAs a matter of fact, this form of profession was quite adequate.\nImplicitly it contained the vow of chastity, since chastity is an\nintegral part of the Canonical Rule. However, the Prior of St. Victor\nresided in Paris, the metropolis of scholasticism, and he strenuously\nargued and maintained that, whereas chastity is one of the three\nessential vows of Religion, and the formula made no mention thereof, the\nsaid formula was incomplete, erroneous, contrary to the decretals and\ncanonical sanctions. And again he urges the Provost and the Brethren to\nconform themselves in this, as in all else, to some fully authorised\nbranch of the institute of the Canons Regular.\n\nOnce more the good men humbly acquiesced; and it seems that they modelled\ntheir religious family upon the famous Congregation of St. Victor, of\nwhich their zealous counsellor was then the chief Superior.\n\n\n\n\n                                   VI\n\n                          Prior of Groenendael\n\n\nMeanwhile the Community of Groenendael grew and flourished. The holy\nPrior continued to make progress in the practice of heroic virtue, his\ngifts of contemplation became ever more sublime, and still his reputation\nfor sanctity increased. His contemporary biographers, after the fashion\nof their day, catalogue the Christian virtues, and one by one show how\nthey excelled in him. Let it suffice here to remark that those virtues\nwhich he the most earnestly commends and the most highly exalts in his\nwritings, he the most constantly exercised in his own person. Chief of\nthese was humility, which he terms everywhere the foundation of\nperfection; then obedience to men and resignation to the will of God, a\nmost tender devotion towards Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament of the\nAltar, and, in fine, an ardent love of God and the neighbour. A few\ninstances may be given in illustration.\n\nOn one occasion Blessed John was seriously ill; consumed by fever and\ntortured by an intense thirst, he begged the Brother Infirmarian for a\ndrink of water. The Provost, who happened to be present, forbade the\ndraught, fearing it might do him harm. He was literally dying of thirst,\nand his lips were cracking, they were so parched, yet Ruysbroeck humbly\nacquiesced. But later, reflecting how great would be the grief and\nremorse of his friend and superior if he actually died of his agony, he\nquietly remarked: \"Father Provost, if I have not a drink of water now I\nshall certainly not recover from this malady.\" Thereupon, in great alarm,\nDom Francis immediately bade him drink. And from that moment the holy man\nbegan to regain his strength.\n\nAnother and a continual proof of his humility was the willingness with\nwhich he took part in the heavy manual labour of the Community. His\ndignity, his advanced age, his inexperience in such work, the many other\ncalls upon his time and strength--all this and the like the brethren\nurged as motives wherefore he should be exempt; but he refused to listen.\nTruth to tell, the material advantage from his toil was but little: his\nframe was enfeebled by years and austerities, and in his ignorance he was\nliable, for instance, to root up seedlings in the garden instead of\nweeds! But the spiritual gain to the Brethren was incalculable; there was\nnot only the example of his humility, but of his unfailing recollection\ntoo. In the midst of his labour he never lost his sense of the nearness\nof God's presence. Indeed he was wont to say that it was easier for him\nto raise his soul to God than to lift his hand to his forehead.\n\nHis humility also and his zeal for the regular observance prevented him\never seeking dispensation from the customary exercises of the community\nlife, or exemption from any of the monastic austerities, vigils, or\nfasts.\n\nHis love for the neighbour was shown by the readiness and affability with\nwhich he received and welcomed innumerable claimants on his sympathy,\nhelp, and counsel. No soul ever left his presence dissatisfied; every one\nwent back from a visit to Groenendael greatly edified and inwardly\nrefreshed. On one occasion the Brethren were distressed for the moment by\nan apparent exception. Two Parisian clerics had visited the holy old man\nand had demanded some word or motto for their guidance and encouragement.\n\nRuysbroeck merely observed: \"You are as holy as you wish to be.\"\nSuspecting him of sarcasm, the strangers retired deeply mortified, and\nthey complained to the Canons that they were much disappointed in the\nPrior, who evidently was not so saintly a man as rumour had led them to\nbelieve. Learning the cause of their chagrin, some of the Brethren led\nthe clerics back to Blessed John and begged him to explain his meaning.\n\"But is it not simple?\" he cried. \"Is it not quite true? You are as holy\nas you wish. Your good-will is the measure of your sanctity. Look into\nyourselves and see what good-will you have, and you will behold also the\nstandard of your holiness.\" And then the visitors retired appeased and\nedified.\n\nNaturally his own Brethren were the first and chief to benefit by the\nholy Prior's charity and zeal. He denied himself to none; he made himself\nall to all. Sometimes he gave a spiritual conference after Compline, and\nthen perhaps he would be so carried away as he enlarged upon the goodness\nof God and the bliss of heaven, for instance, that neither he nor his\nlisteners would note the passage of time. The midnight Office bell would\nsurprise them still hanging upon his words. But such was the fervour\ninfused by his burning eloquence that not one felt the loss of the three\nor four hours' accustomed sleep.\n\nRuysbroeck always spoke without any immediate preparation; but it was\ncharacteristic of the man that when requested by the Canons or by\nstrangers for a Conference, he would sometimes confess in all simplicity\nthat inspiration was lacking, that he had nothing to say. It was the same\nwith his written treatises: at the close of his life he was able to\ndeclare that he had never committed anything to writing save under the\nimmediate motion of the Holy Spirit.\n\nAs so often happens with the Saints, Blessed John's love for the\nneighbour overflowed in tenderness for his brothers and sisters of the\nlower creation also. Knowing this trait, the Canons would remark to him\non the approach of winter: \"See, Father Prior, it is snowing already.\nWhat will the poor little birds do now?\" And with expressions of\nheartfelt compassion this sublime mystic, who was habitually lost in\ndizziest heights of contemplation, would give instructions that the\nfeathered choristers outside the cloister should not be abandoned to\nperish of hunger.\n\nVery frequently in his works Blessed Ruysbroeck takes occasion to treat\nof the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, and ever he speaks of this sacred\nmystery in terms of the most vivid faith and intense devotion, discussing\nit as a supreme proof of God's love for men, on a par with the gifts of\nCreation, the Incarnation, and Redemption. His biographers tell us of his\npersonal love for the Blessed Eucharist, and especially of his ecstatic\ndevotion in offering the great Sacrifice. To the close of his long life,\neven when his failing sight could no longer distinguish the figure of the\nCrucified stamped upon the Host, nothing but grave sickness could hold\nhim back from daily celebration. Sometimes he swooned from the excess of\nthe sweetness with which his soul was inundated during the canon of the\nMass.\n\nOn one such occasion not only did he faint, but he seemed on the point of\nexpiring, so that the terrified server reported the matter to the\nProvost. Attributing the faintness to advancing age and weakness, the\nSuperior was about to forbid the holy old man to celebrate any more, when\nBlessed John humbly besought him to forbear, assuring him that the swoon\nwas due not to the failing of years but to the overpowering of divine\ngrace, _non propter senium sed divinae gratiae collatum xenium_. \"Even\nto-day,\" he added, \"Jesus Christ appeared to me, and filling my soul with\na deliciousness all divine, He said to my heart, _Thou art Mine and I am\nthine_.\"\n\nSuch heavenly favours seem to have been by no means rare with our Saint.\nHe was frequently ravished with a vision of Our Divine Lord in His sacred\nHumanity. Christ appeared to him, accompanied by His Blessed Mother and a\nnumerous retinue of Saints, and conversed familiarly with him. On one\nsuch occasion, penetrating his whole being with a sense of wondrous\nsweetness, He greeted him with ineffable condescension thus: \"Thou art My\ndear son, in whom I am well pleased.\" Then Jesus Christ embraced him and\npresented him to Our Lady and the attendant Saints with the words:\n\"Behold My chosen servant!\"\n\n\n\n\n                                  VII\n\n                           Ruysbroeck's Tree\n\n\nWhenever Blessed John felt the Spirit of God full upon him, even the\nsolitude of the cloister was not sufficiently retired for the intimacy of\nthe divine union. He would wander away into the depths of the forest\nsurrounding the monastery, there to abandon himself to the action of the\nHoly Ghost undisturbed. On these occasions also he was wont to take with\nhim a stylus and a wax tablet, in order to jot down such thoughts and\nlights as he was moved to preserve in writing. Of these notes a fair copy\nwas made on his return to the Priory. Towards the end of his days, when\nhis sight was failing and otherwise the effort of making these notes was\ntoo much for him, one of the Canons always accompanied him into the\nforest to write down at his dictation whatever he was moved to\ncommunicate. Sometimes days or whole weeks would pass, and for want of\ninspiration not a line nor a word would be added to the treatise in hand.\nBut when again the Spirit breathed, he continued from the very sentence\nor phrase where he had paused, just as if there had been no interval\nbetween.\n\nOne day the Saint had retired as usual into the forest, and the Brethren,\nknowing his occupation, respected his privacy. But when hours passed and\nthere was no sign of his return, they became alarmed and set out to scour\nthe woods in search of him. One of the Canons was especially intimate\nwith the Prior and loved him most tenderly. Perhaps his anxiety urged him\nahead of the rest. In a glade of the forest his eye lighted upon a\nwondrous scene. He perceived a tree as it were in flames. On nearer\napproach he discovered that it was in fact encircled with fire. And under\nthe tree, in the midst of the mysterious conflagration, John Ruysbroeck\nwas seated, manifestly rapt in ecstasy.\n\nThe memory of this miracle was never lost in the Community. For\ngenerations the tree was known and venerated as _Ruysbroeck's Tree_. At\nthe close of the fifteenth century the Prior, James van Dynter, planted a\nlime-tree in the same place, which received the respect shown hitherto to\nthe original, which presumably had died down. When in 1577 the Canons\nwere obliged to abandon Groenendael on account of the vexations of the\nreligious wars, it is said that this tree withered away until only its\nbark was left; but when the Community returned in 1607, it revived and\nflourished again.\n\nThis episode also has fixed the traditional representation of Blessed\nJohn Ruysbroeck. He is usually pictured seated under a tree, a stylus in\nhis hand and a wax tablet resting on his knee, while Saint and tree alike\nare encircled in brilliant rays of celestial light.\n\n\n\n\n                                  VIII\n\n                          A Director of Souls\n\n\nIt is no wonder that as the fame of these and similar marvels spread\nabroad, multitudes of the faithful, young and old, clergy and laity,\nflocked to see and hear the holy Prior of Groenendael. They came to him\nfrom Flanders, Brabant, Holland, Germany, and France. Ruysbroeck received\nall with unvarying simple courtesy, and his unpremeditated words were\never found to meet exactly the needs of each. Many placed themselves\nunreservedly in his hands, and frequently sought his direction by\ncorrespondence, or came long distances to consult him in person.\n\nOne of these penitents was the Baroness van Marke, of Rhode-St.-Agatha,\nwhich lies midway between Groenendael and Louvain. This lady conceived\nsuch a veneration for the holy Prior that when she went to visit him, she\nwalked the journey, pilgrimwise, barefoot. Finally, his exhortations to\nflee and despise the passing vanities of the world prevailed so much with\nher that she entered a Convent of Poor Clares in Cologne, and her son\nIngelbert joined the Community of Groenendael.\n\nWe are told of another disciple, who once fell into a grievous sickness\nand at the same time into a still more grievous affliction of spirit. She\nsent for Blessed John, begging him to visit her. She told him of her\ndistress; behold, she was abandoned by God, on the one hand no health or\nstrength was left her to perform her accustomed works of mercy, and on\nthe other hand physical suffering took away all taste for prayer! What\nwas she to do? \"You can do nothing more pleasing to God, my dear child,\"\nresponded the Saint, \"than simply and utterly to submit to His holy will.\nStrive to forsake your own desires and to give Him thanks for all\nthings.\" Such unction accompanied these simple and characteristic words\nthat the good lady felt deeply consoled, and she repined no more.\n\nAmong the more famous to frequent Groenendael, there to sit and learn at\nthe feet of Ruysbroeck, is mentioned the well-known German mystic Tauler.\nBut authorities are divided at present as to whether or no these visits\nto Groenendael can be fitted in with other ascertained facts of Tauler's\nlife. However, it is certain that Tauler was well acquainted with the\nwritings of our Saint; to a great extent he followed his method, and at\ntimes, in the free-and-easy style of those days, he did not hesitate to\ntransfer bodily from Ruysbroeck's volumes into his own.\n\n\n\n\n                                   IX\n\n                      Ruysbroeck and Gerard Groote\n\n\nA greater than Tauler, and one whose influence was eventually far more\nwidespread, undoubtedly owed much to the recluse of Groenendael and\nfreely acknowledged Blessed John his master. This was the famous Gerard\nGroote, the founder, as already noted, of the _Devout Brothers and\nSisters of the Common Life_, and through them of the Windesheim\nCongregation of Canons Regular. The occasion and circumstances of\nGroote's first visit to Groenendael are narrated by the Venerable Thomas\na Kempis in his _Vita Gerardi Magni_. The passage is so graphic and\ncharacteristic that it is well worth transcribing.[4]\n\n\"The pious and humble Master Gerard, hearing of the great and widespread\nfame of John Ruysbroeck, a monk and Prior of the Monastery of Gruenthal,\nnear Brussels, went to the parts about Brabant, although the journey was\nlong, in order to see in bodily presence this holy and most devout\nFather; for he longed to see face to face, and with his own eyes, one\nwhom he had known hitherto only by common report and by his books; and to\nhear with his own ears that voice utter its words from a living human\nmouth--a voice as gracious as if it were the very mouthpiece of the Holy\nGhost. He took with him therefore that revered man, Master John Cele, the\ndirector of the School of Zwolle, a devout and faithful lover of Jesus\nChrist; for their mind and heart were one in the Lord, and the fellowship\nof each was pleasant to the other, and this resolve was kindled within\nthem that their journey, which was undertaken for the sake of spiritual\nedification, should redound in the case of each to the Glory of God.\n\n\"There went also with them a faithful and devout layman, named Gerard the\nshoemaker, as their guide upon the narrow way, and their inseparable\ncompanion in this happy undertaking.\n\n\"When they came to the place called Gruenthal, they saw no lofty or\nelaborate buildings therein, but rather all the signs of simplicity of\nlife and poverty, such as marked the first footsteps of our Heavenly\nKing, when He, the Lord of Heaven, came upon this earth as a Virgin's\nSon, and in exceeding poverty. As they entered the gate of the monastery,\nthat holy Father, the devout Prior, met them, being a man of great age,\nof kindly serenity, and one to be revered for his honourable character.\nHe it was whom they had come to see, and saluting them with the greatest\nbenignity as they advanced, and being taught by a revelation from God, he\ncalled upon Gerard by his very name and knew him, though he had never\nseen him before. After this salutation he took them with him into the\ninner parts of the cloister, as his most honoured guests, and with a\ncheerful countenance and a heart yet more joyful showed them all due\ncourtesy and kindness, as if he were entertaining Jesus Christ Himself.\n\n\"Gerard abode there for a few days conferring with this man of God about\nthe Holy Scriptures; and from him he heard many heavenly secrets which,\nas he confessed, were past his understanding, so that in amazement he\nsaid with the Queen of Sheba, 'O excellent Father, thy wisdom and thy\nknowledge exceedeth the fame which I heard in mine own land; for by thy\nvirtues thou hast surpassed thy fame.' After this he returned with his\ncompanions to his own city, greatly edified; and being as it were a\npurified creature, he pondered over what he had heard in his mind and\noften dwelt thereon in his heart; also he committed some of Ruysbroeck's\nsayings to writing, that they might not be forgotten.\n\n\"This sojourn on his visit to the Prior was not a time of idleness, nor\nwas the discourse of so holy a father barren; but the instruction of his\nliving voice gave nurture to a fuller love and an increase of fresh zeal,\nas he testifies in a letter which he sent to these same brethren in the\nGruenthal, saying: 'I earnestly desire to be commended to your director\nand Prior, the footstool of whose feet I would fain be both in this life\nand in the life to come; for my heart is welded to him beyond all other\nmen by love and reverence. I do still burn and sigh for your presence, to\nbe renewed and inspired by your spirit and to be a partaker thereof.'\"\n\nOther details of this interesting visit are supplied by the biographers\nof Ruysbroeck. Speaking in the fullness of the intimacy that had sprung\nup between them, Gerard Groote ventured to express surprise that, in\ndealing with the sublime matters which usually formed the subject of his\ndiscourse, the holy Prior should employ words and phrases which laid him\nopen to the charge of those very errors, especially pantheism, against\nwhich his writings were commonly directed. It was then that Ruysbroeck\ndeclared that he had never set down aught in his books save by the\ninspiration of the Holy Ghost and in the presence of the Ever Blessed\nTrinity. This solemn assurance the holy man repeated to his brother\nCanons on his deathbed.\n\nOn another point also, like the trained and exact theologian he was,\nGerard Groote wished to correct his friend. He insisted that the\nboundless confidence which Ruysbroeck expressed in the mercy of God\nseemed to savour somewhat of presumption, and he proceeded to quote the\nmost terrifying passages from Scripture anent the penalties of the\nwicked. Blessed John quietly replied: \"Master Gerard, I assure you that\nyou have quite failed to inspire me with fear. I am ready to bear with\nunruffled soul whatever the Lord shall destine for me in life or in\ndeath. I can conceive of nothing better, nothing safer, nothing more\nsweet. All my desires are restricted to this, that our Lord may ever find\nme prepared to accomplish His holy will.\"\n\nThis first visit was the beginning of most cordial relations between\nRuysbroeck and Gerard Groote. The latter returned several times to\nGroenendael and resided there for months together. He also corresponded\nfrequently with the holy Prior and the Canons and translated some of our\nSaint's works into Latin. He read over his MSS. before publication, and\nbegged him at times to change or modify expressions which might give a\nhandle to the hostile or scandal to the weak. The writings of Ruysbroeck\nwere likewise among those which were the most frequently transcribed and\nmultiplied by the copyists of the _Devout Brothers of the Common Life_. A\nfew years later one of the most diligent and skilled of these scribes was\nthe future author of the _Imitation of Christ_.\n\n\n\n\n                                   X\n\n                       Ruysbroeck and Windesheim\n\n\nIn fact, widespread as was the influence of Blessed John Ruysbroeck on\nhis contemporaries and incalculable as was the fruit of his writings in\nthe many cloisters, through which they were rapidly diffused, the means\nby which Divine Providence chose chiefly to preserve and propagate his\npower was precisely this friendship with Gerard Groote. Gerard\ncontinually strove to imbue his own disciples with the spirit which he\nhad imbibed from the Prior of Groenendael. For himself and for his\nfollowers he took as a rule of life the motto of Ruysbroeck, _to make it\na chief study to meditate upon the life of Jesus Christ_. \"Let the\nfountain-head of thy study and thy mirror of life be first the Gospel of\nChrist, for there is the life of Christ.\" The Scriptures should be read\nrather than the Fathers, and the New Testament more than the Old, _for\nthere is the life of Christ_. And herein again what is profitable for a\ndevout and spiritual life is to be sought rather than the subtleties of\ntheology and the schools.\n\nWhen a friend of Gerard's, Reinalt Minnenvosch, projected the founding of\na monastery, Groote advised him to establish a Priory of Canons Regular\non the model of Groenendael. The Canonry of St. Saviour's at Emstein was\nthe result. At Groote's request, a professed priest came from Groenendael\nto initiate the new Religious into the Canonical Life; and later it was\nat Emstein that the first members of Gerard's own Congregation of\nWindesheim made their noviciate preparatory to Profession.\n\nThis was after Gerard Groote's death, but it was in accord with his\nexpress desire. Wishful to establish a Religious Institute in connection\nwith his _Devout Brothers and Sisters of the Common Life_, who, whether\nlay or cleric, were dwelling together without the binding force of the\nvows, Gerard fixed upon the Order of Canons Regular for this purpose,\nprincipally, so Thomas a Kempis assures us, because of his profound\nveneration for the Prior and Brethren of Groenendael. \"He was moved to\ninstitute this Order of Regulars chiefly by his singular reverence and\nlove for the venerable Dom John Ruysbroeck, the first Prior of\nGroenendael, and of the other most exemplary Brethren living there\nreligiously in the Regular Order.\"\n\nFor further information concerning the _Devout Brothers_ and the\nWindesheim Canons the reader is referred to the various works which have\nbeen published of late years on the Venerable a Kempis.[5] Both Brothers\nand Canons were living examples of the mystic teachings of Ruysbroeck put\nto the test of daily practice. Flight from the pleasures and vanities of\nthe world, unbounded humility, constant meditation on the life and\nespecially the Passion of Jesus Christ, the most complete and absolute\nabandonment to the Divine Will, an intense devotion full of the personal\nlove of God--these were the salient points of Blessed John's example and\ndoctrine, perpetuated and propagated by the works, words, and writings of\nthe Windesheim Canons Regular and their secular associates, the _Brothers\nof the Common Life_. It is scarcely needful to remark also that these are\nthe chief features of the teaching of the _Imitation of Christ_, that\ngolden little treatise, which, embodying the whole spirit of the School\nof Windesheim and Groenendael, has carried and still carries light,\nhealing, and consolation to thousands upon thousands who have never so\nmuch as heard of either Windesheim or John Ruysbroeck.[6]\n\nIt may be mentioned here that in 1409 the Priory of Groenendael was\ninstituted the Mother-house of a congregation of that name. But a few\nyears later this congregation, with its dependent Priories, was\naffiliated to the more numerous Windesheim Canons. Thus the twin\ninstitutes were merged into one, and the Windesheim Congregation became\nthe direct heir of the virtues and teaching of Blessed John Ruysbroeck.\nBut finally Windesheim was aggregated to the Lateran Congregation of\nCanons Regular; and thus it is that to-day the Canons Regular of the\nLateran are privileged, with the clergy of Mechlin, to keep with proper\nOffice and Mass the Feast of Blessed John Ruysbroeck.\n\nConnected thus intimately with Gerard Groote and Tauler, it is not\nsurprising that Ruysbroeck shares with these, as with a Kempis, Suso, and\nothers, the doubtful honour of being proclaimed in certain quarters as a\nprecursor of the sixteenth-century \"Reformation.\" In support of this\nposition it is easy enough to gather together expressions of the most\npoignant sorrow and of the most bitter invective for the lax morality of\nclergy and laity, mendicant friars, and highly placed prelates. But the\nsame argument would convict several Popes of being heralds of Luther! Not\nto labour the point at unnecessary length in a non-controversial work of\nthis kind, let it suffice to mention the touchstone which never fails to\ndistinguish the genuine reformer from the mere sectarian: while boldly\nattacking the vices of those in office, Blessed John Ruysbroeck never\nassails the office itself. He always speaks in the most submissive and\nreverent terms of the authority of the Church and of the dignity of the\npriesthood. His writings without exception treat in the orthodox sense on\nthe subject of grace, the sacraments, etc. We have already remarked his\nardent devotion towards the Blessed Eucharist. To this may be added a\nmost tender love for the Virgin Mother of God. Note, finally, his\nfrequent and fervent exhortations to the perfect observance of the three\nvows of religion, and one can imagine how comfortable he would feel in\nthe company, say, of Luther and his renegade nun!\n\n\n\n\n                                   XI\n\n                       The Writings of Ruysbroeck\n\n\nBlessed John's writings cannot be called voluminous, and yet for a purely\ncontemplative author they are comparatively considerable. The list of his\nworks authenticated up to the present--for earnest students are at work,\nand other MSS. may yet be discovered--comprises the following, giving an\nEnglish equivalent for the Old Flemish or Latin titles: (1) The Kingdom\nof the Lovers of God; (2) The Splendour of the Spiritual Espousals; (3)\nThe Brilliant; (4) Of Four Subtle Temptations; (5) Of the Christian\nFaith; (6) Of the Spiritual Tabernacle; (7) Of the Seven Cloisters; (8)\nThe Mirror of Eternal Life, or, a Treatise on the Blessed Sacrament; (9)\nThe Seven Degrees of Spiritual Love; (10) Of the Supreme Truth; (11) The\nTwelve Beguines. And these others are less certainly proved to be his:\n(12) Of the Twelve Virtues; (13) Seven Letters; (14) A Summary of the\nSpiritual Life; (15) Two Canticles; (16) A Short Prayer.\n\nPending a complete and faithful English rendering of all these works, the\nfollowing descriptive analysis of the principal of them may not prove\nunacceptable.\n\n\n                    The Kingdom of the Lovers of God\n\nThis treatise is a detailed interpretation and a mystic application of\nthe text adapted from Wisdom x. 10: _Justum deduxit Dominus per vias\nrectus et ostendit illi regnum Dei_ in the Breviary Office of a\nConfessor. Upon these words Ruysbroeck bases a division of his work into\nfive books. The first book treats of God, _Dominus_, His power and\nsovereignty. In the second Blessed John explains how Christ conducted,\n_deduxit_, man into the liberty of the children of God, chiefly by\nredemption and by the institution of the seven Sacraments. In the third\nhe treats of the just man, _justum_, and works out eight items which\nrender a man just, both in the active and in the contemplative life. The\nfourth book expounds the right ways, _vias rectas_, which lead to the\nKingdom of God: _the exterior way_, namely, the material universe of\nthree heavens and four elements, the contemplation of which should excite\nman to the praise of the Creator; _the way of natural light_, the\nacquisition of the seven virtues; finally, _the supernatural and divine\nway_, the infusion of the supernatural virtues and the gifts of the Holy\nGhost. In the last book we have a disquisition on the kingdom of God,\n_ostendit illi regnum Dei_, of which we are told there are five aspects\nor divisions: the sensible kingdom, exterior to God, in which the author\nfinds scope for a description of the last judgment and the qualities of\nrisen bodies, the kingdom of nature, the kingdom of the Scriptures, the\nkingdom of grace and of glory, and finally the Divine Kingdom itself,\nwhich is God. This treatise is full of reflections and considerations of\nthe most elevated order, and there is much therein that is by no means\neasy to grasp or understand.\n\n\n                The Splendour of the Spiritual Espousals\n\nFor his text Ruysbroeck takes Matt. xxv. 6, _Ecce, sponsus venit, exite\nobviam ei_. He makes a division into three books, treating respectively\nof the active, the interior, and the contemplative life. Each book is\nfurther subdivided into four parts, corresponding to the four divisions\nof the text in each stage of perfection as follows. Ruysbroeck expounds\nand illustrates (1) the role of the vision, _ecce_; man must turn his\neyes to God; (2) the divers comings of the Bridegroom, _sponsus venit_,\nthe manner, namely, in which God approaches the soul; (3) the going forth\nof the soul on the path of the virtues, _exite_; (4) and finally, the\nembrace of the soul and the heavenly spouse. In no one work does Blessed\nRuysbroeck give a complete account of his mystic teaching; but if his\nsystem were to be examined and explained by any one book, it would\ncertainly be this of the _Spiritual Espousals_. It has always been\nconsidered as his chief work, and in this light also Ruysbroeck himself\nseems to have regarded it. He sent a copy of it himself to his friends in\nGermany, and expressed the desire that it might be multiplied and made\nknown even to the foot of the mountains. In the four last chapters of the\nsecond book the author confutes some current errors of the day,\napparently the teachings of Bloemardinne and almost certainly of Eckart.\n\n\n                             The Brilliant\n\nGerard Naghel tells us the story of the origin of this treatise. One day\nRuysbroeck had been conversing with a certain hermit on matters\nspiritual, when on parting the latter begged the holy Prior to commit the\nmatter of his discourse to writing for the edification of himself and\nothers. To satisfy his desire, says Naghel, Ruysbroeck composed this\nwork, which contains instruction sufficient to lead a man to perfection.\nThe treatise seems a supplement, and in some sense a corrective of the\n_Spiritual Espousals_. After a brief description of the means by which\nthe just man acquires the interior life and rises thence to the\ncontemplative, the holy man shows how the precious stone, or white\ncounter, _calculus candidus_, of Rev. ii. 17, is no other than Christ\nHimself, Who gives Himself without reserve to contemplative souls. God\ncalls all men to intimate union with Himself. But not all men respond to\nHis appeal. Sinners utterly despise the invitation; while the just\nrespond, though these again in varying degrees. Some keep the\ncommandments chiefly from fear of the penalties attached to\ntransgression; they are as _mercenaries_. Others sincerely endeavour to\nconquer nature and unruly desires, they have true faith in God, and God\nis the only motive of their actions; these are the _faithful servants_.\nHowever, these still suffer many impediments from the exterior life which\nthey lead, and a more intimate union is attained by the _intimate\nfriends_, who observe the counsels as well as the precepts. Finally, the\nhighest degree of union and contemplation is attained by the _hidden\nsons_, who are utterly divested of all self-love and self-seeking, and\nwhose life is hidden with Christ in God.\n\n\n                       Of Four Subtle Temptations\n\nIn this tract Ruysbroeck inveighs against the chief errors and abuses of\nhis own times. The first, says Ruysbroeck, is love of ease and comfort,\nindolence, the source of sensuality, and luxury, an abuse very prevalent\nin monasteries and among the clergy. The second is hypocrisy, which,\nunder the cloak of a seeming austerity, claiming even visions and\necstasies, conceals a corrupt interior and depraved morals. The third is\nthe desire to understand everything, to attain to the contemplation of\nthe divine nature by the sheer force of the intellect, without the\nassistance of God's grace. The fourth and the most formidable is the\nso-called _liberty of spirit_, the error and heresy of those who, casting\naside all interior effort, pretend to acquire contemplation by ludicrous\nmortifications, by extravagant bodily posturing, and by a senseless\nquietism. The third error is that of Eckart, and the fourth was proper to\nthe Brothers and Sisters of the Free Spirit. Ruysbroeck concludes his\ntract with a discussion of the ways and means of avoiding these snares,\nviz. by holiness of life, the practice of all the virtues, obedience to\nsuperiors and the authority of the Church, and imitation of Jesus Christ.\n\n\n                         Of the Christian Faith\n\nA dogmatic commentary on the Athanasian Creed. Starting with the\nprinciple that the true Christian Faith is indispensable for the union of\nthe soul with God, Ruysbroeck proceeds to explain the chief tenets of our\nbelief, and to show their bearing on the interior life. His explanations\nare brief, his speculations sublime. The more forcibly to exhort to the\npractice of virtue, he dwells at considerable length on the last\njudgment, on the rewards of the just, and on the penalties decreed to\neach particular class of sinner. His picture here of the happiness of\nheaven and the sufferings of hell is most apt and striking.\n\n\n                      Of the Spiritual Tabernacle\n\nThe most lengthy this of all Ruysbroeck's works. It consists of a mystic\ninterpretation, a long-drawn-out allegory, in which the Tabernacle of the\nOld Testament is considered as a type of the course of love. The outer\nand the inner courts, the altar of sacrifice, the hangings, the pillars\nand their sockets, the rings, the names of the workmen, the seven-branch\ncandlestick, the brazen laver, the priestly ornaments, the ephod and the\ntwelve stones, the holy oils and the incense, the table of the loaves of\nproposition, the different sacrifices with the distinction between the\nclean and the unclean animals, the holy of holies, the ark and its\nappurtenances,--all are applied with a wealth of detail, which, however,\nnever lacks dignity, and with a wondrous skill to Ruysbroeck's usual\nthree divisions of the exterior moral life, the interior, and the purely\ncontemplative. The Tabernacle was a subject which naturally lent itself\nto allegory and to mystic interpretation, and Hugh of St. Victor had\nalready preceded our author, as doubtless also he inspired him with his\n_De Arca mystica_. Though sometimes the thread is lost in the\nmultiplicity of details, this treatise is most attractive and contains\nsome of the best pages of Blessed Ruysbroeck.\n\n\n                         Of the Seven Cloisters\n\nThis was composed for a penitent of our Saint, Margaret von Meerbeke, a\nPoor Clare of Brussels, and it gives a rule of life for Religious. The\nholy Prior traces out an order of the day, insisting especially on the\nneed of cultivating the interior life; he mentions the virtues which his\npenitent should exercise, and inveighs against the abuses which have\ncrept into convents, pointing out the danger of communication with the\nouter world. In all things Margaret should imitate the example of her\nfoundress, St. Clare, who gained her glorious place in Heaven by shutting\nherself up within the seven cloisters. After dwelling on these, viz., by\nexpounding seven means of retreating from the world and living close to\nGod, the author turns again to practical details and condemns the\nsoftness and luxury of certain Religious in their dress. Each day, he\nsays, should close with a peep into three books: the book of our own\nconscience, which shows the imperfections which must be purified; the\nbook of the Life and Passion of our Lord, which we should imitate; and\nfinally the book of eternal life, to which we ought to tend with all our\nstrength.\n\n\n                       The Mirror of Eternal Life\n\nThis also was addressed to a nun, probably the same Poor Clare. It\nexplains again the three degrees of the mystic life, but with special\nreference now to the cloister and the Blessed Eucharist. Some are in the\npurgative way: if they persevere in virtue and progress in perfection,\nthey shall partake of the table, Ps. xxiii. 5, which is no other than the\nbanquet of the Holy Eucharist. Ruysbroeck dwells on the virtues necessary\nfor the worthy reception of the Sacrament, and narrates the manner of its\ninstitution by our Divine Lord at the Last Supper, showing what were the\nmatter and form used by Christ. He discourses on the evidence of God's\nlove to be found in this mystery of the altar; and then refutes\nobjections as to the manner of the Divine Presence, expressly teaching\nTransubstantiation. Those who approach the altar rails are divided by him\ninto seven classes, and here the author shows a wondrous and intimate\nknowledge of the working of the human heart. The treatise closes with a\ndescription of the contemplative life.\n\n\n                  The Seven Degrees of Spiritual Love\n\nIn a simile familiar to spiritual writers of all ages, Ruysbroeck\ncompares life to a ladder, or stairway of seven steps, leading up to\nperfection and union with God. These stages are respectively: (1)\nConformity with the holy will of God; (2) Voluntary poverty; (3) Purity\nof soul and chastity of body; (4) Humility, with her four daughters,\nobedience, gentleness, patience, and the forsaking of self-will; (5) The\ndesire of the divine glory, involving three spiritual exercises, namely,\nacts of love and adoration, acts of supplication, and acts of\nthanksgiving; (6) The contemplative and perfect life, by which man\nfinally attains the last stage of, (7) sublime ignorance. (Compare Walter\nHilton's \"darksome lightness\" in his _Scale of Perfection_.)\n\n\n                          Of the Supreme Truth\n\nThis treatise was issued by way of explanation of some difficult passages\nin his first work, concerning especially the gift of counsel, and indeed\nas a kind of defence and apology of his whole mystic teaching. He\nprotests that he has never admitted that the creature can be raised to a\nstate of identity with God, and once more he explains his conception of\nthe union of the soul with her Divine Spouse. There is a union common to\nall the just, brought about by the grace of God, with the forsaking of\nvice, the practice of virtue, and submission to the authority of the\nChurch. Then there is a more intimate union, like unto that of fire and\niron, which, when united, seem but one matter, though in fact they remain\ntwo distinct substances. Those who attain this love God and live in His\npresence, but as yet arrive not at a complete knowledge of His essence.\nAfter this again there is even a yet closer union, whereby the Eternal\nFather and man become one, not indeed with oneness of substantial unity,\nbut in a oneness of love and bliss. It is evident that language here\nfails the holy author to express the sublimity of his concept and his\nexperience; in his endeavour to show the intimacy of this last method of\nunion he is driven to use expressions which, taken as they stand, have\nthat pantheistic ring which it is his first object here to disclaim.\n\n\n                          The Twelve Beguines\n\nAfter the _Tabernacle_, this is the most lengthy of our Saint's works,\nand it is of great importance as throwing considerable light on\nRuysbroeck's ideas and system. We are introduced to twelve Beguines\ndiscoursing together on the love of Jesus Christ, whence an easy transit\nto the real subject-matter of the tract, the contemplative life. To\nattain the state of contemplation, four conditions are required: a ray of\ndivine light, producing illumination, whence, on the part of the soul, a\nlooking at God, or speculation, passing into contemplation, and this\nstage again merging into a state of sublime, ecstatic love. There are\nfour distinct acts or states of love, corresponding respectively to each\nof these stages. Ruysbroeck also shows here the action of the Holy Ghost\nin forming the soul to a more intimate knowledge of God.\n\nThe second part of the book then opens with a fresh order of ideas.\nRuysbroeck divides mankind into good Christians and wicked men. Holiness\nconsists of the union of the active and the contemplative life. There\nare, however, some who practise neither one nor the other and yet give\nthemselves out as the most holy of all. Among these Ruysbroeck proceeds\nto distinguish four kinds of errors or heresies: (1) Errors against the\nHoly Ghost and His Grace; (2) Errors against God the Father and His\npower; (3) Errors against God the Son and His Sacred Humanity; and\nfinally errors against God and all that makes up Christendom, namely, the\nScriptures, the Church, and the Sacraments. On the other hand, the good\nChristian is one who loves God with all his heart and mind and soul and\nstrength.\n\nBlessed John then goes on to discourse of the Divine Nature in Unity and\nTrinity. He also discusses man in his material and in his spiritual\nnature. The spiritual part of man alone he says, can elevate him to the\nmystic life (of which once more the three ways are expounded), and alone\nalso can show him the reasons wherefore God created the universe. The\nthree ways of the mystic life are symbolised by the three heavens. The\nstars and the planets exercise an influence on terrestrial creatures,\nthat is to say, upon our bodies, for God alone can touch the soul,\nleading it to good and restraining it from evil. Thence also Ruysbroeck\ndescribes the various temperaments of men by reference to the planets and\ntheir conjunction with the signs of the zodiac.\n\nA chapter on our Divine Lord, held up as the Model Religious, serves as a\ntransition to the third part, which is a treatise, largely symbolical, on\nthe Passion of Christ, divided and subdivided according to the sequence\nof the Canonical Hours.\n\nThis is perhaps the most discursive of Ruysbroeck's works, and in that\nsense the most difficult to follow, because of the number and length of\nthe digressions. For instance, when he comes to speak of the planet\nVenus, he mentions the sign of the Balance, and this suggests a whole\ntreatise of thirty-nine chapters on the _Balance of Divine Love_. The\nlove of God for us, and all the blessings, spiritual and temporal, which\nflow from it, are cast into one pan of the balance, and we must weigh\ndown the other pan with our virtues; and there follows a long\ndisquisition on the virtues we should practise, prominent among which, as\nusual, he ranks humility. Here, further, he finds occasion to work out\nhis distinction between the spirit and the reasonable soul; and the whole\ndigression closes with a sad and striking comparison between the fervour\nof primitive Christianity and the laxity of his own days.\n\nBossuet very severely criticised this work, holding it up as an example\nof forced allegories, and so forth, and speaking of Ruysbroeck as\ninvolved in the vain speculations of astrologers. This opinion, though\nnot surprising, is not just, for the author is careful to insist that the\nplanets have not influence on the will of man as such. But it is natural\nthat Bossuet should regard such works with suspicion and dislike, for he\nhad considerable trouble with false mystics, the quietists of his own\nday; and even Ruysbroeck's own friends and contemporaries found much in\nthe volume that was strange, even to startling, and Gerard Groote advised\nhim not to publish it in its entirety.\n\n\n                         Of the Twelve Virtues\n\nThe reader will not be surprised to learn that Blessed John contrives\nhere to speak of considerably more virtues than just twelve. The\nprincipal and first is said to be humility, and this again twofold--one\nhumility inspired by the contemplation of the power of God, the other by\nthe consideration of His goodness. The daughter of humility is obedience,\nand obedience naturally involves denial of self-will, poverty of spirit,\nand patience in adversities. He then proceeds to treat very beautifully\nand at length of interior detachment, remarking that to secure this it is\nnot necessary to flee external occupations, but that the attainment of\nperfection consists in a perfect abandonment to the will of God and the\nforsaking of our own will. When we have arrived thus far, we shall no\nlonger sin. For past sins there must be continued sorrow, but external\npenances are not equally for all. And those who cannot endure great\nbodily austerities must apply themselves to imitate the austere life of\nChrist by interior self-denial.\n\n\n                       The Letters of Ruysbroeck\n\nThese are spiritual letters, of course, conferences in epistolary form.\n\nThe first is addressed to Margaret van Meerbeke, the Poor Clare of\nBrussels mentioned above. Ruysbroeck writes: \"When I was at your convent\nlast summer, you appeared sad; methought God or some special friend had\nforsaken you; therefore am I writing you as follows.\" And he proceeds to\nconsole his spiritual daughter, and to warn her against the dangers which\nmay be found even in the cloister. He declaims against the abuses which\nsometimes creep into monasteries, and almost always through _self-will_,\nwhereas every Religious should strive to have all things _in common_, to\nbe submissive to superiors and affable to all. The holy author closes\nwith a description of the terrible punishments to be meted out to those\nReligious who fail to keep their rule and lead a holy life.\n\nThe second, addressed to Matilda, the widow of John of Culemberg, is of\nmore importance. After treating of the Apostles' Creed, the seven gifts\nof the Holy Ghost, the Decalogue, the vows of religion and the precepts\nof the Church, the Incarnation and death of Christ, Ruysbroeck expounds\nthe Catholic doctrine on the seven Sacraments, and especially the Blessed\nEucharist. He describes the fruits which flow from a worthy Communion,\nand treats again of the three ways of the contemplative life, and\ndescribes the elements of superessential contemplation.\n\nThe third was sent to three Recluses of Cologne. Blessed John exhorts\nthem to persevere in their holy manner of life. He treats of the\nspiritual life, comparing Christ to the precious pearl, the hidden\ntreasure. And finally he earnestly exhorts them to constant meditation on\nthe Passion of Our Lord.\n\nThe fourth was addressed to Catherine of Louvain, a devout young lady\nliving in the world; and the other three were likewise sent to persons in\nthe world. All are full of wise spiritual maxims, and all insist on the\nneed of humility and the abnegation of self-will.\n\n\n\n\n                                  XII\n\n                     The Teaching of Ruysbroeck[7]\n\n\nIn no one work, as already remarked, does Blessed John Ruysbroeck give a\ncomplete outline of his doctrines; the elements rather are to be found\ndispersed among the various treatises.\n\nIn common with most of the German mystics, Ruysbroeck starts from God and\ncomes down to man, and thence rises again to God, showing how the two are\nso closely united as to become one. In His essence God is simple unity,\nthe one supremely pure and supernatural being, devoid of all mode, in\nHimself still and immovable, and yet at the same time the first cause and\nactive principle of all things. This principle is the divine _nature_,\nwhich does not in reality differ from the essence, and which is fruitful\nin the Trinity. The Father is the essential principle, and yet He is\nconsubstantial with the other two Persons. The Son, the uncreated Image\nof the Father, is the Eternal Wisdom. The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the\nother two, and returning unto them, is the eternal Love, which unites\nFather and Son. As regards Persons, God is eternally active: as regards\nessence, He abides in unbroken repose. Creatures have been existing as\nideas in God from all eternity.\n\nIn man, whose body is merely a perishable instrument, there is a\nspiritual, immortal principle, like unto God, though less than He. In\nthis principle Ruysbroeck distinguishes, with a distinction of the\nreason, soul and spirit; the former is the principle of the merely human\nlife, uniting together the lower powers; the other is the principle of\nman's supernatural life in God, gathering together his higher faculties.\nThe soul has four inferior powers: the _irascible_, and the\n_concupiscible_, which two become bestial when not under the ruling of a\nvirtuous will; _reason_, by which man is distinguished from the brute,\nand _freedom of choice_, an exercise of the higher faculty of the will.\nThe spirit has the three superior faculties, memory, understanding, and\nwill. In every man likewise there is a triple unity, or oneness: the\nunity of the lower faculties in the soul, the unity of the higher in the\nspirit, and the unity of the whole being in God, on Whom all things\nessentially depend for their being.\n\nBlessed John delivers the accepted teaching of the Church on the Fall,\nthe Incarnation and Redemption, on the need and on the means of divine\ngrace, the institution of the Sacraments, the establishment of the\nChurch, the gifts of the Holy Ghost, etc.\n\nBut coming now to his more purely mystical doctrine, we find that\nRuysbroeck distinguishes three degrees, or states--the active life, the\ninterior life, and the contemplative life. The active life consists of\nthe effort to conquer sin and to draw nigh to God by exterior works. Here\nin Christ is the Divine Exemplar, for in His life He practised the three\nfundamental virtues of humility, charity, and patience. Humility is the\nfoundation of the whole building, and it is exercised chiefly in\nobedience, which engenders the abdication of our own will, and patience,\nor submission in all things to the holy will of God. When a man has\narrived so far, he can exercise charity, shown at this stage chiefly by\ncompassion for Christ suffering on the Cross for all men, and bringing\nwith her the four cardinal virtues of prudence, temperance, fortitude,\nand justice, whereby also the Christian is enabled to fight and conquer\nhis three deadly enemies, the devil, the world, and the flesh.\nPerseverance in this active life is crowned by union with God, a union\nwherein God alone is regarded as the exemplar and the final end, wherein\nHe alone is sought and loved. Thus does a man become a _Faithful\nServant_.\n\nAs yet, however, there is only an imperfect knowledge of God, and to\nbecome more closely united with God, as an _Intimate Friend_, one must\nstrive to attain the second stage of the mystic way, namely the _interior\nlife_. For this three preliminary conditions are requisite. On the part\nof God, there must be a yet stronger movement of divine grace, and on the\npart of man, an absolute recollection, with freedom from sensible images,\nattachments, and cares, and then the gathering together of all the powers\nin the unity of the Spirit. Christ, then, the Eternal Sun, enkindles in\nthe soul thus duly prepared a divine fire, which engenders a warm,\nsensible love, a devotion full of ardent desires, with thankfulness for\nthe divine mercies and affliction at one's own unworthiness. Then, as the\naction of the sun draws up the moisture in the form of vapour, to fall\nback again in refreshing and fertilising showers of rain, so if the soul\npersevere Christ sends down a fresh shower of consolations, which fill\nthe whole being with a chaste pleasure and an indescribable sweetness\nsuperior to all the delights of the earth, rising even to a species of\nspiritual intoxication, which may manifest itself in outward acts. As yet\nthere are no severe trials for the soul, but she must beware of pride and\npresumption, and of leaning too much on these sensible delights instead\nof on the Divine Giver. Meanwhile the Sun of Justice is reaching its\napogee in the heavens, and Christ draws up all the powers of the soul, so\nthat the heart is enlarged and fit to burst with love, and at the same\ntime it begins to suffer from the wound of love, because of the urgency\nof the power drawing upward and its own impotency to follow; whence also\na spiritual languishing, a very madness and impatience, or fever of love,\ncapable even of wasting the bodily strength. Love is liable to be so\nintense at this stage, that visions and ecstacies are granted; but at the\nsame time care must be taken against the delusions of the evil one.\n\nBut thence the Sun enters on the sign of the Virgin and its downward\npath, that is, Christ hides Himself and deprives the soul of the warmth\nof sensible love and the like. It is the autumn, the time of gathering\nthe really ripe and lasting fruits; but to the soul a time of seeming\nabandonment, aridity, darkness, etc. She must then beg the prayers of\nothers, be glad to leave herself in God's hands, willing to suffer and to\nsacrifice all sweetness. Likewise, she must be careful not to compromise\nGod's favour by seeking earthly pleasures and delights, the consolations\nof human friendship, and so forth.\n\nThen there is a second coming of the Divine Spouse, bringing with Him the\ngifts of the Holy Ghost, whereby He adorns the three supreme faculties of\nthe spirit. Pure simplicity empties the memory of all external images and\nrenders it stable. Spiritual brightness gives the intelligence a sure\ndiscernment of the virtues. And a spiritual fervour arouses the will to a\nboundless love for God and men.\n\nThere is yet a third coming, which affects the supreme union of the\nspirit with God. It is a species of intimate contact with God in the very\ndepths of the soul. The intellect cannot comprehend the manner of this\nunion, it can only witness its effects upon the reason and the will. The\npower of loving increases with the intimacy of this union, and the\nintimacy increases the power of love; and hence also a kind of loving\nstrife ensues, each wishing to possess the other and each wishing to give\nhimself to the other utterly.\n\nThis is the apogee of the interior life, the meeting, the union of the\nsoul with God. It may be brought about in three different ways: (1) Man,\nstruck by a light coming forth from God, forsakes all images; he is\nplunged into the union of fruitive love; he meets God without any medium,\na spirit like unto Him; it is the state of absolute repose in God, utter\nemptiness and leisure. (2) At other times man adores God and consumes\nhimself in continual love, which ceaselessly feeds on the presence of\nGod; it is the mediate stage, the state of affective love, needful for\nthe attainment of the preceding. (3) Finally, it is possible to unite\nenjoyment with activity: man enjoys a most profound peace and produces\nall the acts of love; he receives God; and His gifts in the superior\nfaculties, images and sensations in the lower powers; it is the most\nperfect state, the state of combined activity and repose.\n\nEven so, it is not the most sublime state. Above the interior life there\nis the superessential contemplative life; above the _faithful friends_\nthere are the _Intimate Sons_ of God. This third stage of perfection can\nnever be acquired by any act of the intelligence or will; and so sublime\nis it that he only who has experienced it can attempt its description,\nand then in terms the most halting and imperfect. This contemplation\nconsists in an absolute purity and simplicity of the understanding; it is\na knowledge and possession of God, without modes, without limits, without\nmedium, without any consciousness of the difference of His qualities.\nNevertheless, it is not God, it is the light by which He is seen. It is\nthe death and destruction of self to behold only the Being eternal and\nabsolute. Its essence is union with God, the still contemplation of God,\nabandonment to God, so that He alone acts, and not the soul. This repose\nof the spirit engenders a supernatural contemplation of the Trinity\nwithout any medium, a feeling of bliss unspeakable, a sublime ignorance;\nthe last consciousness of the difference between God and the\ncreature--being and nothingness--disappears.\n\nThis is the honeymoon of Christ with the soul, to which the preceding\nstages are only a preparation. The spirit is led from brightness to\nbrightness; and since no medium comes between it and the divine\nsplendour, since the brightness by which it sees is the light itself\nwhich it sees, in a certain sense itself becomes this brightness; it\nattains a consciousness of its own superessential being, of the unity of\nits essence in God.\n\n\n\n\n                                  XIII\n\n                           Some Appreciations\n\n\nArrived thus at the summit of mystic speculation, Ruysbroeck finds\nhimself on the confines of pantheism. However, he constantly insists, as\nwe have already remarked, on the essential difference between the created\nspirit and the Spirit Eternal. Man, he says, must become deiform as far\nas that is possible for the creature; in the union with God it is not the\ndifference of personality which is destroyed, it is only the difference\nof will and of thought, the desire to be anything apart in oneself which\nmust disappear. He declares: \"There where I assert that we are one in\nGod, I must be understood in this sense that we are one in love, not in\nessence or in nature.\" His own strenuous opposition to the pantheists of\nhis day proves his orthodoxy in this matter; yet it must be confessed\nagain that from the very nature of his sublime discourse, his expressions\nare at times exceedingly bold and seemingly unorthodox. The truth is that\nthe resources of human language prove inadequate to describe even the\nforetaste on earth of that \"which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor\nhath it entered into the heart of man to conceive.\"\n\nIn B. John's own lifetime Gerard Groote was alarmed, and wrote once to\nthe Canons of Groenendael of a Doctor in Theology, and of one Henry of\nHesse, who had declared that the _Spiritual Espousals_ contained errors.\nTwenty years after Ruysbroeck's death, John Gerson, the famous Chancellor\nof Paris, in a letter to one Bartholomew, a Carthusian, who had given him\na copy of this treatise, praises the first two books, but declares that\nthe third teaches a kind of pantheism. This charge brought forth a\nlengthy and spirited defence from a Canon Regular of Groenendael, named\nJohn Scoenhoven; and then in a second letter Gerson maintained his\nobjections, but acquitted the holy author of all intentional error. A\nsimilar stand was taken later by Bossuet, who excuses Ruysbroeck but\ncondemns his manner of expression. It must be remembered that these two\nwere engaged in confuting false mystics, and naturally they would\ndiscredit the writings of even a holy man, however orthodox, which would\nappear to favour the erroneous tenets of their opponents. Once more, we\nremark that not only was Ruysbroeck manifestly free from all culpable\nerror, but throughout in his own mind he never lost sight of the\nessential distinctions, though at times his language must necessarily\nsound exaggerated to unaccustomed ears.\n\nOn the other hand, to outweigh the unfavourable opinion of these two\nFrench critics, we have a host of writers of Ruysbroeck's own and\nsubsequent days who not only defend the orthodoxy of his writings, but\nwho also speak of them in terms of the deepest admiration, and regard\ntheir author almost as inspired.\n\nWe have already seen the esteem in which the holy Prior of Groenendael\nand his writings were held by Tauler, Gerard Groote, and the Venerable\nThomas a Kempis, and the vigour with which his memory was vindicated by\nJohn of Scoenhoven, But his advocates were by no means confined to the\nlimits of his own Order, period, or country.\n\nHenry van Herp, a Franciscan, compiled a _Mirror of Perfection_, taken\nalmost exclusively from the _Spiritual Espousals_; and by his means the\nteachings of Blessed Ruysbroeck were propagated among the followers of\nSt. Francis, particularly of the Third Order.\n\nDenys the Carthusian is unstinted in his praises. He calls him the\n_Divine Doctor_. \"I name him the Divine Doctor,\" he writes, \"because his\nonly master was the Holy Ghost. Of this the abundance of wisdom wherewith\nhe was gifted is a sure guarantee.... Ignorant man as I am, I confess\nthat nowhere have I found such sublimity and such knowledge, save in the\nworks of Denys the Areopagyte. But in his writings the difficulty arises\nespecially from the style, whereas it is not so with the Prior of\nGroenendael.... As they say of Hugh of St. Victor that he is another St.\nAugustin, so I will say of Ruysbroeck that he is another Denys the\nAreopagyte.\"\n\nThomas of Jesus, a Carmelite, in his _De Divina Oratione_, frequently\nquotes from Ruysbroeck and adopts his method.\n\nThe Carthusian Surius translated all the works of Ruysbroeck into Latin,\nand this translation has been the chief source of familiarity with the\nBelgian mystic for readers and writers not acquainted with his native\ntongue. The following extracts from the _Introduction_ to Surius's\ntranslation seem worth quoting for the sake of some who may imagine that\nthe works of Blessed John Ruysbroeck can be of profit only to those who\nare far advanced in the contemplative life:\n\n\"I do not believe there is a man who can approach these magnificent and\nsimple pages without great and singular profit. Let none excuse himself\nfrom reading this book on the plea of the inaccessible sublimity of\nRuysbroeck. The great man has accommodated himself to all, and the most\nabandoned soul on earth may find again on reading him the path of\nsalvation. Arrows dart from the pages of Ruysbroeck, aimed by no hand of\nman, but by the hand of God; and deeply they embed themselves in the soul\nof the reader who is a sinner. Innocent reader, reader of unstained robe,\nRuysbroeck is at once most lowly and most sublime. In his description of\nthe _Spiritual Espousals_ he surpasses admiration, he surpasses praise;\nall the commencement, all the progress, all the height, all the\ntranscendent perfection of the spiritual life is there.\"\n\nIt was from Surius that the Benedictine Blosius, or Louis de Blois,\nlearned to know and appreciate Ruysbroeck. His works are impregnated with\nthe teachings of the Mystic of Groenendael, and his well-known\n_Consolatio Pusillanimum_ (_Comfort for the Fainthearted_) is replete\nwith extracts taken from Ruysbroeck.\n\nLessius, the Jesuit Theological Professor of Louvain University, used to\nsay that he read Blessed John Ruysbroeck daily; and he would add that if\nhis holy works had emanated from the Society they would not have remained\nin obscurity so long.\n\nIn more recent times Ernest Hello brought our Saint to France by a\ntranslation of extracts, prefaced by an anonymous contemporary life,\nwhich was first published in 1869. In his own _Introduction_, Hello\nwrites: \"Among those who, soaring beyond the realms of human light, have\nsought refuge in the shadow of the great altar, the grandest, according\nto Denys the Carthusian, are St. Denys the Areopagyte and John Ruysbroeck\nthe Admirable. St. Denys lays down the general laws of mystic theology,\nJohn Ruysbroeck applies them. St. Denys presents the lamp, John\nRuysbroeck kindles the flame. Both are blind with excess of light, both\nimmovable with excess of motion. Speech with them is a visit paid to men\nfrom motives of charity. Silence is their native land. The beauty of\ntheir language is the condescendence of their goodness; the sacred\ndarkness in which they spread their eagle wings is their ocean, their\nbooty, their glory.\"\n\nReviewing the work of Hello, Louis Veuillot, the French Catholic\npublicist, remarked:\n\n\"Ruysbroeck was illiterate. He was a humble Flemish priest of the\nfifteenth century. None the less, in the order of genius the uncultured\nRuysbroeck, as a theologian, and consequently as a philosopher and a\npoet, is as far above Bossuet as Dante, for instance, is above Boileau.\nFace to face with the mysteries that shroud God and man, Bossuet seeks,\nargues, and, so to speak, gropes; Ruysbroeck knows, describes, or rather\nsings, and contemplates. This illiterate mystic of an obscure age finds\nhimself at home in the sublime as in his own sphere; he speaks of what is\nfamiliar to him; the wise doctor of the world remains without. Bossuet\ndoes not enter, he does not open, he does not see. Bossuet spins words,\nRuysbroeck pours out streams of light. It seems as if Bossuet were that\nmighty wind which was heard in the Upper Chamber; the brief words of\nRuysbroeck are the tongues of fire, living and enlightening flame.\"\n\nTruly has Time brought its revenge in such a comparison by a compatriot\nof Bossuet with Ruysbroeck.\n\nFinally, Maeterlinck brought out his translation of the _Spiritual\nEspousals_ in 1891 with a characteristic appreciation of the Flemish\nmystic. And Maeterlinck's name has given a strong impetus to the\npopularity, so to speak, of Blessed Ruysbroeck in modern France. But\nneither of these translations can be regarded as authoritative or exact.\n\nThe real, scholarly work towards extending and encouraging the cult of\nBlessed John Ruysbroeck, whether among the learned or the devout, is\nbeing performed, as is seemly, in the Catholic University of his native\nBelgium, namely, at Louvain, where a Chair has been instituted for the\nstudy of Old Flemish, chiefly for the sake of a correct understanding and\nrendering of the writings of the Holy Mystic of Groenendael.\n\nAnd here we may note that while it is customary with some to speak of\nRuysbroeck as illiterate, this term must be taken in a strictly limited\nsense. Possibly, he could not have composed in fluent and elegant Latin:\nhe was not a classical scholar; but certainly the Latin of the Bible and\nthe Fathers was quite familiar to him. His writings, moreover, display an\nintimate knowledge of the Scriptures, the Fathers, theology, liturgy,\napologetics. The natural science of the day was not unknown, as witness\nhis applications from astronomy, and, it must be confessed, from\nastrology. With St. Denys the Areopagyte he shows himself very intimate,\nand his pages contain whole passages borrowed or adapted from St. Anselm,\nSt. Ambrose, St. Gregory, and especially St. Augustin. Nearer his own\ndays St. Bernard and Hugh of St. Victor seem to have influenced him very\nconsiderably.\n\nExperts in Old Flemish assure us that his style is most chaste, his\nlanguage vigorous and clear. He was in truth a poet. When carried away by\nthe beauty or sublimity of his subject, he indulges in a wealth of\nimagery, comparison, metaphor, astounding at times in boldness and\noriginality. Occasionally even he lapsed into verse; but on the whole his\nverse is of less beauty and strength than his prose, as he himself seems\nto have been aware. On the other hand, his prose, after the manner of St.\nBernard, St. Bonaventure, the two Victors, and later Thomas a Kempis,\nfrequently gives evidence of deliberate rhythm and rhyme. In a word, far\nfrom being illiterate in the strict sense of the word, Blessed John was\nwell acquainted with all the rules and arts of rhetoric; he knew how to\nemploy them; and for all the sublimity of his discourse he did not\ndisdain the use of these aids to interest and persuasion. Finally, it is\nto be noted that we are expressly informed by contemporaries of\nRuysbroeck that he wrote by preference in the vulgar tongue, the more\nreadily and effectively to meet and refute the erroneous doctrines\npublished in the language of the people by the false mystics of his day.\n\n\n\n\n                                  XIV\n\n                               Last Days\n\n\nOf the life of our Saint there remains little to be told save the record\nof the last days and the after glory. He had attained the good old age of\neighty-eight, when his mother appeared in a vision to warn him to make\nready for the approaching end. It must seem to us there was little need\nfor such warning to one whose whole life had been one long preparation\nfor the coming of the Spouse! He was taken with dysentery, accompanied by\nfever, and for his greater comfort, and that his lifelong friend van\nCoudenberg might be at hand to console and assist him, they put him to\nbed in the Provost's chamber. But the humble Prior besought them to treat\nhim as any of the lowliest brethren and to bear him to the common\ninfirmary. This was accordingly done. There he lay for a fortnight,\ngradually wasting away with the burning fever, and still more, doubtless,\nwith his burning desires to be dissolved and to be with Christ, for he\nwas constantly heard murmuring such ejaculations as that of the Psalmist,\n_Sicut desiderat cervus ad fontes aquarum_. He received all the last\nrites, and the end came in the greatest peace, while his weeping brethren\nprayed around him, on the Octave day of St. Catherine, V.M., December 2,\n1381, in the eighty-eighth year of his age, the sixty-fourth of his\npriesthood.\n\nThat same night the Dean of Diest, watching by the holy remains, seemed\nto behold our Saint, clad in the priestly vestments and all radiant with\nglory, ascend the altar steps as if to celebrate the sacred mysteries.\nThe Dean had always held Ruysbroeck in the deepest veneration and, having\nsome skill in medicine, he had come over to Groenendael on hearing of the\nPrior's illness to see whether he could administer any relief. His\ncharity was rewarded by the edifying sight of his happy death, and by\nthis consoling vision after.\n\nAnd, as the Venerable a Kempis informs us, \"God also revealed to Gerard\n[Groote] the death of this most beloved Father, which revelation he made\nmanifest in the hearing of many of the citizens by the tolling of the\nbells; and more privately he made known to certain of his friends that\nthe soul of the Prior, after but one hour of Purgatory, had passed to the\nglory of Heaven.\" We may note here that a Kempis himself was a child of\nthree years when Ruysbroeck was called to his reward. Gerard Groote\nfollowed his friend and spiritual father to the grave three years later.\n\nThe Groenendael Canons offered the holy Sacrifice and all the wonted\nsuffrages for their departed Prior's repose, but they prayed with the\nconviction that they needed his impetration rather than he theirs. They\nwere all eager to possess themselves of any little thing which had been\nhis. Some cut off locks of his hair, and one managed to secure a tooth!\nAppropriately enough, this relic later cured a Mechlin lady of a severe\nattack of toothache. However, in all simplicity the Brethren laid Blessed\nJohn to rest in the little chapel which his own hands had helped to\nraise.\n\nFive years later his saintly associate, the Provost Francis van\nCoudenberg, rejoined him beyond the grave. The Bishop of Cambrai, John\nT'Serclaes, came to assist at the obsequies. During his visit he heard so\nmuch of the heroic virtues of the late Prior that he ordered an\nexhumation of Ruysbroeck's body with a view to a more honourable burial\nby the side of the Provost in the new church, which had now replaced the\nlittle chapel. They were all filled with awe and wonder to find the\nentire body, save only the tip of the nose, incorrupt, and the priestly\nvestments intact. Also a most sweet odour exhaled from the holy remains.\nTo satisfy the devotion of the people, the Bishop commanded that the body\nshould be exposed to their veneration for three days. On the third day,\namid a vast concourse of the faithful, Ruysbroeck was laid to rest by the\nside and in the tomb of his lifelong friend van Coudenberg. Over the\nsepulchre was placed the following simple inscription:\n\n                  _Hic jacet translatus Devotus Pater\n                        D. Joannes de Ruysbroeck\n                       I. Prior hujus monasterii\n                         Qui obiit anno Domini\n                               MCCCLXXXI\n                           II. Die Decembris_\n\n\"Here lies transferred the Devout Father, Dom John of Ruysbroeck, First\nPrior of this cloister, who departed in the year of the Lord 1381,\nDecember 2.\"\n\n\n\n\n                                   XV\n\n                 The Cultus of Blessed John Ruysbroeck\n\n\nNumerous pilgrims now wended their way to visit Ruysbroeck's tomb.\nEx-votos were suspended there in acknowledgment of favours received. His\npicture also was honoured in various churches. And each year on the\nMonday following Trinity Sunday the Chapter of St. Gudule's came over to\nGroenendael to assist the Canons at a Mass sung in his honour. In a word,\non all sides the holy Prior was regarded and, as far as possible, treated\nas a Saint in glory.\n\nYielding to representations and entreaties from many quarters, James\nRoonen, Archbishop of Mechlin, ordered another translation of the\nremains, November 1622. This was duly performed with all the prescribed\nformalities. The skeleton was found entire. The bones were carefully\ntaken and reverently washed and then placed in a new reliquary. The water\nused in this cleansing emitted a delicious odour, and it was afterwards\ninstrumental in effecting many miraculous cures. The Infanta Isabella of\nSpain laid the foundation stone of a chapel to be erected at her expense\nnear _Ruysbroeck's Tree_ as a suitable shrine for the relics. She also\nprovided a magnificent sarcophagus. As this chapel was outside the\nmonastic enclosure, ladies were now able to pay their devotions at\nRuysbroeck's tomb itself, whereas hitherto they had been able to\nreverence the relics only from a distance.\n\nSo far, however, no authoritative recognition of the heroic virtues of\nJohn Ruysbroeck had come from Rome. In 1624 the Archbishop commissioned\nthe learned Albert le Mire to draw up the necessary preliminary documents\nto be submitted to the Sacred Congregation. These were approved, and\nthree commissioners were appointed to Initiate the apostolic process, so\ncalled. Their labours were completed by 1627. Then, on account of the\nwars and other troubles which afflicted the Low Countries at the time,\nthe Cause was suspended.\n\nWhen the French overran the Netherlands in 1667, to prevent profanation\nof the holy relics, they were carried to a place of greater safety in\nBrussels; they were restored again in 1670. In 1783 the Priory itself\nshared the fate of so many other Religious Houses, and was suppressed by\nthe Emperor Joseph II.; whereupon the relics were again transferred to\nBrussels and laid to rest in a side-chapel of St. Gudule's.\n\nAnother attempt was then made by the Chapter of St. Gudule's to obtain\nfrom Rome an authorised Office and Mass in honour of John Ruysbroeck. The\npetition was favourably received; but once more there was a violent\ninterruption, this time from the upheaval of the French Revolution.\n\nSt. Gudule's was sacked by the _sans-culottes_ in 1793, and the reliquary\nof Ruysbroeck was desecrated. It is said, however, that the relics were\nnot actually dispersed, and that they were afterwards sealed up again by\na Notary named Neuwens; but unhappily at the present day all trace of\nthem has disappeared.\n\nFinally, in 1885, the late Cardinal Goosens, Archbishop of Mechlin,\napproached the Sacred Congregation once more, and a tribunal was\nappointed to examine into the Cause, February 8, 1900. This was brought\nto a happy issue in 1908 by a Decree of the Sacred Congregation, dated\nDecember 1st, and approved by His Holiness, Pius X., December 9,\nconfirming the cultus \"shown from time immemorial to the Venerable\nServant of God, John Ruysbroeck, Canon Regular, called the Blessed.\"\nLater, August 24, 1909, the Congregation granted and approved an Office\nand Mass of Blessed John Ruysbroeck for the Mechlin clergy. The privilege\nof this Office and Mass has also been extended to the Canons Regular of\nthe Lateran, who are the lineal representatives of the Canons of\nGroenendael and Windesheim, and therefore in a special sense the children\nof Blessed John.\n\nFor the moment there may seem to be but little in common between this\nMediaeval Mystic and the bustling modern world, so little as to suggest\nthe thought that Blessed Ruysbroeck can have no message to deliver to our\nday. On the contrary, the Solitary of the Forest of Soignes stands for a\nprofound truth, oblivion of which is rendering Society sick unto death\nto-day. John Ruysbroeck preaches to the world its utter need of God.\n\nFor the Catholic he enforces his lesson in a special manner. Unlike false\nmystics, who invariably pretend to dispense themselves and their\nadherents from the chief normal means of grace, namely the Sacraments,\nRuysbroeck insists upon frequent recourse to the Sacraments, but more\nespecially to the Blessed Eucharist, as the speediest and most\nefficacious means of bringing each soul into true union with God. Our\npresent Holy Father, desirous and ambitious of \"restoring all things in\nChrist,\" has pointed to the same divine remedy for the renewal of our\nsouls. May there not be seen in this a providential reason wherefore the\nsolemn beatification of this holy Religious has been delayed six\ncenturies, to be reserved to our own days?\n\nThe proper prayers of our Saint's Mass beautifully summarise the lessons\nof his life as follows:\n\n\n                                Collect\n\nGod, Who didst vouchsafe to adorn Blessed John, Thy Confessor, with\nsublime holiness of life and with heavenly gifts, grant us, through his\nmerits, and after his example, to despise the fleeting things of the\nworld, and to desire only the joys of heaven.\n\n\n                                 Secret\n\nMay the intercession of Blessed John, who in offering the Sacrifice\nmerited to overflow with heavenly delights, make us worthy, we beseech\nThee, Lord, of the bread of angels.\n\n\n                             Post-Communion\n\nWe beseech Thee, Lord, by the intercession of Blessed John, grant to us\nwho are refreshed with the heavenly banquet, that, delivered from worldly\ndesires, we may be ever fervent in Thy love.\n\n\n\n\n                               Footnotes\n\n\n[1]By Earle Bailie. London: Thomas Baker. 1905.\n\n[2]_Cf._ the Polish sect of _Mariavites_, or _Mystic Priests_, under the\n   misguidance of the woman Mary Frances, whose extravagances were\n   condemned by Rome, September 1904, and again April 1906.\n\n[3]Provost is the equivalent in a College of Clergy of the Abbot in a\n   Monastery; though many Congregations of Canons Regular have borrowed\n   the title and style of Abbot from the monastic institute.\n\n[4]Translation by J. P. Arthur. _The Founders of the New Devotion._ Kegan\n   Paul. 1905.\n\n[5]Especially: _Outlines of the Life of Thomas a Kempis_. By Sir Francis\n   Cruise. _C.T.S._ of Ireland. _Thomas a Kempis_. By the same. London:\n   Kegan Paul. _Life of the Venerable Thomas a Kempis_. By Dom Scully.\n   London: Washbourne. _Thomas a Kempis and the Brothers of the Common\n   Life_. By Kettlewell. London: Kegan Paul. _Thomas a Kempis, His Age\n   and His Book_. By De Montmorency, London: Methuen.\n\n[6]Father Sharpe, in his recent admirable volume, _Mysticism: Its True\n   Nature and Value_, writes thus of the mystic teaching, properly so\n   called, of a Kempis's world-famous masterpiece: \"_The Imitation of\n   Christ_ ... probably owes much of its vast popularity to its constant\n   recurrence to the elementary duties of religion and morality, and its\n   insistence on the necessity of their performance as the prerequisite\n   of the more exalted spiritual states. The 'purgative,' 'illuminative,'\n   and 'unitive' ways are seen, so to speak, together, and are dealt with\n   as aspects or constituents of the Christian life as a whole, to the\n   completeness of which all three are necessary and, in different ways,\n   of equal importance. The purely mystical passages are comparatively\n   few and short; and the abundance of practical directions the book\n   contains has sometimes caused its mystical character to be entirely\n   overlooked. This disproportion, however, is quite sufficiently to be\n   accounted for by the character of the work, which is that of a\n   directory of spiritual life in general, and not a scientific treatise\n   on any particular department of it. In such a book attempts at\n   describing the indescribable phenomena of mysticism would obviously\n   have been out of place, whereas the practical details of the lower and\n   preliminary states admit of and require minute explanation. But the\n   tone of the whole book is mystical, and the most commonplace duties\n   and the most humiliating strivings with temptation are in a manner\n   illuminated and glorified by the brilliancy of the result to which\n   they tend. Thus, in point of fact, the higher and lower elements, the\n   mystical and the non-mystical, the purgative, the illuminative and the\n   unitive, are blended in actual human experience\" (pp. 188, 189).\n\n[7]The whole subject of mystic theology is excellently well treated by\n   Rev. A. B. Sharpe, M.A., in a volume entitled _Mysticism: Its True\n   Nature and Value_, already quoted, just published by Sands & Co. There\n   is frequent reference to our Saint and his writings.\n\n\n                                 FINIS\n\n\n\n\n                          Transcriber's Notes\n\n\n--Silently corrected a few palpable typos.\n\n--Moved footnotes from page footer to end of text\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"A Mediaeval Mystic: A Short Account of the Life and Writings of Blessed John Ruysbroeck, Canon Regular of Groenendael A.D. 1293-1381","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":18085}