Notes and Reflections for a talk on Franciscan Mysticism by Maury
Smith, ofm
12
Handout.doc
HANDOUTS TABLE OF
CONTENTS:
1. Comparison of Neoplatonism and Francis’ Christ
Mysticism. Page One.
2 .Francis’ The Canticle of the
Creatures (1225)
Page Two
Longpre describes the
mystic:
The Prayer before the
Crucifix
3. The Testament (1226)
Page
Three and Four
Prayer, Chapter 23 of the
Earlier Rule
Prayer,
Letter to the Entire Order
4. St. Bonaventure’s
Itinerarium,
Chapter 7 Page Five
and Six
5. Blessed Angela
compared to other Mystics by Underhill Page Seven
Cousin’s Mysticism of the Historical Event
Comparison of Neoplatonism and Francis’ Christ
Mysticism.
Page One.
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Neoplatonism |
Christ mysticism |
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Logos mystic |
Francis as a Christ
mystic |
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The starting point
was radically different. Pseudo-Dionysius or Augustine focused on
the perception that truth could be found only by penetrating beyond the
vestiges of the sensible world to the intelligible one. |
The starting point focused their quest on the crucified Christ, |
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Neoplatonic mysticism was an intellectual nest rooted in philosophical and theological learning as well as in _ spirituality. |
Christ mysticism, by contrast, began with the summons to imitate and to identify with Christ in his incarnation. |
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Francis' mysticism began with his devotion to the passion of Christ. |
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focused totally on Christ, especially but not exclusively on the passion. |
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Neoplatonic-spiritual ascent |
mystic quest is rooted in the desire to imitate, Christ, especially his passion |
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in the desire to
transcend sensible appearances to attain a higher reality. |
the mystic quest is rooted in the desire to imitate, Christ, especially his passion, |
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Identification with God or Christ in general |
identification with
the crucified Christ. |
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Ascent is through purication, illumination and unitive ways. |
ascent is only
possible for those who, like Francis, have taken the cross and been
transformed into Christ. |
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The Neoplatonic quest was an intellectual journey, rooted in philoophy and theology.
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rooted in the summons to imitate Christ and to be transformed into him, the goal of the Christ mystic. |
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Emphasis on sin and redemption. |
Creation already
redeemed, as a status innocentiae
for those who are in Christ. |
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Tends to ignore or be negative about creation |
Tends to be positive about creation. |
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Adapted from Daniel,
Randolph. “Symbol Or Model? St.
Bonaventure's Use Of St. Francis.” in Bonaventuriana Miscellanea in onore di
Jacques Guy Bougerol, ofm a cura di Francisco de Asis Chavero Blanco OFM Vol. I Edizione Antonianum Roma 1988. PP.
55-62. |
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Maury Smith’s course page: Formation in the Franciscan
Tradition Look for
section on Franciscan mysticism. http://in.geocities.com/maurysmith/
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Page Two.
Longpre, Ephrem describes the mystic:
”If mystical experience properly so called implies an increasingly
overpowering action of the Holy Spirit on the soul and hence a passivity to
interior inspirations, and
if it results in a feeling of the presence of God and of Christ,
which is ordinarily accompanied by an experience of God's sweetness,
then Francis apparently entered upon the mystical life when he took his
first steps toward Christ, that is on the evening of his farewell celebration
with his friends.”
Longpre,
Ephrem. A Poor Man’s Peace.
The Prayer before the Crucifix (1205/06)
Most High, glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my heart and give me
true faith, certain hope, and perfect charity, sense and knowledge,
Lord, that I may carry out Your holy and true command.
Francis’ The Canticle of the Creatures
(1225)
[The participate were invited to straight toned
the canticle in choir fashion.]
SIDE ONE: 1 Most High, all-powerful, good Lord,
Yours are the praises,
the glory, and the honor, and all blessing, [Rv 4: 9,11]
2 To You alone, Most High, do they belong,
and no human is worthy to
mention Your name. d
3 Praised be You, my Lord, with all Your creatures, [Tb *:7
especially Sir Brother
Sun,
Who is the day and
through whom You give us light. e
SIDE TWO: 4 And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor;
and bears a likeness of
You, Most High One.
5 Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars, [Ps 148:3]
in heaven You formed them
clear and precious and beautiful. a
6 Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind,
and through the air,
cloudy and serene, and every kind of weather,
through whom You give
sustenance to Your creatures.
SIDE ONE: 7 Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water, [Ps 148:4,5]
who is very useful and
humble and precious and chaste.
8 Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Fire, [Dn 3:66]
through whom You light
the night, [Ps 178:14
and he is beautiful and
playful and robust and strong.
SIDE TWO: 9 Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Mother
Earth, [Dn 3:74]
and who produces various
fruit with colored flowers and herbs. [Ps 104: 13,14]
10 "Praised be You, my Lord, through those who give pardon for
Your
and bear infirmity and
tribulation. b
SIDE ONE: 11 Blessed are those who endure in peace
for by You, Most High,
shall they be crowned.
12 Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death,
from whom no one living
can escape. c
SIDE TWO: 13 Woe to those who die in mortal sin.
Blessed are those whom
death will find in Your most holy will,
for the second death
shall do them no harm.
14 Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks and
serve Him with great
humility.
from
FAED I p. 113
Page
Three.
From Chapter 23 of the Earlier Rule (1209/1210-1221):
Therefore,
let us desire nothing else,
let us want nothing else,
let nothing else please us and cause us delight
except our Creator, Redeemer and Savior,
the only true God, Who is the fullness of good,
all good, every good, the true and supreme good,
Who alone is good.77
77. ER 23.9 (I, 85). Four other times Francis presents a similar litany,
see: ER 17.17-18(1,76),
PrsG 3 (I, 109), PrOF 2 (1,158), PH 11 (I, 162). The fifth source is
from the fragment of the Worchester Cathedral, IFrg 54 (I, 90).
The Testament (1226) [I underlined parts, mjs.]
1 The Lord gave me, Brother Francis, thus to begin doing penance
in this way: for when I was in sin, it seemed too bitter for me to see lepers.
2 And the Lord Himself led me among them and / showed mercy (Sir 35:4) to them. And when I left them,
what had seemed bitter to me was turned into sweetness of soul and body.
And afterwards I delayed a little and left the world.
4 And the Lord gave me such faith in churches that I
would pray with simplicity in this way and say: "We adore You, Lord Jesus Christ, in all Your churches throughout
the whole world and we bless You because by Your holy cross You have redeemed
the world.""
6 Afterwards the Lord gave me, and gives me still,
such faith in priests who live according to the rite of the holy Roman Church
because of their orders that, were they to persecute me, I would still want to
have recourse to them.
7 And if I had as much wisdom as Solomon and found
impoverished priests of this world, I would not preach in their parishes
against their will. 8 And I desire to respect, love and honor them and all
others as my lords. 9 And I do not want to consider any sin in them because I
discern the Son of God in them and they are my lords. 10 And I act in this
way because, in this world, I see nothing corporally of the most high Son of
God except His most holy Body and Blood which they receive and they
alone administer to others. l want to have these most holy mysteries honored
and venerated above all things and I want to reserve them in precious places.
l2 Wherever I find our Lord's most holy names and written words in unbecoming places,
want to gather them up and I beg that they be gathered up and placed in a
becoming place. 13 And we must honor all theologians and these who minister the
most holy divine words and respect them as those who minister to us spirit and
life.
14 And after the Lord gave me some brothers, no one
showed me what I had to do, but the Most High Himself revealed to me
that I should live according to the pattern of the Holy Gospel. 15And I
had this written down simply and in a few words and the Lord Pope confirmed it
for me. 16 And those who came to receive life gave whatever they had to the
poor and were content with one tunic, patched inside and out, with a cord and
short trousers. 17 We desired nothing more-18 We clerical [brothers] said the
Office as other clerics did; the lay brothers said the Our Father; and we quite
willingly remained in churches. 19 And we were simple and subject to all.
20 And I worked with my hands, and I still desire to work;
and I earnestly desire all brothers to give themselves to honest work.21 Let
those who do not know how to work learn, not from desire to receive wages, but
for example and to avoid idleness.22 And when we are not paid for our work, let
us have recourse to the table of the Lord, begging alms from door to door. 23The
Lord revealed a greeting to me that we should say: "May the Lord give
you peace."
24 Let the brothers be careful not to receive in any way
churches or poor dwellings or anything else built for them unless they are
according to the holy poverty we have promised in the Rule. As pilgrims and
strangers, let them always be guests there.
25 I strictly command all the brothers through obedience,
wherever they may be, not to dare to ask any letter from the Roman Curia,
either personally or through an intermediary, whether for a church
Page Four.
or another place or under the pretext of preaching or the
persecution of their bodies." 26 But, wherever they have not been
received, let them flee into another country to do penance with the blessing of
God.
27 And I firmly wish to obey the general minister of this
fraternity and the other guardian whom it pleases him to give me. 28And I so
wish to be a captive in his hands that I cannot go anywhere or do anything
beyond obedience and his will, for he is my master.
29And although I may be simple and infirm, I nevertheless
want to have a cleric always with me who will celebrate the Office for me as it
is prescribed in the Rule.
30 And let all the brothers be bound to obey their guardians
and to recite the Office according to the Rule. 31 And if some might have been found
who are not reciting the Office according to the Rule and want to change it in
some way, or who are not Catholics, let all the brothers, wherever they may
have found one of them, be bound through obedience to bring him before the
custodian of that place nearest to where they found him. 32 And let the custodian be strictly
bound through obedience to keep him securely day and night as a man in chains,
so that he cannot be taken from his hands until he can personally deliver him
into the hands of his minister. 33 And let the minister be bound through
obedience to send him with such brothers who would guard him as a prisoner
until they deliver him to the Lord of Ostia, who is the Lord, the Protector and
the Corrector of this fraternity.
34 And the brothers may not say: "This is another
rule." Because this is a remembrance, admonition, exhortation, and my
testament, which I, little brother Francis, make for you, my blessed brothers,
that we might observe the Rule we have promised in a more Catholic way.
35 And let the general minister and all the other ministers
and custodians be bound through obedience not to add to or take away from these
words. 36 And let them always have this writing with them together with the
Rule.
37 And in all the chapters which they hold, when they read
the Rule, let them also read these words. 38 And I strictly command all my
cleric and lay brothers, through obedience, not to place any gloss upon the
Rule or upon these words saying: "They should be understood in this way."
39 But as the Lord has given me to speak and write the Rule and these words
simply and purely, may you understand them simply and without gloss and observe
them with a holy activity until the end.
40 And whoever observes these things, let him be blessed in
heaven with the blessing of the Most High Father, and on earth with the
blessing of His Beloved Son with the Most Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, and all
the powers of heaven and with all the saints. 41 And, as far as I can, I,
little brother Francis, your servant, confirm for you, both within and without,
this most holy blessing.
From FAED
I p. 124
[Prayer](1225-1226)
50 Almighty, eternal, just and merciful God,
give us miserable ones the grace to do for You alone
what we know you want us to do
and always to desire what pleases You.
51 inwardly cleansed, interiorly enlightened
and inflamed by the fire of the Holy Spirit,
may we be able to follow
in the footprints of Your beloved Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ,
52and, by Your grace alone, may we make our way to You,
Most High, Who live and rule
in perfect Trinity and simple Unity, and are glorified
God almighty, forever and ever. Amen.
From FAED I A Letter to the Entire Order. pp. 120-121
Page Five.
St. Bonaventure’s Itinerarium:
[Parts of Chapter Seven were recited
in choir fashion.]
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE MYSTICAL TRANSPORT OF THE MIND
IN WHICH REST is GIVEN TO THE INTELLECT AND
THROUGH ECSTASY OUR AFFECTION PASSES OVER
TOTALLY INTO GOD
SIDE ONE 1. We have
covered these six considerations, comparing them to the six steps by which one ascends to the throne of the true Solomon
where the mind finds peace. It is
here that the true person of peace rests in the quiet of the mind as in an
interior
SIDE TWO: They are also
like the first six days during which
the mind needed to be trained so as to finally arrive at the Sabbath of rest. Our mind has contemplated God outside itself through
and in the vestiges; within itself through and in the image; and above itself through the similitude
of the divine light shining on us from above in as far as that is possible in
our pilgrim state and by the exercise of our mind.
SIDE ONE Now finally when the mind has come to the sixth step,
in the first and highest Principle and in the mediator between God and humanity, Jesus Christ, it finds mysteries which have no likeness among
creatures and which surpass the
penetrating power of the human intellect. When we have contemplated all these
things, it remains for the mind to pass
over and transcend not only the sensible
world but the soul itself. And
in this passage, Christ is the way
and the door. Christ is the ladder and the vehicle, like the Mercy
Seat placed above the ark of God and the mystery
that has been hidden from all eternity.
2. Anyone who turns
fully to face this Mercy Seat with
faith, hope, and love, devotion, admiration, joy, appreciation, praise and
rejoicing, will behold Christ hanging on the Cross. Such a person celebrates the Pasch, that is, the Passover, with Christ. So, using the rod of the
Cross, this person can pass over the
3. All this was shown
also to blessed Francis when, in a rapture of contemplation on the top of
the mountain where I reflected on
the things I have written here, a six-winged Seraph fastened to a cross appeared to him. This I myself and
several others have heard about from the companion who was with him at that
very place. Here he was carried out of himself in contemplation and passed over into God. And he has been
set forth as the example of perfect contemplation just as he had
earlier been known as the example of
action, like another Jacob transformed into
SIDE TWO 4. If this
passing over is to be perfect, all
intellectual activities must be given up,
and our deepest and total affection
must be directed to God and transformed
into God. But this is mystical and
very secret, which no one knows except one
who receives it. And no one receives it except one who desires it. And no one desires it but one who is penetrated to the
very marrow with the fire of the Holy
Spirit whom Christ has sent into the world. Therefore the Apostle says that
the revelation of this mystical wisdom
comes through the Holy Spirit.
Page Six.
5. Therefore since
nature is helpless in this matter, and even personal effort is of little
significance, little importance should be given to investigation and much to
unction; little to speech but much to interior joy, little to words or writing
and all to the gift of God, namely the Holy Spirit; little or no importance
should be given to the creature but all to the creative essence, the Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit. So with Dionysius we cry out to the Triune
God: "O Trinity, essence beyond essence and God beyond all deities, and
most excellent Protector of the wisdom of Christians, guide us to that totally hidden but radiant and most sublime height
of mystical knowledge. There new mysteries — the new, absolute, and
unchangeable mysteries of theology - lie hidden
in the dazzling darkness of a silence that teaches secretly in a total
obscurity that is super-manifest and in a super-resplendent
darkness in which all things shine forth;
a darkness which fills invisible intellects with a full superabundance
and splendor of invisible goods that are above all good." This was said to
God. But to the friend to whom this was written we can say with Dionysius: "In this matter of mystical visions, my
friend, being strengthened for your journey, leave behind the world of the
senses and of intellectual operations, all visible and all invisible things,
and everything that exists or does not exist, and being unaware even of
yourself, allow yourself to he drawn back into unity with that One who is above
all essence and knowledge in as far as that is possible. Thus, leaving all
things and freed from all things, in a total and absolute ecstasy of a pure
mind, transcending your self and all things, you shall rise up to the
super-essential radiance of the divine darkness."
SIDE ONE: 6. Now if you ask how all these things are
to come about,
ask grace, not doctrine; desire, not intellect; the
groaning of prayer and
not studious reading; the Spouse, not the master; God,
not a human being; darkness, not clarity; not light, but the fire that inflames
totally and carries one into God through spiritual fervor and with the most
burning affections. It is God alone who is this fire, and God's furnace is in
SIDE TWO: And it is Christ who starts the fire with
the white flame of his most intense passion. Only that person who says: My soul
chooses hanging, and my bones death can truly embrace this fire. Only one who
loves this death can see God, for it is absolutely true that no one can see me
and live.
SIDE ONE Let us die, then, and enter into this
darkness.
Let us silence all our cares, desires, and imaginings.
Let us pass over with the crucified Christ from this
world to the Father,
so that when the Father has been shown to us, we may
say with Philip:
SIDE TWO: It is enough for us. Let us hear with Paul:
My grace is sufficient for you; and let us exult with
David, saying:
My flesh and my heart waste away; you are the God of
my heart,
and the God that is my portion forever.
Blessed be the Lord forever, and let all the people
say: let it be, let it be. Amen.
Here Ends the Journey
of the Soul into God.
from Bonaventure. Itinerarium
Mentis in Deum: Works of Bonaventure, Volume II. Introduction and
Commentary by Philotheus Boehner, OFM; New English Translation by Zachary
Hayes, OFM.
Page Seven.
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Blessed Angela
compared to other Mystics by Underhill Born 1248-1309, she was one year
younger than St. Margaret of Cortona, At 36, she was already known and deeply
respected as a spiritual teacher Feast is kept throughout the Franciscan
Order on 30 March. |
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Angela: |
Other Mystics: |
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two-fold
vocation to
the eternal and to the temporal to
the divine and to the human |
St.
Catherine of |
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a
strongly romantic temperament |
Francis,
Suso, Ignatius, Mechthild, Teresa |
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a
latent simplicity and ardour, |
Francis,
Suso, Ignatius, Mechthild, Teresa |
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extreme
sensibility to impressions |
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all
the potentialities of a great sinner or a great saint. |
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great
power of endurance |
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a
strong will |
[Clare
of Assisi (editor’s note)] |
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unstable
psychic make up |
Mystics
and geniuses, Francis of Assisi and Catherine of Siena. |
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bitter
and almost continuous struggle |
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old
tendencies and those new ideals |
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conflicts:
the ups and downs |
oSuso |
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perpetually
flung between adoration and contrition; |
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poverty |
implicit
in the mystical temperament |
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self-knowledge |
Richard
of St. Victor, |
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family
affection not strong |
the
mystical saints, Francis |
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renunciation |
Trait
of mystics |
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centre
of a group |
St
Catherine of St
Catherine of |
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formed
a sisterhood at Foligno |
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Her
book of visions and revelations |
profoundly
affected the religious life of |
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Book
of instructions, autobiographical |
St.
Teresa |
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illumination
and despair |
Teresa |
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revelations
and experiences |
mystics |
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practiced,
and described, all those degrees of contemplative prayer analyzed by St.
Teresa and |
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ecstasies
were of that rare and supernal kind |
St.
Catherine of |
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imaginary
visions |
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talked
with the Holy Ghost |
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rarest
and highest type of mystic seer |
Ruysbroeck |
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imageless
intuition of pure truth |
St.
Teresa |
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Underhill comments:
Angela's real importance amongst mystics
came from the fact that she possessed this power in a high degree of
development.
“…this woman [Angela] has probably exerted
a more enduring, more far-reaching influence than any other Franciscan of the
century which followed the Founder's death.”
“Her book of visions and revelations profoundly
affected the religious life of
The
book exerted great influence on St. Francis de Sales, and also upon the French
Quietists. It is quoted as an authority
by Madame Guyon, Poiret, and Malaval; and through the great English Benedictine
Augustine Baker and his pupil Gertrude More, it has left its mark on English
Catholic mysticism of the seventeenth century. “
“It is impossible in this short paper to
draw attention to the many parallels which her work presents with that of other
great mystics—with our own Richard Rolle of Hampole, Julian of Norwich, and the
namelesss writer of the Cloud if
Unknowing- with St. Mechthild of Hackeborn, Ruysbroeck, St. Catherine of
Genoa, St. Teresa. “
“I have called her a Franciscan mystic.
If by Franciscan mysticism we mean that exquisite sense of the divine immanence
in nature, that poetic temperament, that peculiar and elusive charm, which we
associate with St. Francis himself— then, perhaps, there is little that is
characteristically Franciscan in Angela.
But if by Franciscanism we mean rather— as I think we should—the
recapturing and making available for life of the primitive Christian secret of
spiritual freedom; that romance of heroic and eager suffering co-exiting with
the exultant joy; then I think that we may see in her one of the link: by which
that secret has been transmitted to the modern world.”
Adapted
from A FRANCISCAN MYSTIC OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY: THE BLESSED ANGELA OF
FOLIGNO. By
Mysticism of the Historical Event
This devotion to the humanity of Christ issues in a form of mysticism which I will call
'the mysticism of the historical event'.
In this type of consciousness, one recalls a significant event in the past,
enters into its drama and draws from it spiritual energy,
eventually moving beyond the event towards union with God.
Bernard McGinn. p. 147. See “Was St. Francis a Mystic?” in Doors of
Understanding: Conversations on Global Spirituality in Honor of Ewett
Cousins. ed. Steven Chase (Quincy, IL,
Franciscan Press, 1997) pp145-74.
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