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Healy Memorial Library

A MEDIAEVAL MYSTIC

NIHIL OBSTAT F. Osmund Cooney, O.F.M.
Provincial Censor Defu/atus.
IMPRIMATUR Edmundus Canonicus Suemont
Vicarius Gcncralis.
Westmonasterii Die 17 Octoeris 1910

A MEDIEVAL MYSTIC

A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE
AND WRITINGS OF BLESSED JOHN
RUYSBROECK, CANON REGULAR OF
GROENENDAEL A.D. 1293-1381

DOM VINCENT SCULLY, C.R.L.
[Permits a Super ijrum)

LONDON
THOMAS BAKER
MCMX

PRINTED BY
HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD.,
LONDON AND AYLESBURY.

M«_-i5

TO
THE RIGHT REV. AUGUSTIN H. WHITE, C.R.L.
LORD ABBOT OF WALTHAM

CONTENTS page
INTRODUCTION  ix
I. EARLY YEARS AND EDUCATION . I
II. AS A SECULAR PRIEST IN
BRUSSELS  6
III. FALSE MYSTICS . . . .10
IV. THE HERMITAGE OF GROENENDAEL If
V. THE CANONS REGULAR OF GROEN
ENDAEL  25
VI. PRIOR OF GROENENDAEL . . 33
VII. RUYSBROECK'S TREE ... 43
VIII. A DIRECTOR OF SOULS . . 47
IX. RUYSBROECK AND GERARD GROOTE 50
X. RUYSBROECK AND WINDESHEIM . 58
XI. THE WRITINGS OF RUYSBROECK . 67

viii Contents

XII. THE TEACHING OF RUYSBROECK . 93
XIII. SOME APPRECIATIONS . . . I05
XIV. LAST DAYS  Tl8
XV. THE CULTUS OF BLESSED JOHN
RUYSBROECK .... 124

INTRODUCTION
The object of the following unpretentious
little volume is to give a simple and readable
account in English of the life and writings
of a remarkable Flemish Mystic of the four
teenth century, a contemporary of our own
Walter Hilton. Though his memory and
honour have never faded in his own native
Belgium, and though France and Germany
have vied with each other in spreading his
teaching and singing his praises, the very
name of Blessed John Ruysbroeck is prac
tically unknown this side of the water. We
are acquainted with only one small work in
English dealing directly with the Saint or
his work at all, viz. Reflections from the Mirror

Jntro&uctton

of Mystic* giving the briefest sketch of his
life and some short extracts from his writings
as translated from the French rendering of
Ernest Hello.
The original authorities for the history of
Ruysbroeck are practically reduced to one,
the biography by Henry Pomerius, a Canon
Regular of Groenendael, entitled De Origine
monasterii Viridisvallis una cum vitis B.
Joannis Rusbrochii firimi prions hujus
monasterii et aliquot coaetaneorum ejus, re-
edited by the Bollandists, Brussels, 1885. It
is certain that a disciple of John Ruysbroeck,
John of Scoenhoven, also of Groenendael,
who undertook the defence of Blessed John's
writings against Gerson, composed a short
biography, but this was embodied in the work
of Pomerius, and thereby as a separate
volume fell out of use and memory. Pomerius
* By Earle Bailie. London : Thomas Baker. 1905.

3ntrofcuction xi

had Scoenhoven's MS. to work upon, and
some of Ruysbroeck' s contemporaries were
still living at Groenendael when he com
posed his biography there. The brief refer
ences by the Venerable Thomas a Kempis in
his Vita Gerardi Magni are likewise of great
interest and intrinsic worth.
For the purposes of this brief biography,
which lays no claim whatever to original
research, the compiler has made very great
use of the labours of Dr. Auger, De Doctrina
et Meritis Joannis van Ruysbroeck, Louvain,
and Willem de Vreese, Jean de Ruysbroeck,
an extract from the Biographic Nationale,
published by l'Academie royale des sciences,
des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique,
Brussels, 1909. This indebtedness is especially
true of the summarised analysis of the various
works of Ruysbroeck.
Later it may be possible to give a com
plete and faithful English rendering of all

xii 3ntvofcuction

Ruysbroeck's Works from the critical edition
which is at present preparing in Louvain,
where there is an active revival of interest in
this great and holy Mystic of the Nether
lands. For the judgment of competent witnesses
as to the permanent value and extraordinary
sublimity of B. John's writings the reader
is referred to tbe body of this work under
the heading, Some Appreciations.
The usual protest is made according to
the Decrees of Urban VIII. concerning alleged
miracles, etc., recorded in these pages.
St. Ives, Cornwall,
Feast of Our Lady's Nativity, 1910.

H. /Iftebi^pal /luetic

Early Years and Education
Blessed John Ruysbroeck, surnamed the
Admirable and the Divine Doctor, by common
consent the greatest Mystic the Low Coun
tries have ever produced, was born, a.d. 1293,
at Ruysbroeck, a village some miles south
of Brussels, lying between that city and Hal.
According to the fashion of those days, es
pecially with Religious, he was named after
his birthplace, John van Ruysbroeck, or John
Ruysbroeck. The Venerable a Kempis, the
Latinised form of van Kempen, is a case
in point ; Thomas was so named after his
native town, Kempen, though his patro-

U flDeM&vat _Tl>£stte

nymic was Haemerken. Of Ruysbroeck,
however, we know of no other surname ;
neither do his biographers so much as mention
his father. But like many another great
servant of God, John was blessed with a
good mother, a devout woman who trained
her child from the cradle to walk in the paths
of Christian piety and perfection. She is
charged with only one fault, that she loved
her son too tenderly !
Perhaps we are to understand by this
that the poor woman opposed the boy's early
aspirations after a more retired life than
could be found even in the peaceful shelter
of his own pious home. This would also
explain John's first recorded act. At the age
of eleven years he ran away from home !
How many a lad before and since has torn
himself away from a loving mother's too
fond embrace to quell the ardour of a rest
less spirit in the quest of adventure ! John

£arty J^ears anb Education 3
also was eager and dissatisfied ; but the larger
sphere for which he sighed was to be sought
along the unaccustomed ways which lead to
the sublime heights and the rarified atmo
sphere of mystic contemplation.
The pious truant made his way to Brussels,
there to call upon an uncle of his, one John
Hinckaert, a major Canon of St. Gudule's.
The son and heir of a wealthy magistrate of
the city, and possessed, moreover, of a rich
benefice, for many years John Hinckaert had
been somewhat worldly in his ways ; but one
day Divine grace found him out as he was
listening to a sermon, and drew him sweetly
and strongly to a life of extreme simplicity
and mortification. His example was soon
followed by a fellow Canon, by name Francis
van Coudenberg, a Master of Arts, possessed
of considerable means, and a man of great
repute with the people. These two agreed,
for their mutual edification and support, to

a flDeMaeval mystic

live together in common. Their material
requirements were reduced to the barest
necessaries ; and the surplus of their revenue
was distributed among the poor. In this
devout household the lad John met with a
kindly welcome ; and there he found at
once a home after his own heart in an atmo
sphere saturated with " other- worldliness "
and prayer. His good uncle also took charge
of his education. For four years Ruysbroeck
followed the ordinary course of- Humanities
in the public schools of Brussels, and then,
with a view to the priesthood, he devoted
himself to the more congenial study of the
sacred sciences.
Meanwhile the bereaved mother had dis
covered the place of John's retreat and had
quitted her village of Ruysbroeck to reside
with him at Brussels. As, however, she was
not permitted to dwell in the Presbytery, she
made her abode in a Beguinage hard by.

jEarli? |)ear0 anb Education 5
Thus she had at least the consolation of seeing
her son from time to time. She must have
been much comforted also for the depriva
tion of his company by the constant evidence
of his growing sanctity. And, further, we
are assured that she set herself to make
profit of her sacrifice by emulating in her
own person the holy life of her son John,
and his saintly masters, Hinckaert and van
Coudenberg.

II
As a Secular Priest in Brussels
In due course Canon Hinckaert procured
for his nephew one of the lesser prebends of
St. Gudule's, and John was ordained priest
in the year 1317, at the age of twenty-four.
His good mother did not survive to witness
this happy event in the flesh, nevertheless
even beyond the grave she had good cause to
rejoice therein. After her departure from
this world she had often appeared to her
son, lamenting her pains, beseeching his
prayers, and sighing for the day when he would
be able to offer for her the holy Sacrifice.
And John was unceasing in his supplications.
But immediately after the celebration of
his first Mass, as he related to his Religious

Hs a Secular priest in Brussels 7
Brethren later, God granted him a vision full
of consolation : when the sacred oblation
was accomplished, his mother came to visit
and thank him for her deliverance from
Purgatory. The touching incident is well
worth recording, if only to show that it
was through no lack of natural affection
that the child John had so unceremoniously
forsaken home and mother. Moreover, of
these two holy souls it was singularly true
that having loved each other in life, in death
they were not parted, for they were privi
leged often to converse together, and finally
it was from his mother that Ruysbroeck
learned the date of his own approaching
departure. For twenty-six years in all Blessed John
lived as a secular priest in Brussels. Con
tent with his modest chaplaincy in the
Church of St. Gudule, and with his holy
companions Hinckaert and van Coudenberg

8 a flDebt&val mystic
continuing happily in apostolic simplicity
and poverty the Common Life on which
he had entered a mere child, Ruysbroeck
passed his days in peaceful retirement and
almost uninterrupted prayer and contem
plation. A characteristic episode of this period
reveals to us the man as in a flash, his
mean garb, his emaciated figure, his ab
sorbed demeanour, his utter abandonment
in God. He was passing through a square
of Brussels one day, silent and recollected,
as was his wont, when two laymen remarked
him. " My God," exclaimed one, " would I were
as holy as that priest ! "
" Nay, for my part," returned the other,
" I would not be in his shoes for all the
wealth of the world. I should never know
a day's pleasure on earth."
' Then you know nothing of the delights

as a Secular priest in Brussels 9
which God bestows, or of the delicious savour
of the Holy Ghost," thought Ruysbroeck to
himself, for he happened to overhear the
words, and he proceeded tranquilly on his
way.

Ill
False Mystics
But with all his love of peace and retire
ment, when it was a question of guarding
the integrity of the Faith and of warding
off peril from immortal souls, Ruysbroeck
hesitated not to stand in the breach ; even
though others of much higher position in
the Church and of much higher repute
for theological learning than the obscure
chaplain of St. Gudule's should raise not
a finger nor so much as utter a warning
word. The student of history is well aware of the
many and startling contrasts and contra
dictions presented by the Middle Ages. It
was an epoch of magnificent virtues and of
10

3false flDptics n
gross vices, of splendid heroism and of un
speakable cruelty, of superb generosity and
of disgusting meanness, and, which is more
to our point at present, of intense devotion
and of the most revolting vagaries in doctrine
and morals. While also on the one hand
there was much genuine zeal, much earnest
endeavour to reform crying abuses in Church
and State ; on the other hand hypocrites
and fanatics abounded, who aimed at the
destruction of the principle of authority
on the plea of amending those in power,
or who, the while they inveighed against
the futility of a merely exterior religion
and insisted on the supreme need of purity
of heart, themselves fell into the excess
of neglecting all external form, and at
times all outward decency and observance
of morality.
In varying degrees these latter errors are
to be encountered under one shape or another

12 a flDebteval flD^stic
in every age ; but at the period of which we
treat they were especially intense and ex
treme. The Beghards and the Beguines
(when and where these broke loose from
ecclesiastical control), the Flagellants, the
Brethren of the Free Spirit were chief of a
group of extravagant sects which afflicted
the Church in Italy, France, Germany, and
the Netherlands ; while England at the
same time was disturbed by the fanaticism of
the Lollards. In general their peculiar tenets
were a strange admixture of pantheism, false
mysticism, apparent austerity, and very real
immorality. The following is one of their
characteristic propositions, condemned by
Clement V. in the Council of Vienna, a.d.
1311-1312 : " That those who are in the
aforesaid grade of perfection and in the spirit
of liberty (contemplatives) are not subject to
human authority and are not obliged to obey
any precepts of the Church, because (as they

false flf>i?stics 13
say) where the spirit of the Lord is, there is
liberty."
It so happened that contemporary with our
Saint in Brussels was a prominent leader of
the heretics of the Free Spirit, a woman
whose name is given as Bloemardinne, a good
type, to judge by the description of Ruys
broeck's biographer, of the whole genus of
such teachers in those days and in our own.*
So great was this creature's reputation for
sanctity that it was commonly reported that
two Seraphim accompanied her to the altar
when she approached to receive Holy Com
munion. She always delivered her teach
ings, whether by word or in writing, seated
on a throne of silver. At her demise this
chair was presented to the reigning Duchess
of Brabant. After Bloemardinne's death
* Cf. the Polish sect of Mariavites, or Mystic Priests,
under the misguidance of the woman Mary Frances,
whose extravagances were condemned by Rome, September
1904, and again April 1906.

14 a fIDebi&vml mystic
also cripples came to touch her body in the
persuasion that they would be miraculously
healed thereby. Her teaching was of the
kind indicated above, concerned chiefly with
the so-called liberty of the spirit ; the passion
of lust she had the impudence to call sera
phic love. She issued numerous pamphlets
remarkable for their subtlety ; and by
one means and another she managed to win
and retain a very considerable number of
disciples. Moved by zeal and compassion on witness
ing the ruin and loss of souls thus effected,
John Ruysbroeck set himself to confute this
heretic's various publications point by point
as they appeared. In consequence, he in
curred not a little hostility and persecution.
Possibly it was this opposition which finally
decided Ruysbroeck and his holy companions
to quit Brussels for the more peaceful re
tirement of the neighbouring forest of Soignes.

jfalse flfopstics 15
But meanwhile he never for a moment
desisted from his efforts in defence of the
Faith, and in the propagation of the doctrines
of sane mysticism. Of the treatises pub
lished professedly against Bloemardinne there
is nothing extant. But in all his works
Ruysbroeck keeps an eye on the errors of
the day. He returns to them again and
again, analysing their sources, describing their
characteristics, indicating the mischief they
work, and offering a reasoned and solid
confutation. At the same time, with
wondrous sureness and perspicacity, from
the rich stores of his own intimate ex
perience, he points out the safe and sure
paths which lead the soul to loving union
with God.
Some thirty years after Ruysbroeck's death,
in 1410, the Archbishop of Cambrai called
his disciples, the Canons Regular of Groen
endael, to come and aid him in preaching

1 6 a flDebia_vaI flD^stic
against the successors of the notorious
Bloemardinne — a fact eloquent both of the
obstinacy of this particular heresy and of
Blessed John's reputation as its most vigorous
opponent.

IV
The Hermitage of Groenendael
It appears that it was on the suggestion
of Francis van Coudenberg that the three holy
priests resolved to abandon Brussels to seek
elsewhere for themselves a refuge of greater
security and retirement. It was through
the influence also of van Coudenberg with
John IIL, Duke of Brabant, that they ob
tained the cession of an ideal property for
their purpose, the hermitage, namely, of
Groenendael, with its lands and lake.
The spot had already been sanctified by
the prayers and penances of holy recluses
for nigh forty years. The first to retire
thither had been one John Busch, of the
ducal house of Brabant, who, weary of the
_7 2

1 8 a flDebiazval mystic
strife, frivolities, and perils of court life,
obtained from his kinsman, John II. , leave
to retire into the forest of Soignes, to build
himself a hut and enclose a space of land
there to be cultivated with his own hands for
his support. The deed of gift was dated
the Friday after the Assumption of Mary,
1304, and it stipulated that on the death or
departure of the grantee, another hermit
should take his place, and so on for ever.
In effect, the noble John Busch was succeeded
by one Arnold of Diest, who, on entering,
made a vow never to sally forth save on
festivals for the purpose of hearing Mass and
receiving Holy Communion in the Parish
Church of St. Clement at Hoolaert. God
rewarded this generous sacrifice by a singular
favour : Arnold was passionately devoted
to the memory of the Holy Apostles and
Martyrs of Rome, and he was transported in
spirit so frequently thither that the shrines

tbe "Ibermitaae of (Broenenbaet 19
and sanctuaries of the Eternal City became
as familiar to him as to a native. When in a
green old age he came to die, Arnold surprised
the bystanders with the request that he
should be laid to rest in the hermitage grounds.
They objected that the enclosure was not
consecrated : he responded that one day it
would be the site of a monastery, the home
of saintly Religious, and the Mother-house
of a holy congregation. However, he was
buried in the Parish Church of Hoolaert before
the altar of St. Nicholas. His successor,
Lambert, the last of the Groenendael her
mits, was so poor in spirit as not to be
attached even to his cell. He cheerfully
yielded place to John Hinckaert, van Couden
berg, and Ruysbroeck, and retired to a cell
which they had procured for hifn at Hoeten-
dael, the modern Uccle. Groenendael was
handed over to the three companions by the
Duke of Brabant on Easter Wednesday, 1343,

20 ft _lfcebi.ev>ai mystic
on the condition that they should forthwith
erect a house to accommodate a community
of at least five, two of whom should be priests
viventes religiose.
The taking of possession is recorded in
the Groenendael Chronicle thus : "In 1344
the aforesaid, with the bishop's consent, began
to build a chapel in Groenendael. And the
Vicars of Lord Guy, then Bishop of Cambrai,
inspected the building on March 13, 1344,
and decreed that it should be consecrated,
together with a cemetery adjacent, two
altars, and other necessary appurtenances.
On the same day of the same year the said
Vicars conferred on Dom Francis the cure of
the brethren, the household, and the servants,
appointing him their Father and Parish
Priest. Then the same year, on March 17, the
Venerable Lord Brother Matthias, Bishop of
the Church of Trebizond (Coadjutor of Cam
brai), by faculty and licence of the said

Zbe Ibermitaae of (Sroenenbael 21
Vicars of the Lord Bishop Guy, consecrated
the aforesaid first church in the honour of
St. James, and erected it into a Parochial
Church for the same Dom Francis, his brethren
and household."
For five years Dom Francis van Couden
berg and his companions continued to live
thus in community, bound by no other rule
than their own profound spirit of prayer
and intense desire of perfection. Nor were
they long left to enjoy alone the solitude of
their retreat. Many sought admission into
their company ; still larger numbers flocked
from Brussels and elsewhere to seek spiritual
aid and consolation. If he had consulted
his own inclination and bent, Ruysbroeck
would have denied himself to all ; but van
Coudenberg represented that they should
not in charity refuse assistance to souls in
need. And Blessed John yielded the more
easily, remarks one of his biographers, be-

22 a _TT.ebia.val flDpstic
cause for his part he was assured of being able
to repose in God amid the most distracting
calls and absorbing occupations.
One of their earliest associates, John van
Leeuwen, attained a high reputation for
sanctity. A poor and ignorant layman of
Afflighem, he had offered his services as their
domestic gratis. Before long he was known
far and wide as the " Good Cook of Groenen
dael." The multitude of visitors upon whom
he was called to attend left him but little
leisure, yet he found time not only to be
absorbed in prayer and contemplation, but
even to compose treatises of an exalted
spirituality. Like his master Ruysbroeck,
whom he venerated profoundly, he was deeply
recollected amid the most exacting duties,
and frequently he was favoured with heavenly
visions. It was while in a state of ecstasy
that the sublime gifts and heroic holiness of
Blessed John were revealed to him ; ever after

Gbe Ibermitage of (Broenenbael 23
no terms seemed to him too exalted in which
to describe the worth of the servant of God.
The general esteem in which van Leeuwen
himself was held is sufficiently attested by
the inscription on his tomb : " Reliquiae
Fratris Joannis de Leeuwis vulgo Boni Coci
viri a Deo illuminati et scriptis mysticis
clari obiit anno MCCCLXXVII. V. Februarii."
The Remains of Brother John van Leeuwen,
commonly called the Good Cook, a man en
lightened by God and renowned for his mystic
writings. He died February 5, 1377.
Much more distracting to the recluses than
the frequent visits of pilgrim penitents or the
arrival of fresh neophytes was the constant
coming and going of huntsmen from the
household of the Duke of Brabant. The
forest of Soignes, in which Groenendael
is situate, was a favourite resort for the
chase, and the position of the hermitage
jtself, within a, few miles of the capital, made

24 a riDebifeval fIDpstic
it a very convenient place of rest and re
freshment for the hunters and their hounds.
But the noise and bustle attendant on such
company were scarcely conducive to the
spirit of prayer, and the demands thus made
on the hospitality of the young Community
were a heavy drain on its resources. Never
theless the solitaries were naturally fearful
of giving offence to the followers of their
Patron the Duke . Moreover, since they were
not established as a regular Religious Com
munity, they could not claim the privileges
of the cloister.

V
The Canons Regular of Groenendael
The inconveniences just noted, together
with the continual increase in their numbers,
gave point and force to a strong remon
strance addressed to Francis van Couden
berg and his Brethren by Pierre de Saulx,
Prior of the Canons Regular of St. Victor,
Paris, concerning the irregularity of their
unaccustomed manner of life. Herein the
good Prior was in effect only voicing the
opinion of many zealous and prudent leaders
among both clergy and laity. The times
were so rife in sects and societies of false
mystics, and so much mischief was wrought
under the guise of piety, that any form of
community life outside the cloister and the
25

26 a _H}ebf£ev>al flDpstic
three regular vows was regarded with strong
suspicion and dislike. A few years later
Gerard Groote, a disciple of Ruysbroeck,
and Florence Radewyn, the first spiritual
Director of the Venerable Thomas a Kempis,
founded a lay association of Devout Brothers
and Sisters of the Common Life, and this
society also was subjected to a fierce oppo
sition arising from the same sentiment of
distrust for all religious movement outside
the beaten track. Happily, the Brothers were
able to weather the storm by producing
irrefragable proofs of their orthodoxy, and
of their entire submission to the ecclesiastical
authorities. But also, by the advice and
according to the desires of Gerard Groote
himself, they placed themselves under the
protection and guidance of a Religious Order
springing from their own body, namely the
Canons Regular of Windesheim, of which
congregation the Venerable a Kempis was

ftbe Canons .Regular of (Broenenbael 27
one of the earliest members as well as the
brightest ornament.
Prior Pierre de Saulx urged on van
Coudenberg and his associates to regularise
their status, silence suspicion, and escape
the many inconveniences to which at
present they were exposed by embracing
the Rule and adopting the habit of some
already established Religious Order. With
edifying humility the Community of Gro
enendael accepted the reproof and its ac
companying counsel ; and applied at once
to Peter Andrew, Bishop of Cambrai, for
the necessary authorisation to adopt the
Institute of the Canons Regular under the
Rule of St. Augustin of Hippo. This per
mission the Ordinary granted most readily.
With his own hands he clothed Francis
van Coudenberg, John Ruysbroeck and
their companions in the canonical habit,
March 10, 1349, and the following day

28 a riDebiaeval flDpstic
he appointed Dom Francis Provost,* and
John Ruysbroeck he made Prior of the
new Canonry. To van Coudenberg the
other members of the Community, with one
exception, professed canonical obedience,
according to St. Augustin's Rule. The Bishop
bestowed upon them many privileges and
exemptions ; while the Duke took them
under his special protection and endowed
them with sufficient revenues for the upkeep
of a large establishment.
The one exception noted above was Ruys
broeck's uncle and van Coudenberg's old
friend and master, John Hinckaert. At this
date John Ruysbroeck was fifty-six years
of age, and Francis van Coudenberg was
several years his senior. They must certainly
have been men of great zeal and courage to
* Provost is the equivalent in a College of Clergy of the
Abbot in a Monastery ; though many Congregations of
Canons Regular have borrowed the title and style of
Abbot from the monastic institute.

ftbe Canons .Regular of (Broenenbael 29
undertake the full rigour and discipline of
the Canonical Life, as they understood it,
at so advanced an age. Hinckaert, again,
was much older than either. And for fear
lest out of consideration for his failing
powers the others should be induced to
temper in any degree the austerity of their
observance, the good old man resolved to
forgo for himself the happiness of joining
them in the profession of the vows. We
can picture what a source of regret this
separation must have been to all three.
However, Hinckaert remained as near his
friends as possible until the end. A little
cell was built just outside the cloister, and
there after a few years he peacefully passed
away, their predecessor to eternal glory as
he had been their forerunner in the way
of perfection.
The Canon Regular, Prior Pierre de Saulx,
had reason to be well content with the issue

30 ft flfeebiaevat flftystic
of his intervention in the affairs of Groenen
dael. Seventeen years later we find him
addressing to the Community another char
acteristic rebuke. This time he ^complained
of the formula of their profession, which ran
as follows : " I, N. , offer and deliver
myself with these gifts to the service of
this Church of St. James, Apostle. And I
promise God in the presence of clergy and
people that I will abide here henceforth to
the end of my days without proprietorship,
according to the rule of the Canons and
Blessed Augustin, to the best of my know
ledge and power. I also promise stability
to this place as long as in any way I can
obtain what is needful for my soul and body,
nor shall I for any motion of fickleness or
under any pretext of a more strict Order
change this habit or quit this cloister. I
also promise obedience to all the prelates of
the aforesaid Church whom the better part

tibe Canons .Regular of (Broenenbael 31
of the Community shall canonically elect, in
order that I may receive a hundredfold and
life everlasting."
As a matter of fact, this form of pro
fession was quite adequate. Implicitly it
contained the vow of chastity, since chas
tity is an integral part of the Canonical
Rule. However, the Prior of St. Victor
resided in Paris, the metropolis of scholas
ticism, and he strenuously argued and
maintained that, whereas chastity is one
of the three essential vows of Religion,
and the formula made no mention thereof,
the said formula was incomplete, erroneous,
contrary to the decretals and canonical
sanctions. And again he urges the Provost
and the Brethren to conform themselves
in this, as in all else, to some fully
authorised branch of the institute of the
Canons Regular.
Once more the good men humbly ac-

32 a flftebiaeval fltyattc
quiesced ; and it seems that they modelled
their religious family upon the famous Con
gregation of St. Victor, of which their zealous
counsellor was then the chief Superior.

VI
Prior of Groenendael
Meanwhile the Community of Groenendael
grew and flourished. The holy Prior con
tinued to make progress in the practice of
heroic virtue, his gifts of contemplation
became ever more sublime, and still his
reputation for sanctity increased. His con
temporary biographers, after the fashion of
their day, catalogue the Christian virtues, and
one by one show how they excelled in him.
Let it suffice here to remark that those
virtues which he the most earnestly com
mends and the most highly exalts in his
writings, he the most constantly exercised in
his own person. Chief of these was humility,
which he terms everywhere the foundation
33 3

34 a _ir>ebi»v>al flDpstic
of perfection ; then obedience to men and
resignation to the will of God, a most
tender devotion towards Jesus Christ in
the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, and,
in fine, an ardent love of God and the
neighbour. A few instances may be given
in illustration.
On one occasion Blessed John was seriously
ill ; consumed by fever and tortured by an
intense thirst, he begged the Brother In-
firmarian for a drink of water. The Provost,
who happened to be present, forbade the
draught, fearing it might do him harm. He
was literally dying of thirst, and his lips were
cracking, they were so parched, yet Ruys
broeck humbly acquiesced. But later, re
flecting how great would be the grief and
remorse of his friend and superior if he
actually died of his agony, he quietly re
marked : " Father Provost, if I have not
a drink of water now I shall certainly not

prior of (Broenenbael 35
recover from this malady." Thereupon, in
great alarm, Dom Francis immediately bade
him drink. And from that moment the holy
man began to regain his strength.
Another and a continual proof of his
humility was the willingness with which he
took part in the heavy manual labour of the
Community. His dignity, his advanced age,
his inexperience in such work, the many
other calls upon his time and strength — all this
and the like the brethren urged as motives
wherefore he should be exempt ; but he
refused to listen. Truth to tell, the material
advantage from his toil was but little : his
irame was enfeebled by years and austerities,
and in his ignorance he was liable, for instance,
to root up seedlings in the garden instead of
weeds ! But the spiritual gain to the
Brethren was incalculable ; there was not
only the example of his humility, but of his
unfailing recollection too. In the midst of

36 a flDebtevml mystic

his labour he never lost his sense of the
nearness of God's presence. Indeed he was
wont to say that it was easier for him to raise
his soul to God than to lift his hand to his
forehead. His humility also and his zeal for the
regular observance prevented him ever seeking
dispensation from the customary exercises
of the community life, or exemption from
any of the monastic austerities, vigils, or
fasts. His love for the neighbour was shown by
the readiness and affability with which he
received and welcomed innumerable claimants
on his sympathy, help, and counsel. No soul
ever left his presence dissatisfied ; every one
went back from a visit to Groenendael greatly
edified and inwardly refreshed. On one
occasion the Brethren were distressed for the
moment by an apparent exception. Two
Parisian clerics had visited the holy old man

prior of (Broenenbael 37
and had demanded some word or motto for
their guidance and encouragement.
Ruysbroeck merely observed : " You are
as holy as you wish' to be." Suspecting him
of sarcasm, the strangers retired deeply
mortified, and they complained to the Canons
that they were much disappointed in the
Prior, who evidently was not so saintly a man
as rumour had led them to believe. Learning
the cause of their chagrin, some of the
Brethren led the clerics back to Blessed John
and begged him to explain his meaning.
" But is it not simple ? " he cried. "Is it
not quite true ? You are as holy as you
wish. Your good-will is the measure of
your sanctity. Look into yourselves and
see what good-will you have, and you will
behold also the standard of your holiness."
And then the visitors retired appeased and
edified. Naturally his own Brethren were the first

38 a m>ebfa2v>al fll^stic
and chief to benefit by the holy Prior's charity
and zeal. He denied himself to none, he
made himself all to all. Sometimes he gave
a spiritual conference after Compline, and
then perhaps he would be so carried away
as he enlarged upon the goodness of God
and the bliss of heaven, for instance, that
neither he nor his listeners would note the
passage of time. The midnight Office bell
would surprise them still hanging upon his
words. But such was the fervour infused
by his burning eloquence that not one felt
the loss of the three or four hours' accus
tomed sleep.
Ruysbroeck always spoke without any
immediate preparation ; but it was charac
teristic of the man that when requested
by the Canons or by strangers for a Con
ference, he would sometimes confess in
all simplicity that inspiration was lacking,
that he had nothing to say. It was the

prior of (Broenenbael 39
same with his written treatises : at the close
of his life he was able to declare that he
had never committed anything to writing
save under the immediate motion of the
Holy Spirit.
As so often happens with the Saints,
Blessed John's love for the neighbour over
flowed in tenderness for his brothers and
sisters of the lower creation also. Knowing
this trait, the Canons would remark to him
on the approach of winter : " See, Father
Prior, it is snowing already. What will the
poor little birds do now ? " And with ex
pressions of heartfelt compassion this sublime
mystic, who was habitually lost in dizziest
heights of contemplation, would give instruc
tions that the feathered choristers outside the
cloister should not be abandoned to perish of
hunger. Very frequently in his works Blessed Ruys
broeck takes occasion to treat of the Holy

40 a fPebijeval fP^stic
Sacrament of the Altar, and ever he speaks
of this sacred mystery in terms of the most
vivid faith and intense devotion, discussing
it as a supreme proof of God's love for men,
on a par with the gifts of Creation, the In
carnation, and Redemption. His biographers
tell us of his personal love for the Blessed
Eucharist, and especially of his ecstatic devo
tion in offering the great Sacrifice. To the
close of his long life, even when his failing
sight could no longer distinguish the figure of
the Crucified stamped upon the Host, nothing
but grave sickness could hold him back from
daily celebration. Sometimes he swooned
from the excess of the sweetness with which
his soul was inundated during the canon of
the Mass.
On one such occasion not only did he faint,
but he seemed on the point of expiring, so
that the terrified server reported the matter
to the Provost. Attributing the faintness

prior of <Sroenenbael 41
to advancing age and weakness, the Superior
was about to forbid the holy old man to
celebrate any more, when Blessed John
humbly besought him to forbear, assuring
him that the swoon was due not to the failing
of years but to the overpowering of divine
grace, non propter senium sed divinae gratiae
collatum xenium. " Even to-day," he added,
" Jesus Christ appeared to me, and filling
my soul with a deliciousness all divine, He
said to my heart, Thou art Mine and I am
thine." Such heavenly favours seem to have been
by no means rare with our Saint. He was
frequently ravished with a vision of Our
Divine Lord in His sacred Humanity. Christ
appeared to him, accompanied by His Blessed
Mother and a numerous retinue of Saints,
and conversed familiarly with him. On one
such occasion, penetrating his whole being
with a sense of wondrous sweetness, He

42 a _lDebia.\>al fP^stic
greeted him with ineffable condescension
thus : " Thou art My dear son, in whom I am
well pleased." Then Jesus Christ embraced
him and presented him to Our Lady and. the
attendant Saints with the words : " Behold
My chosen servant ! "

VII
Ruysbroeck's Tree
Whenever Blessed John felt the Spirit of
God full upon him, even the solitude of the
cloister was not sufficiently retired for the
intimacy of the divine union. He would
wander away into the depths of the forest
surrounding the monastery, there to abandon
himself to the action of the Holy Ghost un
disturbed. On these occasions also he was
wont to take with him a stylus and a wax
tablet, in order to jot down such thoughts
and lights as he was moved to preserve in
writing. Of these notes a fair copy was made
on his return to the Priory. Towards the end
of his days, when his sight was failing and
otherwise the effort of making these notes was
43

44 a fPebia.v>al fll^stic
too much for him, one of the Canons always
accompanied him into the forest to write down
at his dictation whatever he was moved to
communicate. Sometimes days or whole
weeks would pass, and for want of inspiration
not a line nor a word would be added to the
treatise in hand. But when again the Spirit
breathed, he continued from the very sentence
or phrase where he had paused, just as if
there had been no interval between.
One day the Saint had retired as usual
into the forest, and the Brethren, knowing his
occupation, respected his privacy. But when
hours passed and there was no sign of his
return, they became alarmed and set out to
scour the woods in search of him. One of the
Canons was especially intimate with the
Prior and loved him most tenderly. Perhaps
his anxiety urged him ahead of the rest. In
a glade of the forest his eye lighted upon a
wondrous scene. He perceived a tree as

1Ru\>sbroecR's Gree 45
it were in flames. On nearer approach he
discovered that it was in fact encircled with
fire. And under the tree, in the midst of the
mysterious conflagration, John Ruysbroeck
was seated, manifestly rapt in ecstasy.
The memory of this miracle was never lost
in the Community. For generations the
tree was known and venerated as Ruysbroeck1 s
Tree. At the close of the fifteenth century
the Prior, James van Dynter, planted a lime-
tree in the same place, which received the
respect shown hitherto to the original, which
presumably had died down. When in 1577
the Canons were obliged to abandon Groenen
dael on account of the vexations of the
religious wars, it is said that this tree withered
away until only its bark was left ; but when
the Community returned in 1607, it revived
and flourished again.
This episode also has fixed the traditional
representation of Blessed John Ruysbroeck.

46 a fPebi*ev>al fP^stic
He is usually pictured seated under a tree,
a stylus in his hand and a wax tablet rest
ing on his knee, while Saint and tree alike
are encircled in brilliant rays of celestial
light.

VIII
A Director of Souls
It is no wonder that as the fame of these
and similar marvels spread abroad, multi
tudes of the faithful, young and old, clergy
and laity, flocked to see and hear the holy
Prior of Groenendael. They came to him
from Flanders, Brabant, Holland, Germany,
and France. Ruysbroeck received all with
unvarying simple courtesy, and his unpre
meditated words were ever found to meet
exactly the needs of each. Many placed t
themselves unreservedly in his hands, and
frequently sought his direction by corre
spondence, or came long distances to consult
him in person.
One of these penitents was the Baroness
47

a fPebteval fP^stic

van Marke, of Rhode-St. -Agatha, which lies
midway between Groenendael and Louvain.
This lady conceived such a veneration for the
holy Prior that when she went to visit him,
she walked the journey, pilgrimwise, barefoot.
Finally, his exhortations to flee and despise
the passing vanities of the world prevailed
so much with her that she entered a Convent
of Poor Clares in Cologne, and her son Ingel-
bert joined the Community of Groenendael.
We are told of another disciple, who once
fell into a grievous sickness and at the same
time into a still more grievous affliction of
spirit. She sent for Blessed John, begging
him to visit her. She told him of her distress ;
behold, she was abandoned by God, on the
one hand no health or strength was left her
to perform her accustomed works of mercy,
and on the other hand physical suffering took
away all taste for prayer ! What was she to
do ? " You can do nothing more pleasing

a Director of Souls 49
to God, my dear child," responded the Saint,
" than simply and utterly to submit to His
holy will. Strive to forsake your own desires
and to give Him thanks for all things."
Such unction accompanied these simple and
characteristic words that the good lady felt
deeply consoled, and she repined no more.
Among the more famous to frequent Groe
nendael, there to sit and learn at the feet of
Ruysbroeck, is mentioned the well-known
German mystic Tauler. But authorities are
divided at present as to whether or no these
visits to Groenendael can be fitted in with
other ascertained facts of Tauler's life. How
ever, it is certain that Tauler was well ac
quainted with the writings of our Saint ;
to a great extent he followed his method, and
at times, in the free-and-easy style of those
days, he did not hesitate to transfer bodily
from Ruysbroeck's volumes into his own.

IX
Ruysbroeck and Gerard Groote
A greater than Tauler, and one whose in
fluence was eventually far more widespread,
undoubtedly owed much to the recluse of
Groenendael and freely acknowledged Blessed
John his master. This was the famous Gerard
Groote, the founder, as already noted, of the
Devout Brothers and Sisters of the Common
Life, and through them of the Windesheim
Congregation of Canons Regular. The occa
sion and circumstances of Groote's first visit
to Groenendael are narrated by the Venerable
Thomas a Kempis in his Vita Gerardi Magni.
The passage is so graphic and characteristic
that it is well worth transcribing.*
* Translation by J. P. Arthur. The Founders of the New
Devotion. Kegan Paul. 1905. 5°

IRu^sbroecR anb (Serarb (Sroote 51
" The pious and humble Master Gerard,
hearing of the great and widespread fame of
John Ruysbroeck, a monk and Prior of the
Monastery of Griinthal, near Brussels, went
to the parts about Brabant, although the
journey was long, in order to see in bodily
presence this holy and most devout Father ;
for he longed to see face to face, and with his
own eyes, one whom he had known hitherto
only by common report and by his books ;
and to hear with his own ears that voice
utter its words from a living human mouth—
a voice as gracious as if it were the very
mouthpiece of the Holy Ghost. He took
with him therefore that revered man, Master
John Cele, the director of the School of
Zwolle, a devout and faithful lover of Jesus
Christ ; for their mind and heart were one
in the Lord, and the fellowship of each was
pleasant to the other, and this resolve was
kindled within them that their journey, which

52 a _H>ebia_val fP^stic
was undertaken for the sake of spiritual
edification, should redound in the case of
each to the Glory of God,
" There went also with them a faithful
and devout layman, named Gerard the shoe
maker, as their guide upon the narrow way,
and their inseparable companion in this
happy undertaking.
" When they came to the place called Griin-
thal, they saw no lofty or elaborate buildings
therein, but rather all the signs of simplicity
of life and poverty, such as marked the first
footsteps of our Heavenly King, when He,
the Lord of Heaven, came upon this earth as
a Virgin's Son, and in exceeding poverty.
As they entered the gate of the monastery,
that holy Father, the devout Prior, met them,
being a man of great age, of kindly serenity,
and one to be revered for his honourable
character. He it was whom they had come
to see, and saluting them with the greatest

1Ru\>sbroecR anb (Bevarb (Sroote 53
benignity as they advanced, and being taught
by a revelation from God, he called upon
Gerard by his very name and knew him,
though he had never seen him before. After
this salutation he took them with him into
the inner parts of the cloister, as his most
honoured guests, and with a cheerful counten
ance and a heart yet more joyful showed
them all due courtesy and kindness, as if he
were entertaining Jesus Christ Himself.
" Gerard abode there for a few days con
ferring with this man of God about the Holy
Scriptures ; and from him he heard many
heavenly secrets which, as he confessed,
were past his understanding, so that in amaze
ment he said with the Queen of Sheba, ' O
excellent Father, thy wisdom and thy know
ledge exceedeth the fame which I heard in
mine own land ; for by thy virtues thou
hast surpassed thy fame.' After this he
returned with his companions to his own city,

54 a fPebi&val mystic
greatly edified ; and being as it were a puri
fied creature, he pondered over what he had
heard in his mind and often dwelt thereon
in his heart ; also he committed some of
Ruysbroeck's sayings to writing, that they
might not be forgotten.
" This sojourn on his visit to the Prior was
not a time of idleness, nor was the discourse
of so holy a father barren ; but the instruction
of his living voice gave nurture to a fuller love
and an increase of fresh zeal, as he testifies
in a letter which he sent to these same brethren
in the Griinthal, saying : ' I earnestly desire
to be commended to your director and Prior,
the footstool of whose feet I would fain be
both in this life and in the life to come;
for my heart is welded to him beyond all
other men by love and reverence. I do still
burn and sigh for your presence, to be renewed
and inspired by your spirit and to be a par
taker thereof.' "

TRn\>sbroecR anb (Berarb (Sroote 55
Other details of this interesting visit are
supplied by the biographers of Ruysbroeck.
Speaking in the fullness of the intimacy that
had sprung up between them, Gerard Groote
ventured to express surprise that, in dealing
with the sublime matters which usually
formed the subject of his discourse, the holy
Prior should employ words and phrases which
laid him open to the charge of those very
errors, especially pantheism, against which
his writings were commonly directed. It
was then that Ruysbroeck declared that he
had never set down aught in his books save
by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and in
,the presence of the Ever Blessed Trinity.
This solemn assurance the holy man repeated
to his brother Canons on his deathbed.
On another point also, like the trained and
exact theologian he was, Gerard Groote wished
to correct his friend. He insisted that the
boundless confidence which Ruysbroeck ex-

56 a fPebi#v>al fP^stic
pressed in the mercy of God seemed to savour
somewhat of presumption, and he proceeded
to quote the most terrifying passages from
Scripture anent the penalties of the wicked.
Blessed John quietly replied : " Master
Gerard, I assure you that you have quite
failed to inspire me with fear. I am ready
to bear with unruffled soul whatever the Lord
shall destine for me in life or in death. I
can conceive of nothing better, nothing safer,
nothing more sweet. All my desires are re
stricted to this, that our Lord may ever find
me prepared to accomplish His holy will."
This first visit was the beginning of most
cordial relations between Ruysbroeck and
Gerard Groote. The latter returned several
times to Groenendael and resided there for
months together. He also corresponded fre
quently with the holy Prior and the Canons
and translated some of our Saint's works
into Latin, He read over his MSS: before

1Ru\>sbroecR anb (Serarb (Broote 57
publication, and begged him at times to
change or modify expressions which might
give a handle to the hostile or scandal to the
weak. The writings of Ruysbroeck were
likewise among those which were the most
frequently transcribed and multiplied by
the copyists of the Devout Brothers of the
Common Life. A few years later one of the
most diligent and skilled of these scribes was
the future author of the Lmitation of Christ.

X
Ruysbroeck and Windesheim
In fact, widespread as was the influence of
Blessed John Ruysbroeck on his contem
poraries and incalculable as was the fruit of
his writings in the many cloisters, through
which they were rapidly diffused, the means
by which Divine Providence chose chiefly
to preserve and propagate his power was
precisely this friendship with Gerard Groote.
Gerard continually strove to imbue his own
disciples with the spirit which he had im
bibed from the Prior of Groenendael. For
himself and for his followers he took as a
1 rule of life the motto of Ruysbroeck, to make
it a chief study to meditate upon the life of
Jesus Christ. "Let the fountain-head of thy
58

IRu^sbroecn anb Winbesbeim 59
study and thy mirror of life be first the
Gospel of Christ, for there is the life of
Christ." The Scriptures should be read
rather than the Fathers, and the New
Testament more than the Old, for there is
the life of Christ. And herein again what is
profitable for a devout and spiritual life is
to be sought rather than the subtleties of
theology and the schools.
When a friend of Gerard's, Reinalt Minnen-
vosch, projected the founding of a monastery,
Groote advised him to establish a Priory of
Canons Regular on the model of Groenendael.
The Canonry of St. Saviour's at Emstein was
the result. At Groote's request, a professed
priest came from Groenendael to initiate
the new Religious into the Canonical Life ;
and later it was at Emstein that the first
members of Gerard's own Congregation of
Windesheim made their noviciate prepara
tory to Profession.

60 a fPebi&val fP^stic
This was after Gerard Groote's death, but
it was in accord with his express desire.
Wishful to establish a Religious Institute in
connection with his Devout Brothers and
Sisters of the Common Life, who, whether
lay or cleric, were dwelling together without
the binding force of the vows, Gerard fixed
upon the Order of Canons Regular for this
purpose, principally, so Thomas a Kempis
assures us, because of his profound venera
tion for the Prior and Brethren of Groen
endael. " He was moved to institute this
Order of Regulars chiefly by his singular
reverence and love for the venerable Dom
John Ruysbroeck, the first Prior of Gro
enendael, and of the other most exemplary
Brethren living there religiously in the
Regular Order."
For further information concerning the
Devout Brothers and the Windesheim Canons
the reader is referred to the various works

.Ruysbroeck anb Minbesbeim €1
which have been published of late years on
the Venerable a Kempis.* Both Brothers
and Canons were living examples of the
mystic teachings of Ruysbroeck put to the
test of daily practice. Flight from the
pleasures and vanities of the world, un
bounded humility, constant meditation on
the life and especially the Passion of Jesus
Christ, the most complete and absolute
abandonment to the Divine Will, an intense
devotion full of the personal love of God —
these were the salient points of Blessed John's
example and doctrine, perpetuated and pro
pagated by the works, words, and writings of
the Windesheim Canons Regular and their
* Especially : Outlines of the Life of Thomas a Kempis.
By Sir Francis Cruise. C.T.S. of Ireland. Thomas a
Kempis. By the same. London : Kegan Paul. Life
of the Venerable Thomas a Kempis. By Dom Scully.
London : Washbourne. Thomas a Kempis and the
Brothers of the Common Life. By Kettlewell. London :
Kegan Paul. Thomas a Kempis, His Age and His Book.
By De Montmorency, London : Methuen.

62 a fPebia_v>al fP^stic

secular associates, the Brothers of the Common
Life. It is scarcely needful to remark also
that these are the chief features of the
teaching of the Lmitation of Christ, that
golden little treatise, which, embodying the
whole spirit of the School of Windesheim
and Groenendael, has carried and still
carries light, healing, and consolation to
thousands upon thousands who have never
so much as heard of either Windesheim or
John Ruysbroeck.*
* Father Sharpe, in his recent admirable volume, Mysti
cism : Its True Nature and Value, writes thus of the mystic
teaching, properly so called, of a Kempis's world-famous
masterpiece : ' ' The Imitation of Christ . . . probably owes
much of its vast popularity to its constant recurrence to
the elementary duties of religion and morality, and its
insistence on the necessity of their performance as the
prerequisite of the more exalted spiritual states. The
'purgative,' 'illuminative,' and ' unitive ' ways- are
seen, so to speak, together, and are dealt with as aspects
or constituents of the Christian life as a whole, to the
completeness of which all three are necessary and, in differ
ent ways, of equal importance. The purely mystical
passages are comparatively few and short ; and the abun-

IRuysbroeck anb Winbesbetm 63
It may be mentioned here that in 1409
the Priory of Groenendael was instituted
the Mother-house of a congregation of that
name. But a few years later this congrega
tion, with its dependent Priories, was affiliated
to the more numerous Windesheim Canons.
Thus the twin institutes were merged into
one, and the Windesheim Congregation be-
dance of practical directions the book contains has some
times caused its mystical character to be entirely over
looked. This disproportion, however, is quite sufficiently
to be accounted for by the character of the work, which
is that of a directory of spiritual life in general, and not a
scientific treatise on any particular department of it. In
such a book attempts at describing the indescribable
phenomena of mysticism would obviously have been out
of place, whereas the practical details of the lower and
preliminary states admit of and require minute explana
tion. But the tone of the whole book is mystical, and the
most commonplace duties and the most humiliating striv
ings with temptation are in a manner illuminated and
glorified by the brilliancy of the result to which they tend.
Thus, in point of fact, the higher and lower elements, the
mystical and the non-mystical, the purgative, the illumi
native and the unitive, are blended in actual human ex
perience " (pp. 188, 189).

64 a fll>ebia.val fP^stic
came the direct heir of the virtues and
teaching of Blessed John Ruysbroeck. But
finally Windesheim was aggregated to the
Lateran Congregation of Canons Regular ;
and thus it is that to-day the Canons
Regular of the Lateran are privileged, with
the clergy of Mechlin, to keep with proper
Office and Mass the Feast of Blessed John
Ruysbroeck. Connected thus intimately with Gerard
Groote and Tauler, it is not surprising that
Ruysbroeck shares with these, as with a
Kempis, Suso, and others, the doubtful
honour of being proclaimed in certain
quarters as a precursor of the sixteenth-
century " Reformation." In support of
this position it is easy enough to gather
together expressions of the most poignant
sorrow and of the most bitter invective
for the lax morality of clergy and laity,
mendicant friars, and highly placed pre-

IRu^sbroecR anb Minbesbeim 65
lates. But the same argument would
convict several Popes of being heralds . of
Luther ! Not to labour the point at un
necessary length in a non-controversial work
of this kind, let it suffice to mention the
touchstone which never fails to distinguish
the genuine reformer from the mere sect
arian : while boldly attacking the vices of
those in office, Blessed John Ruysbroeck
never assails the office itself. He always
speaks in the most submissive and reverent
terms of the authority of the Church and
of the dignity of the priesthood. His
writings without exception treat in the
orthodox sense on the subject of grace,
the sacraments, etc. We have already re
marked his ardent devotion towards the
Blessed Eucharist. To this may be added
a most tender love for the Virgin Mother
of God. Note, finally, his frequent and
fervent exhortations to the perfect observ-
5

66 a fPebi^val fP^stic
ance of the three vows of religion, and one
can imagine how comfortable he would feel
in the company, say, of Luther and his
. renegade nun !

XI
The Writings of Ruysbroeck
Blessed John's writings cannot be called
voluminous, and yet for a purely contempla
tive author they are comparatively con
siderable. The list of his works authenti
cated up to the present — for earnest students
are at work, and other MSS. may yet be
discovered — comprises the following, giving
an English equivalent for the Old Flemish
or Latin titles : (i) The Kingdom of the
Lovers of God ; (2) The Splendour of the
Spiritual Espousals ; (3) The Brilliant ; (4)
Of Four Subtle Temptations ; (5) Of the
Christian Faith ; (6) Of the Spiritual Taber
nacle ; (7) Of the Seven Cloisters ; (8) The
Mirror of Eternal Life, or, a Treatise on the
67

68 a fPebiazvml fP^stte
Blessed Sacrament ; (9) The Seven Degrees of
Spiritual Love ; (10) Of the Supreme Truth ;
(11) The Twelve Beguines. And these others
are less certainly proved to be his : (12) Of
the Twelve Virtues ; (13) Seven Letters ; (14)
A Summary of the Spiritual Life ; (15) Two
Canticles ; (16) A Short Prayer.
Pending a complete and faithful English
rendering of all these works, the following
descriptive analysis of the principal of them
may not prove unacceptable.
The Kingdom of the Lovers of God
This treatise is a detailed interpretation
and a mystic application of the text
adapted from Wisdom x. 10 : Justum deduxit
Dominus per vias rectas et ostendit illi regnum
Dei in the Breviary Office of a Confessor.
Upon these words Ruysbroeck bases a division
of his work into five books. The first book

Gbe Writings of IRupsbroecR 69

treats of God, Dominus, His power and
sovereignty. In the second Blessed John
explains how Christ conducted, deduxit, man
into the liberty of the children of God, chiefly
by redemption and by the institution of the
seven Sacraments. In the third he treats
of the just man, justum, and works out eight
items which render a man just, both in the
active and in the contemplative life. The
fourth book expounds the right ways, vias
rectas, which lead to the Kingdom of God :
the exterior way, namely, the material universe
of three heavens and four elements, the con
templation of which should excite man to the
praise of the Creator ; the way of natural
light, the acquisition of the seven virtues ;
finally, the supernatural and divine way, the
infusion of the supernatural virtues and the
gifts of the Holy Ghost. In the last book
we have a disquisition on the kingdom of
God, ostendit illi regnum Dei, of which we

70 a fll>ebia.val fP^stic
are told there are five aspects or divisions :
the sensible kingdom, exterior to God, in
which the author finds scope for a descrip
tion of the last judgment and the qualities
of risen bodies, the kingdom of nature, the
kingdom of the Scriptures, the kingdom of
grace and of glory, and finally the Divine
Kingdom itself, which is God. This treatise
is full of reflections and considerations of
the most elevated order, and there is much
therein that is by no means easy to grasp
or understand.
The Splendour of the Spiritual Espousals
For his text Ruysbroeck takes Matt. xxv. 6,
Ecce, sponsus venit, exite obviam ei. He
makes a division into three books, treating
respectively of the active, the interior, and the
contemplative life. Each book is further
subdivided into four parts, corresponding to

£be Writings of IRu^sbroecR 71
the four divisions of the text in each stage
of perfection as follows. Ruysbroeck ex
pounds and illustrates (i) the role of the
vision, ecce ; man must turn his eyes to God ;
(2) the divers comings of the Bridegroom,
sponsus venit, the manner, namely, in which
God approaches the soul ; (3) the going forth
of the soul on the path of the virtues, exite ;
(4) and finally, the embrace of the soul and
the heavenly spouse. In no one work does
Blessed Ruysbroeck give a complete account r-
of his mystic teaching; but if his system
were to be examined and explained by any
one book, it would certainly be this of the
Spiritual Espousals. It has always been
considered as his chief work, and in this
light also Ruysbroeck himself seems to
have regarded it. He sent a copy of it
himself to his friends in Germany, and
expressed the desire that it might be multi
plied and made known even to the foot

72 a fPebi^val fPpstic
of the fnountains. In the four last chapters
of the second book the author confutes
some current errors of the day, apparently
the teachings of Bloemardinne and almost
certainly of Eckart. The Brilliant
Gerard Naghel tells us the story of the
origin of this treatise. One day Ruysbroeck
had been conversing with a certain hermit
on matters spiritual, when on parting the
latter begged the holy Prior to commit the
matter of his discourse to writing for the
edification of himself and others. To satisfy
his desire, says Naghel, Ruysbroeck com
posed this work, which contains instruction
sufficient to lead a man to perfection. The
treatise seems a supplement, and in some
sense a corrective of the Spiritual Espousals.
.After a brief description of the means by

tibe Writings of IRu^sbroecR 73
which the just man acquires the interior life
and rises thence to the contemplative, the
holy man shows how the precious stone, or
white counter, calculus candidus, of Rev. ii.
17, is no other than Christ Himself, Who
gives Himself without reserve to contempla
tive souls. God calls all men to intimate
union with Himself. But not all men respond
to His appeal. Sinners utterly despise the
invitation ; while the just respond, though
these again in varying degrees. Some keep
the commandments chiefly from fear of
the penalties attached to transgression ; they
are as mercenaries. Others sincerely en
deavour to conquer nature and unruly desires,
they have true faith in God, and God is the
only motive of their actions ; these are the
faithful servants. However, these still suffer
many impediments from the exterior life
which they lead, and a more intimate union
is attained by the intimate friends, who

74 a fPebiazval fP^stic
observe the counsels as well as the precepts.
Finally, the highest degree of union and
contemplation is attained by the hidden sons,
who are utterly divested of all self-love and
self-seeking, and whose life is hidden with
Christ in God.
Of Four Subtle Temptations
In this tract Ruysbroeck inveighs against
the chief errors and abuses of his own times.
The first, says Ruysbroeck, is love of ease
and comfort, indolence, the source of sensu
ality, and luxury, an abuse very prevalent
in monasteries and among the clergy. The
second is hypocrisy, which, under the cloak
of a seeming austerity, claiming even visions
and ecstasies, conceals a corrupt interior and
depraved morals. The third is the desire to
understand everything, to attain to the con
templation of the divine nature by the sheer

£be Writings of IRu^sbroecR 75
force of the intellect, without the assistance
of God's grace. The fourth and the most
formidable is the so-called liberty of spirit,
the error and heresy of those who, casting
aside all interior effort, pretend to acquire
contemplation by ludicrous mortifications,
by extravagant bodily posturing, and by a
senseless quietism. The third error is that of
Eckart, and the fourth was proper to the
Brothers and Sisters of the Free Spirit. Ruys
broeck concludes his tract with a discussion
of the ways and means of avoiding these
snares, viz. by holiness of life, the practice
of all the virtues, obedience to superiors and
the authority of the Church, and imitation
of Jesus Christ. Of the Christian Faith
A dogmatic commentary on the Athana-
sian Creed. Starting with the principle that

76 a rpebtev al fP^stic
the true Christian Faith is indispensable for
the union of the soul with God, Ruysbroeck
proceeds to explain the chief tenets of our
belief, and to show their bearing on the
interior life. His explanations are brief.,
his speculations sublime. The more forcibly
to exhort to the practice of virtue, he dwells
at considerable length on the last judgment,
on the rewards of the just, and on the
penalties decreed to each particular class of
sinner. His picture here of the happiness
of heaven and the sufferings of hell is most
apt and striking. Of the Spiritual Tabernacle
The most lengthy this of all Ruysbroeck's
works. It consists of a mystic interpreta
tion, a long-drawn-out allegory, in which
the Tabernacle of the Old Testament is
considered as a type of the course of loveL

Zbc Writings of IRu^sbroecR 77
The outer and the inner courts, the altar
of sacrifice, the hangings, the pillars and
their sockets, the rings, the names of the
workmen, the seven-branch candlestick, the
brazen laver, the priestly ornaments, the
ephod and the twelve stones, the holy oils
and the incense, the table of the loaves
of proposition, the different sacrifices with
the distinction between the clean and the
unclean animals, the holy of holies, the
ark and its appurtenances, — all are applied
with a wealth of detail, which, however,
never lacks dignity, and with a wondrous
skill to Ruysbroeck's usual three divisions
of the exterior moral life, the interior,
and the purely contemplative. The Taber
nacle was a subject which naturally lent
itself to allegory and to mystic interpreta
tion, and Hugh of St. Victor had already
preceded our author, as doubtless also he
inspired him with his De Area mystica.

78 a fPebi&vml fP^sttc
Though sometimes the thread is lost in the
multiplicity of details, this treatise is most
attractive and contains some of the best
pages of Blessed Ruysbroeck.
Of the Seven Cloisters
This was composed for a penitent of our
Saint, Margaret von Meerbeke, a Poor Clare
of Brussels, and it gives a rule of life for
Religious. The holy Prior traces out an
order of the day, insisting especially on
the need of cultivating the interior life ;
he mentions the virtues which his penitent
should exercise, and inveighs against the
abuses which have crept into convents,
pointing out the danger of communication
with the outer world. In all things Mar
garet should, imitate the example of her
foundress, St. Clare, who gained her glorious
place in Heaven by shutting herself up

£be Writings of IRu^sbroecR 79
within the seven cloisters. After dwelling
on these, viz., by expounding seven means
of retreating from the world and living
close to God, the author turns again to
practical details and condemns the softness
and luxury of certain Religious in their
dress. Each day, he says, should close
with a peep into three books : the book
of our own conscience, which shows the
imperfections which must be purified; the
book of the Life and Passion of our Lord,
which we should imitate ; and finally the
book of eternal life, to which we ought to
tend with all our strength.
The Mirror of Eternal Life
This also was addressed to a nun, probably
the same Poor Clare. It explains again the
three degrees of the mystic life, but with
special reference now to the cloister and the

80 a flDebiazval fPpstic
Blessed Eucharist. Some are in the purga
tive way : if they persevere in virtue and
progress in perfection, they shall partake of
the table, Ps. xxiii. 5, which is no other
than the banquet of the Holy Eucharist.
Ruysbroeck dwells on the virtues necessary
for the worthy reception of the Sacrament,
and narrates the manner of its institution by
our Divine Lord at the Last Supper, showing
what were the matter and form used by
Christ. He discourses on the evidence of
God's love to be found in this mystery of the
altar ; and then refutes objections as to the
manner of the Divine Presence, expressly
teaching Transubstantiation. Those who
approach the altar rails are divided by him
into seven classes, and here the author shows
a wondrous and intimate knowledge of the
working of the human heart. The treatise
closes with a description of the contemplative
life.

Gbe Writings of IRu^sbroecR 81

The Seven Degrees of Spiritual Love
In a simile familiar to spiritual writers of
all ages, Ruysbroeck compares life to a ladder,
or stairway of seven steps, leading up to
perfection and union with God. These stages
are respectively : (i) Conformity with the
holy will of God ; (2) Voluntary poverty ;
(3) Purity of soul and chastity of body ;
(4) Humility, with her four daughters, obedi
ence, gentleness, patience, and the forsaking
of self-will ; (5) The desire of the divine
glory, involving three spiritual exercises,
namely, acts of love and adoration, acts
of supplication, and acts of thanksgiving ;
(6) The contemplative and perfect life, by
which man finally attains the last stage of,
(7) sublime ignorance. (Compare Walter
Hilton's " darksome lightness " in his Scale
of Perfection.) 6

82 a fPebi^val fPpstic
Of the Supreme Truth
This treatise was issued by way of explana
tion of some difficult passages in his first
work, concerning especially the gift of counsel,
and indeed as a kind of defence and apology
of his whole mystic teaching. He protests
that he has never admitted that the creature
can be raised to a state of identity with God,
and once more he explains his conception of
the union of the soul with her Divine Spouse.
There is a union common to all the just,
brought about by the grace of God, with the
forsaking of vice, the practice of virtue, and
submission to the authority of the Church.
Then there is a more intimate union, like
unto that of fire andiron, which, when united,
seem but one matter, though in fact they
remain two distinct substances. Those who
attain this love God and live in His presence,
but as yet arrive not at a complete know-

t£be Mritings of 1Ru\>sbroecR 83
ledge of His essence. After this again there
is even a yet closer union, whereby the
Eternal Father and man become one, not
indeed with oneness of substantial unity,
but in a oneness of love and bliss. It is
evident that language here fails the holy
author to express the sublimity of his con
cept and his experience ; in his endeavour
to show the intimacy of this last method of
union he is driven to use expressions which,
taken as they stand, have that pantheistic
ring which it is his first object here to
disclaim. The Twelve Beguines
After the Tabernacle, this is the most
lengthy of our Saint's works, and it is of great
importance as throwing considerable light
on Ruysbroeck's ideas and system. We are
introduced to twelve Beguines discoursing
together on the love of Jesus Christ, whence

84 a fir>ebi*eval iPvstiC
an easy transit to the real subject-matter
of the tract, the contemplative life. To
attain the state of contemplation, four con
ditions are required : a ray of divine light,
producing illumination, whence, on the part
of the soul, a looking at God, or speculation,
passing into contemplation, and this stage
again merging into a state of sublime, ecstatic
love. There are four distinct acts or states
of love, corresponding respectively to each
of these stages. Ruysbroeck also shows
here the action of the Holy Ghost in forming
the soul to a more intimate knowledge of
God. The second part of the book then opens
with a fresh order of ideas. Ruysbroeck
divides mankind into good Christians and
wicked men. Holiness consists of the union
of the active and the contemplative life.
There are, however, some who practise neither
one nor the other and yet give themselves out

Gbe Writings of IRu^sbroecR 85
as the most holy of all. Among these Ruys
broeck proceeds to distinguish four kinds of
errors or heresies : (i) Errors against the
Holy Ghost and His Grace ; (2) Errors
against God the Father and His power ; (3)
Errors against God the Son and His Sacred
Humanity ; and finally errors against God
and all that makes up Christendom, namely,
the Scriptures, the Church, and the Sacra
ments. On the other hand, the good Christian
is one who loves God with all his heart and
mind and soul and strength.
Blessed John then goes on to discourse of
the Divine Nature in Unity and Trinity. He
also discusses man in his material and in his
spiritual nature. The spiritual part of man
alone, he says, can elevate him to the mystic
life (of which once more the three ways are
expounded), and alone also can show him
the reasons wherefore God created the
universe. The three ways of the mystic life

86 a fPebia.val fP^stic
are symbolised by the three heavens. The
stars and the planets exercise an influence
on terrestrial creatures, that is to say, upon
our bodies, for God alone can touch the soul,
leading it to good and restraining it from
evil. Thence also Ruysbroeck describes the
various temperaments of men by reference
to the planets and their conjunction with
the signs of the zodiac.
A chapter on our Divine Lord, held up as
the Model Religious, serves as a transition
to the third part, which is a treatise, largely
symbolical, on the Passion of Christ, divided
and subdivided according to the sequence
of the Canonical Hours.
This is perhaps the most discursive of Ruys
broeck's works, and in that sense the most
difficult to follow, because of the number and
length of the digressions. For instance, when
he comes to speak of the planet Venus, he
mentions the sign of the Balance, and this

£be Writings of .Ruysbroeck 87
suggests a whole treatise of thirty-nine
chapters on the Balance of Divine Love.
The love of God for us, and all the blessings,
spiritual and temporal, which flow from it, are
cast into one pan of the balance, and we must
weigh down the other pan with our virtues ;
and there follows a long disquisition on the
virtues we should practise, prominent among
which, as usual, he ranks humility. Here,
further, he finds occasion ,to work out his
distinction between the spirit and the reason
able soul ; and the whole digression closes
with a sad and striking comparison between
the fervour of primitive Christianity and the
laxity of his own days.
Bossuet very severely criticised this work,
holding it up as an example of forced alle
gories, and so forth, and speaking of Ruys
broeck as involved in the vain speculations
of astrologers. This opinion, though not
surprising, is not just, for the author is careful

88 a fPebiazval fPpstic

to insist that the planets have not influence
on the will of man as such. But it is natural
that Bossuet should regard such works with
suspicion and dislike, for he had considerable
trouble with false mystics, the quietists of
his own day ; and even Ruysbroeck's own
friends and contemporaries found much in the
volume that was strange, even to startling,
and Gerard Groote advised him not to publish
it in its entirety. Of the Twelve Virtues
The reader will not be surprised to learn
that Blessed John contrives here to speak
of considerably more virtues than just twelve.
The principal and first is said to be humility,
and this again twofold — one humility inspired
by the contemplation of the power of God,
the other by the consideration of His goodness.
The daughter of humility is obedience, and

ftbe Writings of 1Ru\>sbroecR 89
obedience naturally involves denial of self-
will, poverty of spirit, and patience in ad
versities. He then proceeds to treat very
beautifully and at length of interior detach
ment, remarking that to secure this it is not
necessary to flee external occupations, but
that the attainment of perfection consists in
a perfect abandonment to the will of God and
the forsaking of our own will. When we
have arrived thus far, we shall no longer sin.
For past sins there must be continued sorrow,
but external penances are not equally for all.
And those who cannot endure great bodily'
austerities must apply themselves to imitate
the austere life of Christ by interior self-denial.
The Letters of Ruysbroeck
These are spiritual letters, of course, con
ferences in epistolary form.
The first is addressed to Margaret van

90 a fPebiaeval flD^stic
Meerbeke, the Poor Clare of Brussels men
tioned above. Ruysbroeck writes : "When I
was at your convent last summer, you ap
peared sad ; methought God or some special
friend had forsaken you ; therefore am I
writing you as follows." And he proceeds to
console his spiritual daughter, and to warn
her against the dangers which may be found
even in the cloister. He declaims against the
abuses which sometimes creep into monas
teries, and almost always through self-will,
whereas every Religious should strive to have
all things in common, to be submissive to
superiors and affable to all. The holy author
closes with a description of the terrible
punishments to be meted out to those Re
ligious who fail to keep their rule and lead
a holy life.
The second, addressed to Matilda, the
widow of John of Culemberg, is of more im
portance. After treating of the Apostles'

Gbe Writings of .Ruysbroeck 91
Creed, the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, the
Decalogue, the vows of religion and the pre
cepts of the Church, the Incarnation and
death of Christ, Ruysbroeck expounds the
Catholic doctrine on the seven Sacraments,
and especially the Blessed Eucharist. He
describes the fruits which flow from a
worthy Communion, and treats again of
the three ways of the contemplative life,
and describes the elements of superessential
contemplation. The third was sent to three Recluses of
Cologne. Blessed John exhorts them to
persevere in their holy manner of life. He
treats of the spiritual life, comparing Christ
to the precious pearl, the hidden treasure.
And finally he earnestly exhorts them to
constant meditation on the Passion of Our
Lord. The fourth was addressed to Catherine of
Louvain, a devout young lady living in the

92 a fPebi^val fP^stic
world ; and the other three were likewise
sent to persons in the world. All are full of
wise spiritual maxims, and all insist on the
need of humility and the abnegation of self-
will.

XII
The Teaching of Ruysbroeck *
In no one work, as already remarked, does
Blessed John Ruysbroeck give a complete
outline of his doctrines ; the elements rather
are to be found dispersed among the various
treatises. In common with most of the German
mystics, Ruysbroeck starts from God and
comes down to man, and thence rises again
to God, showing how the two are so closely
united as to become one. In His essence
God is simple unity, the one supremely pure
* The whole subject of mystic theology is excellently
well treated by Rev. A. B. Sharpe, M.A., in a volume
entitled Mysticism : Its True Nature and Value, already
quoted, just published by Sands & Co. There is frequent
reference to our Saint and his writings.
93

94 a fPebiazvml fP^stic
and supernatural being, devoid of all mode,
in Himself still and immovable, and yet at
the same time the first cause and active
principle of all things. This principle is the
divine nature, which does not in reality differ
from the essence, and which is fruitful in the
Trinity. The Father is the essential principle,
and yet He is consubstantial with the other
two Persons. The Son, the uncreated Image
of the Father, is the Eternal Wisdom. The
Holy Ghost, proceeding from the other two,
9
and returning unto them, is the eternal Love,
which unites Father and Son. As regards
Persons, God is eternally active : as regards
essence, He abides in unbroken repose.
Creatures have been existing as ideas in God
from all eternity.
In man, whose body is merely a perishable
instrument, there is a spiritual, immortal
principle, like unto God, though less than
He. In this principle Ruysbroeck distin-

tibe Geacbing of 1Ru\>sbroecR 95
guishes, with a distinction of the reason, soul
and spirit ; the former is the principle of the
merely human life, uniting together the lower
powers ; the other is the principle of man's
supernatural life in God, gathering together
his higher faculties. The soul has four inferior
powers : the irascible, and the concupiscible,
which two become bestial when not under
the ruling of a virtuous will ; reason, by which
man is distinguished from the brute, and
freedom of choice, an exercise of the higher
faculty of the will. The spirit has the three
superior faculties, memory, understanding,
and will. In every man likewise there is a
triple unity, or oneness : the unity of the
lower faculties in the soul, the unity of the
higher in the spirit, and the unity of the
whole being in God, on Whom all things
essentially depend for their being.
Blessed John delivers the accepted teaching
of the Church on the Fall, the Incarnation and

96 a flDebiazval fP^stic
Redemption, on the need and on the means
of divine grace, the institution of the Sacra
ments, the establishment of the Church, the
gifts of the Holy Ghost, etc.
But coming now to his more purely mys
tical doctrine, we find that Ruysbroeck dis
tinguishes three degrees, or states — the active
life, the interior life, and the contemplative life.
The active life consists of the effort to conquer
sin and to draw nigh to God by exterior works.
Here in Christ is the Divine Exemplar, for
in His life He practised the three fundamental
virtues of humility, charity, and patience.
Humility is the foundation of the whole
building, and it is exercised chiefly in obedi
ence, which engenders the abdication of our
own will, and patience, or submission in all
things to the holy will of God. When a man
has arrived so far, he can exercise charity,
shown at this stage chiefly by compassion for
Christ suffering on the Cross for all men, and

Ube TTeacbing of .Ruysbroeck 97
bringing with her the four cardinal virtues of
prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice,
whereby also the Christian is enabled to fight
and conquer his three deadly enemies, the
devil, the world, and the flesh. Perseverance
in this active life is crowned by union with
God, a union wherein God alone is regarded
as the exemplar and the final end, wherein He
alone is sought and loved. Thus does a man
become a Faithful Servant.
As yet, however, there is only an imperfect
knowledge of God, and to become more closely
united with God, as an Intimate Friend, one
must strive to attain the second stage of the
mystic way, namely the interior life. For
this three preliminary conditions are requisite.
On the part of God, there must be a yet
stronger movement of divine grace, and on
the part of man, an absolute recollection,
with freedom from sensible images, attach
ments, and cares, and then the gathering 7

98 a fPebi^val fP^stic
together of all the powers in the unity of the
Spirit. Christ, then, the Eternal Sun, enkindles
in the soul thus duly prepared a divine fire,
which engenders a warm, sensible love, a
devotion full of ardent desires, with thankful
ness for the divine mercies and affliction at
one's own unworthiness. Then, as the action
of the sun draws up the moisture in the form
of vapour, to fall back again in refreshing
and fertilising showers of rain, so if the soul
persevere Christ sends down a fresh shower
of consolations, which fill the whole being
with a chaste pleasure and an indescribable
sweetness, superior to all the delights of the
earth, rising even to a species of spiritual
intoxication, which may manifest itself in
outward acts. As yet there are no severe
trials for the soul, but she must beware of
pride and presumption, and of leaning too
much on these sensible delights instead of on
the Divine Giver. Meanwhile the Sun of

tibe tleacbing of 1Ru\>sbroeck 99
Justice is reaching its apogee in the heavens,
and Christ draws up all the powers of the
soul, so that the heart is enlarged and fit to
burst with love, and at the same time it begins
to suffer from the wound of love, because of
the urgency of the power drawing upward
and its own impotency to follow ; whence also
a spiritual languishing, a very madness and
impatience, or fever of love, capable even of
wasting the bodily strength. Love is liable
to be so intense at this stage, that visions
and ecstacies are granted ; but at the same
time care must be taken against the delusions
of the evil one.
But thence the Sun enters on the sign of
the Virgin and its downward path, that is,
Christ hides Himself and deprives the soul
of the warmth of sensible love and the like.
It is the autumn, the time of gathering the
really ripe and. lasting fruits ; but to the
soul a time of seeming abandonment, aridity,

ioo a fPebi&vml fP^stic
darkness, etc. She must then beg the prayers
of others, be glad to leave herself in God's
hands, willing to suffer and to sacrifice all
sweetness. Likewise, she must be careful
not to compromise God's favour by seeking
earthly pleasures and delights, the consola
tions of human friendship, and so forth.
Then there is a second coming of the Divine
Spouse, bringing with Him the gifts of the
Holy Ghost, whereby He adorns the three
supreme faculties of the spirit. Pure sim
plicity empties the memory of all external
images and renders it stable. Spiritual
brightness gives the intelligence a sure dis
cernment of the virtues. And a spiritual
fervour arouses the will to a boundless love
for God and men.
There is yet a third coming, which affects
the supreme union of the spirit with God. It
is a species of intimate contact with God in
the very depths of the soul. The intellect

tibe tleacbing of .Ruysbroeck 101
cannot comprehend the manner of this union,
it can only witness its effects upon the
reason and the will. The power of loving
increases with the intimacy of this union,
and the intimacy increases the power of
love ; and hence also a kind of loving strife
ensues, each wishing to possess the other
and each wishing to give himself to the
other utterly.
This is the apogee of the interior life, the
meeting, the union of the soul with God. It
may be brought about in three different ways :
(i) Man, struck by a light coming forth from
God, forsakes all images ; he is plunged into
the union of fruitive love ; he meets God
without any medium, a spirit like unto
Him ; it is the state of absolute repose in
God, utter emptiness and leisure. (2) At
other times man adores God and consumes
himself in continual love, which ceaselessly
feeds on the presence of God ; it is the mediate

102 a fPebiaeval fP^stic
stage, the state of affective love, needful for
the attainment of the preceding. (3) Finally,
it is possible to unite enjoyment with activity :
man enjoys a most profound peace and pro
duces all the acts of love ; he receives God
and His gifts in the superior faculties, images
and sensations in the lower powers ; it is the
most perfect state, the state of combined
activity and repose.
Even so, it is not the most sublime state.
Above the interior life there is the super-
essential contemplative life ; above the faith
ful friends there are the Intimate Sons of God.
This third stage of perfection can never be
acquired by any act of the intelligence or
will ; and so sublime is it that he only who
has experienced it can attempt its description,
and then in terms the most halting and im
perfect. This contemplation consists in an
absolute purity and simplicity of the under
standing ; it is a knowledge and possession of.

tibe Ceacbing of .Ruysbroeck 103
God, without modes, without limits, without
medium, without any consciousness of the
difference of His qualities. Nevertheless, it
is not God, it is the light by which He is seen.
It is the death and destruction of self to
behold only the Being eternal and absolute.
Its essence is union with God, the still con
templation of God, abandonment to God, so
that He alone acts, and not the soul. This
repose of the spirit engenders a supernatural
contemplation of the Trinity without any
medium, a feeling of bliss unspeakable, a
sublime ignorance ; the last consciousness of
the difference between God and the creature
— being and nothingness — disappears.
This is the honeymoon of Christ with the
soul, to which the preceding stages are only
a preparation. The spirit is led from bright
ness to brightness ; and since no medium
comes between it and the divine splendour,
since the brightness by which it sees is the

104 a fPebiazvml fP\>stic
light itself which it sees, in a certain sense
itself becomes this brightness ; it attains a
consciousness of its own superessential being,
of the unity of its essence in God.

XIII
Some Appreciations
Arrived thus at the summit of mystic specu
lation, Ruysbroeck finds himself on the
confines of pantheism. However, he con
stantly insists, as we have already remarked,
on the essential difference between the created
spirit and the Spirit Eternal. Man, he says,
must become deiform as far as that is possible
for the creature ; in the union with God it
is not the difference of personality which is
destroyed, it is only the difference of will and
of thought, the desire to be anything apart
in oneself which must disappear. He de
clares : " There where I assert that we are
one in God, I must be understood in this
sense that we are one in love, not in essence
or in nature." His own strenuous oppo-
105

106 a fPebi^val fP^stic
sition to the pantheists of his day proves his
orthodoxy in this matter ; yet it must be
confessed again that from the very nature
of his sublime discourse, his expressions are
at times exceedingly bold and seemingly
unorthodox. The truth is that the resources
of human language prove inadequate to de
scribe even the foretaste on earth of that
" which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
nor hath it entered into the heart of man to
conceive." In B. John's own lifetime Gerard Groote
was alarmed, and wrote once to the Canons
of Groenendael of a Doctor in Theology, and
of one Henry of Hesse, who had declared that
the Spiritual Espousals contained errors.
Twenty years after Ruysbroeck's death, John
Gerson, the famous Chancellor of Paris, in a
letter to one Bartholomew, a Carthusian, who
had given him a copy of this treatise, praises
the first two books, but declares that the

Some appreciations 107
¦third teaches a kind of pantheism. This
charge brought forth a lengthy and spirited
defence from a Canon Regular of Groenendael,
named John Scoenhoven ; and then in a
second letter Gerson maintained his objec
tions, but acquitted the holy author of all
intentional error. A similar stand was taken
later by Bossuet, who excuses Ruysbroeck
but condemns his manner of expression. It
must be remembered that these two were
engaged in confuting false mystics, and
naturally they would discredit the writings of
even a holy man, however orthodox, which
would appear to favour the erroneous tenets
of their opponents. Once more, we remark
that not only was Ruysbroeck manifestly free
from all culpable error, but throughout in his
own mind he never lost sight of the essential
^distinctions, though at times his language
must necessarily sound exaggerated to un
accustomed ears.

108 a fPebt&v al flD^stic
On the other hand, to outweigh the un
favourable opinion of these two French
critics, we have a host of writers of Ruys
broeck's own and subsequent days who not
only defend the orthodoxy of his writings,
but who also speak of them in terms of the
deepest admiration, and regard their author
almost as inspired.
We have already seen the esteem in which
the holy Prior of Groenendael and his writings
were held by Tauler, Gerard Groote, and the
Venerable Thomas a Kempis, and the vigour
with which his memory was vindicated by
John of Scoenhoven. But his advocates
were by no means confined to the limits of
his own Order, period, or country.
Henry van Herp, a Franciscan, compiled
a Mirror of Perfection, taken almost exclu
sively from the Spiritual Espousals ; and
by his means the teachings of Blessed
Ruysbroeck were propagated among the

Some appreciations 109
followers of St. Francis, particularly of the
Third Order.
Denys the Carthusian is unstinted in his
praises. He calls him the Divine Doctor.
" I name him the Divine Doctor," he writes,
" because his only master was the Holy Ghost.
Of this the abundance of wisdom wherewith
he was gifted is a sure guarantee. . . Ignorant
man as I am, . I confess that nowhere have
I found such sublimity and such knowledge,
save in the works of Denys the Areopagyte.
But in his writings the difficulty arises especi
ally from the style, whereas it is not so with
the Prior of Groenendael. ... As they say
of Hugh of St. Victor that he is another St.
Augustin, so I will say of Ruysbroeck that he
is another Denys the Areopagyte."
Thomas of Jesus, a Carmelite, in his
De Divina Oratione, frequently quotes from
Ruysbroeck and adopts his method.
The Carthusian Surius translated all the

no a fPebiaeval fP^stic
works of Ruysbroeck into Latin, and this
translation has been the chief source of
familiarity with the Belgian mystic for readers
and writers not acquainted with his native
tongue. The following extracts from the
Lntroduction to Surius's translation seem worth
quoting for the sake of some who may imagine
that the works of Blessed John Ruysbroeck
can be of profit only to those who are far
advanced in the contemplative life :
"I do not believe there is a man who can
approach these magnificent and simple pages
without great and singular profit. Let none
excuse himself from reading this book on the
plea of the inaccessible sublimity of Ruys
broeck. The great man has accommodated
himself to all, and the most abandoned soul
on earth may find again on reading him the
path of salvation. Arrows dart from the pages
of Ruysbroeck, aimed by no hand of man, but
by the hand of God ; and deeply they embed

Some appreciations m
themselves in the soul of the reader who is a
sinner. Innocent reader, reader of unstained
robe, Ruysbroeck is at once most lowly and
most sublime. In his description of the
Spiritual Espousals he surpasses admiration,
he surpasses praise ; all the commencement,
all the progrjess, all the height, all the trans
cendent perfection of the spiritual life is
there." It was from Surius that the Benedictine
Blosius, or Louis de Blois, learned to know
and appreciate Ruysbroeck. His works are
impregnated with the teachings of the Mystic
of Groenendael, and his well-known Con-
solatio Pusillanimum (Comfort for the Faint
hearted) is replete with extracts taken from
Ruysbroeck. Lessius, the Jesuit Theological Professor
of Louvain University, used to say that he
read Blessed John Ruysbroeck daily ; and
he would add that if his holy works had

ti2 a fPebteval fustic
emanated from the Society they would not
have remained in obscurity so long.
In more recent times Ernest Hello brought
our Saint to France by a translation of
extracts, prefaced by an anonymous con
temporary life, which was first published in
1869. In his own Introduction, Hello writes :
"Among those who, soaring beyond the
realms of human light, have sought refuge in
the shadow of the great altar, the grandest,
according to Denys the Carthusian, are St.
Denys the Areopagyte and John Ruysbroeck
the Admirable. St. Denys lays down the
general laws of mystic theology, John Ruys
broeck applies them. St. Denys presents
the lamp, John Ruysbroeck kindles the flame.
Both are blind with excess of light, both
immovable with excess of motion. Speech
with them is a visit paid to men from motives
of charity. Silence is their native land. The
beauty of their language is the condescen-

Some appreciations 113
dence of their goodness ; the sacred darkness
in which they spread their eagle wings is
their ocean, their booty, their glory."
Reviewing the work of Hello, Louis Veuil-
lot, the French Catholic publicist, remarked :
" Ruysbroeck was illiterate. He was a
humble Flemish priest of the fifteenth century.
None the less, in the order of genius the un
cultured Ruysbroeck, as a theologian, and
consequently as a philosopher and a poet,
is as far above Bossuet as Dante, for instance,
is above Boileau. Face to face with the
mysteries that shroud God and man, Bossuet
seeks, argues, and, so to speak, gropes ; Ruys
broeck knows, describes, or rather sings, and
contemplates. This illiterate mystic of an
obscure age finds himself at home in the sub
lime as in his own sphere ; he speaks of what
is familiar to him ; the wise doctor of the
world remains without. Bossuet does not
enter, he does not open, he does not see.
8

114 a fPebiaeval fPpstic
Bossuet spins words, Ruysbroeck pours out
streams of light. It seems as if Bossuet
were that mighty wind which was heard in the
Upper Chamber ; the brief words of Ruys
broeck are the tongues of fire, living and
enlightening flame."
Truly has Time brought its revenge in such
a comparison by a compatriot of Bossuet
with Ruysbroeck.
Finally, Maeterlinck brought out his trans
lation of the Spiritual Espousals in 1891 with
a characteristic appreciation of the Flemish
mystic. And Maeterlinck's name has given a
strong impetus to the popularity, so to speak,
of Blessed Ruysbroeck in modern France.
But neither of these translations can be
regarded as authoritative or exact.
The real, scholarly work towards extending
and encouraging the cult of Blessed John
Ruysbroeck, whether among the learned or
the devout, is being performed, as is seemly,

Some appreciations 115

in the Catholic University of his native Bel
gium, namely, at Louvain, where a Chair
has been instituted for the study of Old
Flemish, chiefly for the sake of a correct un
derstanding and rendering of the writings
of the Holy Mystic of Groenendael.
And here we may note that while it is
customary with some to speak of Ruysbroeck
as illiterate, this term must be taken in a
strictly limited sense. Possibly, he could not
have composed in fluent and elegant Latin :
he was not a classical scholar ; but certainly
the Latin of the Bible and the Fathers was
quite familiar to him. His writings, moreover,
display an intimate knowledge of the Scrip
tures, the Fathers, theology, liturgy, apolo
getics. The natural science of the day was not
unknown, as witness his applications from
astronomy, and, it must be confessed, from
astrology. With St. Denys the Areopagyte
he shows himself very intimate, and his pages

n6 a flf>ebi#\>al fP^stic
contain whole passages borrowed or adapted
from St. Anselm, St. Ambrose, St. Gregory,
and especially St. Augustin. Nearer his
own days St. Bernard and Hugh of St. Victor
seem to have influenced him very consider
ably. Experts in Old Flemish assure us that his
style is most chaste, his language vigorous
and clear. He was in truth a poet. When
carried away by the beauty or sublimity of
his subject, he indulges in a wealth of imagery,
comparison, metaphor, astounding at times
in boldness and originality. Occasionally
even he lapsed into verse ; but on the whole
his verse is of less beauty and strength than
his prose, as he himself seems to have been
aware. On the other hand, his prose, after
the manner of St. Bernard, St. Bonaventure,
the two Victors, and later Thomas a Kempis,
frequently gives evidence of deliberate rhythm
and rhyme. In a word, far from being illite-

Some appreciations 117

rate in the strict sense of the word, Blessed
John was well acquainted with all the rules
and arts of rhetoric ; he knew how to employ
them ; and for all the sublimity of his dis
course he did not disdain the use of these
aids to interest and persuasion. Finally, it
is to be noted that we are expressly informed
by contemporaries of Ruysbroeck that he
wrote by preference in the vulgar tongue, the
more readily and effectively to meet and
refute the erroneous doctrines published in
the language of the people by the false
mystics of his day.

XIV
Last Days
Of the life of our Saint there remains little
to be told save the record of the last days
and the after glory. He had attained the
good old age of eighty-eight, when his mother
appeared in a vision to warn him to make
ready for the approaching end. It must seem
to us there was little need for such warning to
one whose whole life had been one long pre
paration for the coming of the Spouse ! He
was taken with dysentery, accompanied by
fever, and for his greater comfort, and that
his lifelong friend van Coudenberg might be
at hand to console and assist him, they put
him to bed in the Provost's chamber. But
the humble Prior besought them to treat him
as any of the lowliest brethren and to bear
118

Xast 2>a^s 119

him to the common infirmary. This was
accordingly done. There he lay for a fort
night, gradually wasting away with the burn
ing fever, and still more, doubtless, with his
burning desires to be dissolved and to be with
Christ, for he was constantly heard murmur
ing such ejaculations as that of the Psalmist,
Sicut desiderat cervus ad fontes aquarum. He
received all the last rites, and the end came
in the greatest peace, while his weeping
brethren prayed around him, on the Octave
day of St. Catherine, V.M., December 2, 1381,
in the eighty-eighth year of his age, the sixty-
fourth of his priesthood.
That same night the Dean of Diest,
watching by the holy remains, seemed to
behold our Saint, clad in the priestly vest
ments and all radiant with glory, ascend the
altar steps as if to celebrate the sacred mys
teries. The Dean had always held Ruys
broeck in the deepest veneratign and, having

120 a fPebiazval fP^stic
some skill in medicine, he had come over to
Groenendael on hearing of the Prior's illness
to see whether he could administer any relief.
His charity was rewarded by the edifying
sight of his happy death, and by this con
soling vision after.
And, as the Venerable a Kempis informs
us, " God also revealed to Gerard [Groote]
the death of this most beloved Father, which
revelation he made manifest in the hearing
of many of the citizens by the tolling of the
bells ; and more privately he made known
to certain of his friends that the soul of the
Prior, after but one hour of Purgatory, had
passed to the glory of Heaven." We may
note here that a Kempis himself was a child
of three years when Ruysbroeck was called
to his reward. Gerard Groote followed his
friend and spiritual father to the grave three
years later.
The Groenendael Canons offered the holy

Xast ©a^s 121

Sacrifice and all the wonted suffrages for their
departed Prior's repose, but they prayed with
the conviction that they needed his impetra-
tion rather than he theirs. They were all
eager to possess themselves of any little thing
which had been his. Some cut off locks of
his hair, and one managed to secure a tooth !
Appropriately enough, this relic later cured a
Mechlin lady of a severe attack of toothache.
However, in all simplicity the Brethren laid
Blessed John to rest in the little chapel which
his own hands had helped to raise.
Five years later his saintly associate, the
Provost Francis van Coudenberg, rejoined
him beyond the grave. The Bishop of Cam-
brai, John T'Serclaes, came to assist at the
obsequies. During his visit he heard so
much of the heroic virtues of the late Prior
that he ordered an exhumation of Ruys
broeck's body with a view to a more honour
able burial by the side of the Provost in the

122 a flDebi&vml fP^stic
new church, which had now replaced the
little chapel. They were all filled with awe
and wonder to find the entire body, save
only the tip of the nose, incorrupt, and the
priestly vestments intact. Also a most sweet
odour exhaled from the holy remains. To
satisfy the devotion of the people, the Bishop
commanded that the body should be ex
posed to their veneration for three days.
On the third day, amid a vast concourse of
the faithful, Ruysbroeck was laid to rest by
the side and in the tomb of his lifelong
friend van Coudenberg. Over the sepulchre
was placed the following simple inscription :
Hie facet translatus Devotus Pater
D. Joannes de Ruysbroeck
L. Prior hujus monasterii
Qui obiit anno Domini
MCCCLXXXL
IL. Die Decembris

ILast Da^s 123

" Here lies transferred the Devout Father,
Dom John of Ruysbroeck, First Prior of this
cloister, who departed in the year of the
Lord 1381, December 2."

XV
The Cultus of Blessed John Ruysbroeck
Numerous pilgrims now wended their way
to visit Ruysbroeck's tomb. Ex-votos were
suspended there in acknowledgment of
favours received. His picture also was
honoured in various churches. And each
year on the Monday following Trinity Sunday
the Chapter of St. Gudule's came over to
Groenendael to assist the Canons at a Mass
sung in his honour. In a word, on all sides
the holy Prior was regarded and, as far as
possible, treated as a Saint in glory.
Yielding to representations and entreaties
from many quarters, James Roonen, Arch
bishop of Mechlin, ordered another transla
tion of the remains, November 1622. This
124

tibe Cultus of .Ruysbroeck 125
was duly performed with all the prescribed
formalities. The skeleton was found entire.
The bones were carefully taken and reverently
washed and then placed in a new reliquary.
The water used in this cleansing emitted a
delicious odour, and it was afterwards instru
mental in effecting many miraculous cures.
The Infanta Isabella of Spain laid the founda
tion stone of a chapel to be erected at her
expense near Ruysbroeck's Tree as a suitable
shrine for the relics. She also provided a
magnificent sarcophagus. As this chapel was
outside the monastic enclosure, ladies were
now able to pay their devotions at Ruys
broeck's tomb itself, whereas hitherto they
had been able to reverence the relics only
from a distance.
So far, however, no authoritative recognition
of the heroic virtues of John Ruysbroeck had
come from Rome. In 1624 the Archbishop
commissioned the learned Albert le Mire to

126 a fPebi&val mystic
draw up the necessary preliminary docu
ments to be submitted to the Sacred Con
gregation. These were approved, and three
commissioners were appointed to initiate
the apostolic process, so called. Their labours
were completed by 1627. Then, on account
of the wars and other troubles which afflicted
the Low Countries at the time, the Cause
was suspended.
When the French overran the Netherlands
in 1667, to prevent profanation of the holy
relics, they were carried to a place of greater
safety in Brussels ; they were restored again
in 1670. In 1783 the Priory itself shared
the fate of so many other Religious Houses,
and was suppressed by the Emperor Joseph II.;
whereupon the relics were again transferred
to Brussels and laid to rest in a side-chapel
of St. Gudule's.
Another attempt was then made by the
Chapter of St. Gudule's to obtain from Rome

tibe Cultus of IRu^sbroeck 127
an authorised Office and Mass in honour of
John Ruysbroeck. The petition was favour
ably received ; but once more there was a
violent interruption, this time from the up
heaval of the French Revolution.
St. Gudule's was sacked by the sans
culottes in 1793, and the reliquary of Ruys
broeck was desecrated. It is said, however,
that the relics were not actually dispersed,
and that they were afterwards sealed up
again by a Notary named Neuwens ; but
unhappily at the present day all trace of
them has disappeared.
Finally, in 1885, the late Cardinal Goosens,
Archbishop of Mechlin, approached the Sacred
Congregation once more, and a tribunal was ap
pointed to examine into the Cause, February 8,
1900. This was brought to a happy issue in
1908 by a Decree of the Sacred Congregation,
dated December 1st, and approved by His
Holiness, PiusX., December 9, confirming the

128 a fPebiasval fppstic
cultus " shown from time immemorial to the
Venerable Servant of God, John Ruysbroeck,
Canon Regular, called the Blessed." Later,
August 24, 1909, the Congregation granted
and approved an Office and Mass of Blessed
John Ruysbroeck for the Mechlin clergy.
The privilege of this Office and Mass has also
been extended to the Canons Regular of
the Lateran, who are the lineal representa
tives of the Canons of Groenendael and
Windesheim, and therefore in a special sense
the children of Blessed John.
For the moment there may seem to be
but little in common between this Mediaeval
Mystic and the bustling modern world, so
little as to suggest the thought that Blessed
Ruysbroeck can have no message to deliver
to our day. On the contrary, the Solitary
of the Forest of Soignes stands for a profound
truth, oblivion of which is rendering Society
sick unto death to-day. John Ruysbroeck

tibe Cultus of IRupsbroeck 129
preaches to the world its utter need of
God. For the Catholic he enforces his lesson in
a special manner. Unlike false mystics, who
invariably pretend to dispense themselves
and their adherents from the chief normal
means of grace, namely the Sacraments,
Ruysbroeck insists upon frequent recourse
to the Sacraments, but more especially to the
Blessed Eucharist, as the speediest and most
efficacious means of bringing each soul into
true union with God. Our present Holy
Father, desirous and ambitious of " restoring
all things in Christ," has pointed to the
same divine remedy for the renewal of our
souls. May there not be seen in this a
providential reason wherefore the solemn
beatification of this holy Religious has been
delayed six centuries, to be reserved to our
own days ?
The proper prayers of our Saint's Mass
9

i3o a fPebi&val fppstic
beautifully summarise the lessons of his life
as follows : Collect
O God, Who didst vouchsafe to adorn
Blessed John, Thy Confessor, with sublime
holiness of life and with heavenly gifts,
grant us, through his merits, and after his
example, to despise the fleeting things of
the world, and to desire only the joys of
heaven. Secret
May the intercession of Blessed John,
who in offering the Sacrifice merited to
overflow with heavenly delights, make us
worthy, we beseech Thee, Lord, of the
bread of angels. Post-Communion
We beseech Thee, O Lord, by the inter-

tibe Cultus of .Ruysbroeck 131
cession of Blessed John, grant to us who are
refreshed with the heavenly banquet, that,
delivered from worldly desires, we may be
ever fervent in Thy love.

FINIS

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