John of Ruusbroec

This article is about the 14th-century mystic. For the 15th-century architect, seeJan van Ruysbroek (architect).

John of RuusbroecorJan van Ruusbroec(pronounced[ˈjɑɱvɑnˈryzbruk];1293/1294 – 2 December 1381), sometimes modernizedRuysbroeck,was anAugustiniancanonand one of the most important of the medievalmysticsof theLow Countries.Some of his main literary works includeThe Kingdom of the Divine Lovers,The Twelve Beguines,The Spiritual Espousals,A Mirror of Eternal Blessedness,The Little Book of Enlightenment,andThe Sparkling Stone.Some of his letters also survive, as well as several short sayings (recorded by some of his disciples, such as Jan van Leeuwen). He wrote in the Dutch vernacular, the language of the common people of the Low Countries, rather than in Latin, the language of the Catholic Church liturgy and official texts, in order to reach a wider audience.

Blessed John van Ruysbroeck Can. Reg.
The blessed John van Ruysbroeck
Doctor Divinus Ecstaticus
Born	c. 1293–4 Ruisbroek,Duchy of Brabant,Holy Roman Empire
Died	2 December 1381(1381-12-02)(aged 87–88) Groenendael, Duchy of Brabant, Holy Roman Empire
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Beatified	9 December 1908 byPope Pius X
Feast	2 December
Attributes	canonical habit

John of Ruusbroec
John of RuysbroekbyAntony van der Does
Born	Jan van Ruysbroeck
Notable work	The Sparkling Stone The Spiritual Espousals
Era	medieval philosophy mysticism
Region	Western philosophy Rheno-Flemish spirituality
Main interests	Theology,ascetic theology,mystical theology
Notable ideas	Passion of Christ,ascetism,detachment,humility,charity,Christian universalism

Life

Until his ordination

John had a devout mother, who brought him up in theCatholic faith;nothing is known about his father. John'ssurname,Van Ruusbroec,is not a surname in the modern sense but atoponymicthat refers to his nativehamlet- modern-dayRuisbroeknearBrussels.

At the age of eleven he left his mother, departing without leave or warning, to place himself under the guidance andtuitionof his uncle,Jan Hinckaert,a canon regular ofSt. Gudule's,Brussels. Hinckaert was living according to his Apostolic views with a fellow-canon,Frank van Coudenberg.This uncle provided for Ruysbroeck's education with a view to thepriesthood.In due course, Ruysbroeck was presented with aprebendin St. Gudule's, and ordained in 1318. His mother had followed him to Brussels, entered aBéguinagethere, and died shortly before hisordination.

Priest in Brussels

From 1318 until 1343 Ruysbroeck served as a parish priest at St. Gudula. He continued to lead, together with his uncle Hinckaert and Van Coudenberg, a life of extreme austerity and retirement. At that time theBrethren of the Free Spiritwere causing controversy in the Netherlands and one of them, a woman namedHeilwige Bloemardinne,was particularly active in Brussels, propagating her beliefs chiefly by means of popular pamphlets. Ruysbroeck responded with pamphlets also written in the native tongue (Middle Dutch). Nothing of these treatises remains. The controversy had a permanent effect on Ruysbroeck: his later writings bear constant reference, direct and indirect, to thehereticalviews expressed in these times, and he always wrote in the country's native language, chiefly with a view to counteract these writings which he viewed as heretical.

Priest in Groenendaal

The desire for a more retired life, and possibly also the persecution which followed Ruysbroeck's attack on Bloemardinne, induced Ruysbroeck, Jan Hinckaert (d. 1350) and Vrank van Coudenberg (d. 1386) to leave Brussels in 1343 for thehermitage of Groenendaal,in the neighbouringSonian Forest,which was made over to them byJohn III, Duke of Brabant.The ruins of the monastery are still present in the forest of Soignes.

Excerpt from "A Mirror of Eternal Blessedness" of the manuscript "Werken". Composed in Bergen-op-Zoom in 1480. Kept atUniversity Library of Ghent.

Many disciples joined the little company. It was then that it was found expedient to organize into a duly-authorized religious body. The hermitage was erected into a community of canons regular on 13 March 1349, and eventually it became the motherhouse of a congregation, which bore its name of Groenendaal. Francis van Coudenberg was appointed firstprovost,and John Ruysbroeckprior.Hinckaert refrained from making the canonical profession lest the discipline of the house should suffer from the exemptions required by the infirmities of his old age; he dwelt, therefore, in a cell outside thecloisterand there a few years later died.

This period, from his religious profession (1349) to his death (1381), was the most active and fruitful of Ruysbroeck's career. During this time, his fame as a man of God, as a sublime contemplative and a skilled director of souls, spread beyond the bounds ofFlandersandBrabanttoHolland,Germany, and France.He had relations with the nearby Carthusian house at Herne, and also with several communities of Poor Clare Franciscans. He had connections with theFriends of GodinStrasbourg,and in about 1378 he was visited byGeert Groote,the founder of theDevotio Moderna.It is possible, though disputed, thatJohn Taulercame to see him.

John died at Groenendaal, aged 82, on 2 December 1381.

Works

In total, Ruysbroeck wrote twelve books, seven epistles, two hymns and a prayer. All were written in Middle Dutch.

Around 1340, Ruysbroeck wrote his masterpiece,The Spiritual Espousals.The 36 surviving Dutch manuscripts, as well as translations into Latin and Middle High German, are evidence of the book's popularity. Some of the text was also translated into Middle English (via the Latin translation) asThe Chastising of God's Children(which was later printed byWynkyn de Worde).Around the same time, he also wrote a short treatise,The Sparkling Stone,which was also translated into Middle English.

Ruysbroeck's most famous writings were composed during his time in Groenendaal. His longest and most popular work (surviving today in 42 manuscripts),The Spiritual Tabernacle,was begun in Brussels but finished at Groenendaal, presumably early on in his time there. Two brief works,The Christian Faith(an explanation of the Creed) and a treatise onThe Four Temptations,also date from around the time of Ruysbroeck's arrival in Groenendaal. His later works include four writings to Margareta van Meerbeke, a Franciscan nun of Brussels. These areThe Seven Enclosures(c1346-50), the first of his seven surviving letters,The Seven Rungs(c1359-60), andA Mirror of Eternal Blessedness.

Around 1363 the Carthusians at Herne dispatched a deputation to Groenendaal presenting Ruysbroeck with questions on his first book,The Realm of Lovers.Ruysbroeck went to Herne to clarify his teaching, and afterwards put this in writing in his workThe Little Book of Enlightenment.

Thought

The treatiseThe Seven Steps of the Ladder of Spiritual Loveis the one that is currently most-readily available. Of the various treatises preserved, the best-known and the most characteristic is that entitledThe Spiritual Espousals.It is divided into three books, treating respectively of the active, the interior, and the contemplative life.

Ruysbroeck wrote as the spirit moved him. He loved to wander andmeditatein the solitude of the forest adjoining the cloister; he was accustomed to carry a tablet with him, and on this to jot down his thoughts as he felt inspired so to do. Late in life he declared that he had never committed aught to writing save by the motion of theHoly Ghost.

None of his treatises give anything like a complete or detailed account of his system; perhaps it would be correct to say that he himself was not conscious of elaborating any system. In his dogmatic writings he explains, illustrates, and enforces traditional teachings with remarkable force and lucidity. In hisasceticworks, his favourite virtues aredetachment,humilityandcharity;he loves to dwell on such themes as flight from the world, meditation upon the life of Christ, especially thepassion,abandonment to the Divine Will, and an intense personal love of God.

In common with most of the German mystics, Ruysbroeck starts from divine matters before describing humanity. His work often then returns to discussing God, showing how the divine and the human are so closely united as to become one. He demonstrates inclinations towardsChristian universalismin writing that "Man, having proceeded from God is destined to return, and become one with Him again." But here he is careful to clarify his position: "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 and nature." Despite this declaration, however, and other similar saving clauses scattered over his pages, some of Ruysbroeck's expressions are certainly rather unusual and startling. The sublimity of his subject-matter was such that it could scarcely be otherwise. His devoted friend, Geert Groote, a trained theologian, confessed to a feeling of uneasiness over certain of his phrases and passages, and begged him to change or modify them for the sake at least of the weak. Later on,Jean Gersonand thenBossuetboth professed to find traces of unconsciouspantheismin his works. As an offset, the enthusiastic commendations of his contemporaries should be mentioned. These were by mystics and scholars such as Groote,Johannes Tauler,Thomas à Kempis,John of Schoonhoven,and in subsequent times of theFranciscanHenry van Herp,theCarthusiansDenisandLaurentius Surius,theCarmeliteThomas á Jesu,theBenedictineLouis de Blois,and theJesuitLeonardus Lessius.Ernest Helloand especiallyMaurice Maeterlinckhave done much to make his writings known. Ruysbroeck was a powerful influence in developingUnited NationsSecretary GeneralDag Hammarskjöld's conception of spiritual growth through selfless service to humanity, as expressed in his book of contemplations calledVägmärken('Markings').

Ruysbroeck insisted that thesoulfinds God in its own depths, and noted three stages of progress in what he called the spiritual ladder of Christian attainment: (1) the active life, (2) the inward life, (3) the contemplative life. He did not teach the fusion of the self in God, but held that at the summit of the ascent the soul still preserves its identity.In theKingdom of the Lovers of Godhe explains that those seeking wisdom must "flow forth on the waters to all the boundaries of the earth, that is, on compassion, pity and mercy shown to the needs of all men", must "fly in the air of the Rational faculty" and "refer all actions and virtues to the honour of God"; thence (through grace) they will find an "immense and boundless clearness" bestowed upon their mind.In relation to the contemplative life, he held that three attributes should be acquired: The first is spiritual freedom from worldly desires ( "as empty of every outward work as if he did not work at all" ), the second is a mind unencumbered with images ( "inward silence" ), and the third is a feeling of inward union with God ( "even as a burning and glowing fire which can never more be quenched" ).His works, of which the most important wereDe vera contemplatione( "On true contemplation" ) andDe septem gradibus amoris( "On the seven steps of love" ), were published in 1848 atHanover;alsoReflections from the Mirror of a Mystic(1906) andDie Zierde der geistlichen Hochzeit(1901).

Veneration and commemoration

After Ruysbroeck's death in 1381, hisrelicswere carefully preserved and his memory honoured as that of asaint.After his death, stories called him theEcstatic DoctororDivine Doctor,and his views formed a link between theFriends of Godand theBrethren of the Common Life,the ideas which may have helped to bring about the Reformation.

When Groenendaal Priory was suppressed byJoseph IIin 1783, his relics were transferred to St. Gudule's, Brussels, where, however, they were lost during theFrench Revolution.Ruysbroeck was beatified on 9 December 1908 byPopePius Xviacultus confirmation.

No authenticportraitof Ruysbroeck is known to exist; but the traditional picture represents him in the canonical habit, seated in the forest with his writing tablet on his knee, as he was in fact found one day by the brethren—rapt in ecstasy and enveloped in flames, which encircle without consuming the tree under which he is resting.

At theUniversity of Antwerpthere is aRuusbroec Institutefor the study of the history of spirituality. There is also a secondary school calledJan-van-Ruusbroeckollegein Laken near the Royal Palace of Belgium.

Cultural references

The epigraph of the 1884 novelÀ reboursbyJoris-Karl Huysmanshas the following Ruysbroeck quotation: "I must rejoice beyond the bounds of time... though the world may shudder at my joy, and in its coarseness know not what I mean." In this novel, Huysmans describes Ruysbroeck as "un mystique duxiii^esiècle, dont la prose offrait un incompréhensible mais attirant amalgame d’exaltations ténébreuses, d’effusions caressantes, de transports âpres"(" a thirteenth century mystic whose prose presented an incomprehensible but attractive amalgam of gloomy ectasies, tender raptures, and violent rages. ")

Ruysbroeck is mentioned inThe Razor's Edge,a novel byW. Somerset Maugham.

Ruysbroek is also mentioned inElizabeth Goudge's play,The Brontës of Haworth(inThree Plays,Duckworth, London, 1939).

See also

• List of Latin nicknames of the Middle Ages: Doctors in theology
• Evelyn Underhill'sRuysbroeck

Further reading

Modern editions

• Jan van Ruusbroec: Opera Omnia,ed. G. de Baere, 10 vols, (Turnhout: Brepols, 1981-2006) [the modern critical edition, with the sixteenth-century Latin edition ofLaurentius Suriusalongside a facing English translation]
• The Complete Ruusbroec,ed. G. de Baere and Th. Mertens, 2 vols, (Turnhout: Brepols, 2014) [slightly revised edition of the Middle Dutch text and English translation of the 1981-2006 edition]
• There also exists a single-volume facsimile edition of the 1552 CologneOpera omnia(Gregg Press Limited, Hants., England, 1967).

Older translations:

• The Spiritual Espousals.Trans. by H. Rolfson, intro. by P. Mommaers, edited by J. Alaerts. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 1995.
• John Ruusbroec. The Spiritual Espousals and other works.Introduction and translation by James A. Wiseman, O.S.B., preface by Louis Dupré. Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1985. [Classics of Western Spirituality] {Includes also:The Sparkling Stone,A Mirror of Eternal Blessedness,andThe Little Book of Clarification.} Pages: xvii, 286.
• The Spiritual Espousals.Translation by Eric Colledge. (London: Faber and Faber, 1952) (Reprint 1983 by Christian Classics.)
• The Seven Steps of the Ladder of Spiritual Love.Translated by F. Sherwood Taylor, introduced by Joseph Bolland, S.J. London: Dacre Press 1944. Pages: viii, 63.
• The Kingdom of the Lovers of God.Trans. by T. Arnold Hyde. London: Kegan paul, Trench, Trubner, 1919. Pages: xvi, 216.
• The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage; The Sparkling Stone; The Book of the Supreme Truth.Translation by C. A. Wynschenk. Introduction and Notes by Evelyn Underhill. London: J. M. Dent, 1916. {reprinted as (London: J.M. Watkins, 1951), and also in facsimile of the 1916 edition as (Felinfach: Llanerch, 1994)}
• The Book of the Twelve Béguines.Trans. from Flemish by John Francis. London, 1913. {First sixteen chapters only.}
• Reflections from the mirror of a mystic,trans. by E.Baillie. London: Thomas Baker, 1905. {Per E.Underhill: short passages paraphrased into Latin byLaurentius Surius(c.1552); however, the better version isFlowers of a Mystic Garden,transl. by 'C.E.S.' London: Watkins, 1912, which was reprinted asFlowers of a Mystic Garden,translated from the French of Ernest Hello by C.E.S., (Felinfach: Llanerch, 1994)}
• see Paul Verdeyen below.

Commentary

Ruusbroec

• Louis Dupré,The Common Life. Origins of Trinitarian Mysticism and Its Development by Jan van Ruusbroec.New York: Crossroad, 1984.
• Paul Mommaers,The Land Within. The Process of Possessing & Being Possessed by God according to the Mystic Jan Van Ruysbroeck.Translated from the Dutch by David N. Smith. Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1975.
• Rik Van Nieuwenhove,Jan Van Ruusbroec. Mystical Theologian of the Trinity,University of Notre Dame, 2003.
• Vincent Joseph Scully,A Mediaeval Mystic. A short account of the life and writings of Blessed John Rysbroeck, Canon regular of Groenendael A.D. 1293–1381....New York: Benziger Brothers, 1911. Pages: xii, 131.
• Wayne Teasdale,"Ruysbroeck's Mystical Theology" Parts 1 and 2.American Benedictine Review35:82–96, 35:176–193 (1984).
• Evelyn Underhill,Ruysbroeck.London: G. Bell, 1915. Reprint: Kessinger 2003. Pages: ii, 191.Online
• Paul Verdeyen,Ruusbroec and his Mysticism,Collegeville: Liturgical Press/Michael Glazier, 1994, includes a short anthology of his writings; beingRuusbroec en zijn mystiek(Leuven: Davidfonds 1981) as transl. byAndre Lefevere.
• Geert Warnar (2007),Ruusbroec. Literature and Mysticism in the Fourteenth Century,Brill,ISBN978-9004158696
• Alfred Wautier d'Aygalliers,Ruysbroeck the Admirable.Transl. by Fred Rothwell. London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1925, & E. P. Dutton, New York, 1925. Reprint: Port Washington, New York: Kennikat, 1969. Pages: xliii, 326.
  • Paul Mommaers and Norbert De Paepe (editors),Jan van Ruusbroec: The Sources, Content, and Sequels of his Mysticism.Louvain: Leuven University Press, 1984. [Mediaevalia Lovaniensia, ser.1, stud.12]

Ruusbroec in context

• John Arblaster andRob Faesen,A Companion to John of Ruusbroec.Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2014.
• Stephanus Axters,The Spirituality of the Old Low Countries.London: Blackfriars 1954; beingLa spiritualité des Pays-Bas: l'evloution d'une doctrine mystique(Louvain 1948), transl. byDonald Attwater.{Axters focuses on Ruusbroec.}
• Helmut Hatzfeld, "Influence of Ramon Lull & Jan van Ruysbroeck on the Language of Spanish Mystics"Traditio4: 337–397 (1946).
• Bernard McGinn,The Varieties of Vernacular Mysticism 1350-1550(New York: Herder & Herder 2012), chapters one and two.
• Paul Mommaers & Jan van Bragt,Mysticism, Buddhist and Christian. Encounters with Jan van Ruusbroec.New York: Crossroad, 1995. [Nanzan studies in religion and culture (Nagoya)]

External links

• Article from the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge(unedited OCR scan; scroll to bottom of page for start of article)
• Translations of "The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage", "The Sparkling Stone", and "The Book of the Supreme Truth"
• Translation of "The Book of the Supreme Truth"
• Translation of "The Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage"
• Essay on the 'Friends of God'
• Amherst Manuscript Transcription, 'The Sparkling Stone'
• Translation of the last chapter of the "Spiritual Espousals"
• John Ruysbroeck, Blessed atThe Original Catholic Encyclopedia

This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Blessed John Ruysbroeck".Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.