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THE object of the following unpretentious little volume is to give
a simple and readable account in English of the life and writings
of a remarkable Flemish Mystic of the fourteenth century, a
contemporary of our own Walter Hilton. Though his memory and honour
have never faded in his own native Belgium, and though France and
Germany have vied with each other in spreading his teaching and
singing his praises, the very name of Blessed John Ruysbroeck is
practically unknown this side of the water. We are acquainted with
only one small work in English dealing directly with the Saint or
his work at all, viz. Reflections from the Mirror of Mystic, 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. 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, vas embodied in the, york of Pomerius,
and thereby as a separate volume fell out of use and memory.
Pomerius had Scoenhoven's book to work upon, and some of
Ruysbroeck's contemporaries were still living at Groenendael when
he composed his biography there. The brief references by the
Venerable Thomas a Kempis in his Vita Gerardi magni are likewise of
great interest and intrinsic worth.
The object of the following unpretentious little volume is to give
a simple and readable account in English of the life and writings
of a remarkable Flemish Mystic of the fourteenth century, a
contemporary of our own Walter Hilton. Though his memory and honour
have never faded in his own native Belgium, and though France and
Germany have vied with each other in spreading his teaching and
singing his praises, the very name of Blessed John Ruysbroeck is
practically unknown this side of the water. We are acquainted with
only one small work in English dealing directly with the Saint or
his work at all, viz. Reflections from the Mirror of Mystic, giving
the briefest sketch of his life and some short extracts from his
writings as translated from the French rendering of Ernest Hello.
The original authorities for the history of Ruysbroeck are
practically reduced to one, the biography by Henry Pomerius, a
Canon Regular of Groenendael, entitled De Origine monasterii
Viridisvallis una cum vitis B. Joannis Rusbrochii primi prioris
hujus monasterii et aliquot coaetaneorum ejus, re-edited by the
Bollandists, Brussels, 1885. It is certain that a disciple of John
Ruysbroeck, John of Scoenhoven, also of Groenendael, who undertook
the defence of Blessed John's writings against Gerson, composed a
short biography, but this was embodied in the work of Pomerius, and
thereby as a separate volume fell out of use and memory. Pomerius
had Scoenhoven's MS. to work upon, and some of Ruysbroeck's
contemporaries were still living at Groenendael when he composed
his biography there. The brief references by the Venerable Thomas a
Kempis in his Vita Gerardi Magni are likewise of great interest and
intrinsic worth.
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