Cordoni draws heavily on Porete, making us of entire passages of her work.[5]. And for this reason that is more mine which he knoweth and I know not, than this which I know and which is mine. Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews The Mirror of Simple Souls [Bookshop, Amazon, Publisher] by Margaret Porette. And this goodness is given to mankind to be known by my wickedness. I am as foolish in the time that I make it except that love maketh it for me at my request as he should be that would shut the sea in the compass of his eye and bear the world upon the point of a rush, and light the sun with a shadow! If she do anything by her outward wits, that is always without her; and if God do his work in her, [then] it is, of himself in her, without herself, for him. Whatever joy or sorrow they of my paradise have, though men see their sins or though they receive of me gifts of glory, they have no will to make answer or show for none of these two. Souls in Purgatory Catholic Bible 101. The descriptive treatment is foremost and successful. This bounty by me[359] God knew had never been known, neither was my wickedness. This wit they that have been marred. Perhaps he was one of the unknown fourteenth-century mystics who wrote as disciples of Rolle or Walter Hilton. The Mirror reflects a contemporary ecclesiastical world that was itself an inversion of women's experience and values. St Thomas taught that our Lord had the beatific knowledge in the highest degree, beyond that of angels and the blessed, from the moment of the Incarnation (, The reader is reminded of the interpretation of being, [Editors note: This qualifying statement together with others are according to the doctrine of Dionysius Areopagita. Just as God hath will, so we have will that we may be more free, but it proceeds from his goodness and power; but Gods will is an attribute of his power and freedom. And in this death and nakedness be the wills perfectly fulfilled by sufficiency of the divine pleasure. Book excerpt: When Dr. Romana Guarnieri, in a letter to Osservatore Romano (16 June 1946), announced her discovery that Margaret Porette (d. 1 June 1310) was the author of The Mirror of Simple Souls, certainly a major French document of pre-Reformation spirituality, a sensation was created in the academic world. It was burned at Valenciennes by Gui II, Bishop of Cambrai 1296-1305. ], Is not with them seems to mean, is not absorbed in eager pursuit of them, or concerned regarding her state in respect of virtue, as above. O Lord, you will suffer more gladly and meekly than any creature may say it, notwithstanding my faults that be without number, and without recovering of this loss [of time], for mercy that is in you; for it behoveth you to keep your justice. Cf. MS. short; in holding back their conscious reflections upon their state. It is after the Death of Reason (though the writer allows her to reappear unawares once or twice) that the method changes. And how they that have the feelings of this book must keep it secret, and a little touching of the seventh state, CHAPTER VI: What this far night is, and of the knowing that it giveth to the soul, CHAPTER VII: Of the three deaths by the which these souls come to the life aforesaid, CHAPTER I: Who be they that sit in the mountain, and what things shame, dread, and reason do to this soul, CHAPTER II: What power the freedom of love hath, and whereof this soul is most glad, CHAPTER III: Of the country that this soul is in, CHAPTER IV: How the usage of reason is full of travail, and where this free soul refresheth her, CHAPTER V: [In] what manner they seek god that governed by reason, and where this soul seeketh him, and what this soul is, CHAPTER VI: How this soul doeth no more work for God, nor for herself, nor for her even-Christian, and how this is meant, CHAPTER VII: Of the mischief that Lucifer and they that accorded to him came to, by reason of their evil will, CHAPTER VIII: Why love hath called these souls in this book by the name of soul; to whom the name of souls properly pertaineth; and to whom the name of spirit; and of the surmounted life and who be perfected in it; and what is the proper name of this soul, CHAPTER IX: Of the transfiguration of our Lord, and why he did it but before three of his disciples; and why it was done in the mountain, and why he bade them not show it till his resurrection, CHAPTER X: Of Mary Magdalen and St Peter and St John, and how god worketh yet in souls as he did in them, that well dispose them thereto, CHAPTER XI: How they that will come to peace and freedom must ever be ready and able to receive the sending of grace; and what it is to them if they refuse it, CHAPTER I: A great rebuke that love giveth to them that refuse the sending of God, and how they be therefore encumbered of themselves all their lifetime, and how they might have been unencumbered, and by what means and for how little, CHAPTER II: Of certain means whereby they that be marred and in life of spirit may come over to the being that is next the being of this soul which hath attained the highest being; and in what case the soul is in the time of that being, CHAPTER III: How these souls be never feeble nor encumbered of themselves, CHAPTER IV: How this soul hath perceived the coast of the country where she ought to be, CHAPTER V: Of the debts of this soul, and how they be paid, and by whom, and who is his next neighbour, CHAPTER VI: How this soul is a spring of divine love, and how she seeth that she is naught, and how this naught giveth her all, CHAPTER VII: Of two things that this soul doeth not, which maketh her to have peace; and how she is no more encumbered of things that she doeth without her, than if she did it not; and who be perfectly free, CHAPTER VIII: Of four costs that this soul is made free of; how she hath lost her name by union of love and is turned about to love, and how yet there is more high than this; how none may understand this book but they that love hath made it for, CHAPTER IX: Of the rudeness of them that be governed by reason, and how this soul will no more follow their counsel, CHAPTER X: How this soul is free and consumed by mortality, and brent in the burning fire of charity; and how this soul seeketh no more God by outward works. But it might be so, and if it were so, that by a game of change he might will this and that he did will it with all his will, [then] I answered thus, and said to him: O Lord, if it might be that this change might everlastingly endure in fact, as it is in supposition; I love you, for you and of you. . We have spoken of the influence of the Areopagite on our author. And therefore they perish in the way, that suffice themselves so in this, which desire and will giveth them.. aworth of. MS. British Museum, alane of.. And when such [a soul] is naught, then liveth God himself in this creature without breaking the peace of his creature. And that is none other thing than some gleam that God willeth that the soul have of his glory [itself], which she is to have without end. Then, say I, that this is truth, that men may give me naught, whatever thing that it may be., And this complaint. He was evidently in a position and of a character to stamp the work favourably or the reverse; his approbation is guarded, sober, balanced. [2], An example of this influence can be seen in the 1536 work of Giovanni Pili da Fano, The Art of Union. Tina Beattie. And these pains and passions be not only in the exercise of the spirit, by putting away vices in getting of virtues, but they be also of bodily exercise by commandments of virtues and by counsel of reason; to fast and wake, and to do penance in many sundry wises, and forsake all her own pleasures and all lusts and likings; and in the beginning of all this, it is ofttimes full sharp and full hard. The most is the greater part of God, unknown and unknowable; the soul loves better the infinitely greater hidden Deity than that small part of him of which she has had experience. Then am I the salvation, by union of love, which he is; for the most strong moveth into himself the most feeble. In sooth, saith Love, but the Trinity hath in him no dis- ease for such displeasing, no more hath this soul that in him is set and by him led. The country of virtues that the marred work in is full far from the country of forgetting and all-naked, naughted, or clarified souls, that be in the most high being. Can none tell whence this line cometh?, No, saith Love, they that know cannot put it into speech., This is sooth, saith this soul, but I shall add here to this what I shall say. Certainly I believed never anything better than this that ye have told me right now. And there they may be deceived, that love by tenderness that they have to affection, which suffereth them not to come to knowing. N. O Lord, though I had no other reason to abash me than this, that you have given to my soul the vision of all the Trinity and of angels and of souls, that you have not given to your precious body that is knit and oned to the nature of the Father, in the Person of the Son;[154] it would be a marvel that I may see so much! And through this I am the salvation of creatures and the glory of God.. My opinion became a foolishness to me, for besides that I thought to find my works, naught did I but lose. He that is lame of limbs may not well go, nor the feeble may not swim. Damsel Knowing-enlumined-of-divine-grace; and these have little of their questions. First, when creatures give themselves to perfection, they set all their desire and all their purpose[47] in these points aforesaid, and all their labour by fervour of love, in which they work and [take the] lead. [283] We still ourselves, speech overwhelmed! Some- thing must be allowed throughout for the form of the. In any case, our author was not the type of the simple unlettered monk, but combined with his mystical knowledge a keen appreciation of the intellectual issues which are one aspect of the spiritual problem he set himself to describe. And more may nothing avail me to hear of him than this, that my love is not comparable to the least thing that men may compare to him, wherefore my love findeth none end in loving him, and hath alway new love of him in him who is all love, however great he be! nor in losing them. Oh, without fail no, sweet Love, saith this soul, [even with regard to] the least point of my love, without more for there is none other God but he that none may know, which may not be known. She was burned at the stake for heresy in Paris in 1310 after refusing to recant her views. And the light of the opening of this book hath made me find mine [own] and to dwell in that. The Mirror of Simple Souls is a classic work of medieval Christian mysticism that was lost for centuries. And then I said to him, that if it might be that I had of me as much of worthiness as he hath of himself, so that it might not be taken from me nor diminished, but if I alone willed it myself, I should lay all this in him and go to naught, ere than I might anything withhold, that came not to me from him; and though it might be that I might have all this beforesaid, I might not do it to hold anything that came not to me from him. But this, that they save themselves by faith without works, and that they can no more work, it is not meant that they cease from all good works for evermore, and never do any work, but sit in sloth and idleness of soul and body; for those who take it so, they misunderstand it; but it is thus. And though I had it, ye see well what I should be, when I were quit of one sin. And he that this other [thing] willeth, willeth it not, but only to fulfil the will of God in himself and in others. MS. I have not of what, nor for what: Fr. At that time the author of the manuscript was unknown. This fire of love so often described by mystical writers is carefully distinguished here from all psycho-physical phenomena. Now perceiveth Reason that she hath joy, and goeth and saith to her that she hath sin thereof, that she maketh joy of that for which her even-Christians weep. but that the divine nature took nature of man oneing him thereto in the person of God the Son. Not, saith Love, everything that is., Now understand, auditors of this book, saith Love, the gloss of this book, for the thing is as much worth as it is appreciated. It explains the apparent contradiction which the previous paragraphs offer to the general message of the book, in the statement that some souls. Ye have something heard there, he said, I hold all thing that was and is and shall be; I am of all goodness fulfilled, take of me what ye will; if ye will have me all, I unwill it not, saith my friend, how seemeth it you of me? And in the meantime that I most had them, Love made me hear and speak of him. And God may not from his goodness depart, that it should not dwell in him. (11) And [she who is] called without fail by the divine goodness, of the work of the Trinity. Therefore true love hath but only one purpose, and that is that she might alway love truly. This bounty given, it is in God himself. She wot but one thing, that is, that she wot naught; and she willeth but one thing, that is, that she willeth naught; and this naught witting and naught willing giveth her, saith the Holy Ghost, all the treasure fulfilled, that is closed in the Trinity, without end. To the worship of God and of tham that be made free of God; and to the profite of tham that ne bene, that yet schall be, and God wille.. But so long one may bite on the bitter bark of the nut, that at last one shall come to the sweet kernel. It is in a better hand than either of the others, and is both beautifully written and illuminated. Gerson, who is the next French author to write on these matters, always fuses the devotional, the ascetic and the mystical, according to the older method, but our author has some instinct at least of the distinction between the species and their right relation to each other. After them drank the burning seraphins, with whose wings these free souls fly., Ah God, saith Holy Church, how it behoveth her to attend and cleanly keep herself, the soul that thus high flieth![123], Such souls, saith Love, have the mind and the understanding and the will low, by meekness and right perceiving, of knowing by subtlety of wit in divine [things], and [are] right free in all places, of the love of the Deity., Ah, Love! saith Reason, when are these souls in the right freedom of pure love?. Thus departeth the soul from her will and the will departeth from this soul, so she putteth it again and giveth and yieldeth it [herself] in God where it was first, without self-love holding back herself, for to fulfil the perfect divine will that may not be fulfilled in the soul without this gift, so that the soul may have no other war or falliaunce. For she hath nothing wherewith to sin, for without will may no creature sin. This sole power[226] of love, saith Love, giveth her the deepness, the rest, and the stillness, and also it giveth her the flame and the burning of the working of love; witness of Love himself. And right as it is of some angels compared with others, as ye have heard say, right so it is by grace of the naughted souls that we speak of, as compared with all those that be not. These passages should be compared with Fnelons writings on Disinterested Love. Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future. . For she hath naught of herself, she hath all given freely without any for-why? in him that is all. So that I say, for as much passing this, as I have naught that availeth, so much do you avail, better than the best of mine, for which you are given. I have found many of them who be perished in affection, and of the marred in life of spirit, by works of virtues, in desires of good will. And because they hold themselves as marred, they ask often times by the way, by burning desire, of her that wot, that is. The persons that are such, they are thus called and fulfilled, that they have within them no craving of anything. Publication date 1993 . Therefore his eye beholdeth me, he may not suffer nor will, but that he be conjoint within me. Love hath made me by nobleness, seven verses of song to find that which is of pure Deity, whereof reason cannot speak. Of four costs[268] behoveth a bondman to have before he might be free and called a gentleman; and right thus it is in the understanding of this spiritual doing. And ourselves as we ought, is that, in doing of this we look not to our own profit, but to the perfect will of him, God, Christ Jesu. I dare no more meddle of you since love governeth you, but I promise,[159] Lady Soul, to you from henceforth, peace and obedience with all my might; for do it I must by strength, for Love willeth it. Because of this, saith this soul, he loveth me not against himself; for though all these that the Trinity hath wrought in his [know-ledge] should have been damned without end; Jesu Christ, the Son of God the Father, hath not, in sooth, granted to save all., Oh, ah me! saith this soul, from whence came it to me this to say? And so have your questions lengthened[205] this book, through the examples that cannot be explained but in plain and hasty words. O full naked and dark, dry and unsavoury be the speakings and writings of these high ghostly feelings of the love of God, to them that have not tasted the sweetness thereof. But the righteous keepeth him from consenting to the fault, which might increase by such inclination, so that his falling, in which the righteous falleth by inclination to-fore said, is more virtue to him than vice, because of the will that dwelleth free by rejecting the fault, as it is said before; now may ye understand how the righteous falleth from high to low. they say Nay. If they would [while yet] living be certified of their salvation? And though all the clerks of the world heard it, unless they understood it, that is to say, except they had high ghostly feelings and this same working, they shall not wit what it means. It is in the whole Trinity, which is one Will; then is the will of God in Trinity robbed by one default! And if it wax of her, she should be, for herself. Ah, Sire, without fail I may, for your courtesy oweth it me and your noblesse, since you have peace, that I should have it also. For this, that I am the greatness and the sum of all evils. Divisions XV, XVI, and XVII are short interludes, an apology for himself, and an exhortation to discreet secrecy put into the mouth of the Blessed Trinity. After the description of the habits, the point of view of the free soul, her aloneness and peace in God, her independence of judgement born of true dependence on God (Division III), follows the explanation of her attitude towards the pursuit of virtues, and an outline of what freedom from desire and will imply in the spiritual life (Divisions IV and V). Much is due to Miss E. Underhill; Mgr. My heart that was so high, is cast down so low, that I may nothing reach; for all that maybe said of God, or written, or in the heart may be thought, that to which the greatest sayings attain, it is more gabbings than it is true sayings. And then, this fault troubleth us unto bitterness and driveth to a madness[327] against ourselves. But men say in the world: better is worth somewhat than naught. If thou wilt he perfect, go and sell all thou hast and give it all to poor and then sue[34] me and thou shall have treasure in heaven. For none may open, nor unseal, nor shut when it is opened this precious shutting and this noble opening unless the gentle Far Night, of right far, and of right nigh, shut it and open it; who beareth the key,[319] for none other beareth it, nor may bear it.[320]. It is right, saith Love, that the most has made her drunk;[121] not indeed that she hath drunken of the most, as it is said before; but she hath it, for as much as her love hath it; for there is between him and her no disseverance nor contrariety of nature whatsoever, through any discord of love. I shall speak no word more; the heart [is] made alone of him in this battle. How may one understand by this saying that he hath not given me all? And for this, I love better the most of him that never I shall know, than I do mine which I know. If she be nakedly naught, this being[397] may not be., This is sooth, saith this free soul; in this point I am, by naughting, myself, for when I leave and naught myself perfectly, then his miracles give me very knowing of his divine gifts. Behold what ye owe then for one of your faults, so shall ye see that ye owe as much to God for one of your faults, as his will is worth, which ye have taken from him, by doing of your will. And what shame or glory hath St Peter for this, that God raised the dead by his work, though he had denied him three times? I know well, saith this soul, that Love herself maketh them to endure, that is mistress of this work., I have said before, saith this soul, that nothing faulteth me,[145] since that my love hath all in him, of his rightwise nobleness, without beginning and shall have without end. All is one to her without dread and without joy, for she is no one in this one. That which is, is of his bounty; so loveth she his goodness which he hath by bounty given her. There be three manners of unions that devout souls feel, in sundry dispositions, but I mean of the highest, that is best; and that is the union where, through ravishing of love, the soul is knit and oned to God, so that God and the soul is one spirit. I thank you, blissful Lord God, with all my poor heart, for all the gifts of grace that ye have given and done to me, that am poor unworthy creature. Now God forbid that any be so fleshly [as] to think that this should mean, to give to nature any lust that draweth to fleshly sin, for God knoweth well that it is not so meant. Moreover, the originality of the book lies in the fact that the author dismisses in a few pages the whole subject of ascetic discipline, which as a rule forms the main part of the spiritual treatises of the epoch. Here endeth the prologue of the translator that drew this hook out of French into English. The first cost that this soul which is free hath, is this, that she hath no grudging of conscience, though she work not the work of virtues. Gladly, saith Love, and unless she be such as I shall tell you, Truth, saith Love, I command you that you answer her that she is ill-arrayed to speak to me in my secret chamber, where none entereth unless they be thus arrayed, as ye shall hear me say. Soothly none, for the truth of believing is in the being of him who believeth. 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