John of Ruusbroec Mystic and Theologian in the Quiet of Groenendaal

Lieve Uyttenhove

A few years ago, I was asked to attend a colloquium on hermits and recluses in the Low Countries. On that occasion, I was due to give a lecture on the fourteenth-century Brabantine mystical writer John of Ruusbroec (1293-1381), of whom it has generally been said, left the city of Brussels in 1343 and moved into a hermit’s hut in the Sonian Forest, in a valley called Groenendaal. Unfor- tunately, the colloquium did not take place. It was then decided that I convert my presentation into an article. At that stage, I took for granted the generally accepted portrayal of Ruus- broec as a ‘hermit’, who lived in a hermitage or hermit’s hut. This depiction, however, may be less securely based than might at first sight appear. With regard to both Ruusbroec’s move into a hermitage and the seemingly general consensus that he lived there as a hermit, it is helpful to rehearse the relevant findings in two extant and well-known written testimonies about his life. The first of these is a Prologue to a manuscript collection of five of Ruusbroec’s works written circa 1360 by Brother Gerard of Saintes, a Carthusian at the priory in Herne;1 the second is a biography of Ruusbroec contained in De origine monasterii Viridisvallis – a history of the foundation of the priory at Groenendaal – written circa 1414-1420 by canon of Groenendaal, Hendrik Utenbogaerde (better known by his Latinised name Henricus Pomerius).2

¶ I wish to thank Ursula Lawler for assistance in language editing and proofreading the manuscript. 1 See W. De Vreese, “Bijdragen tot de kennis van het leven en de werken van Jan van Ruusbroec. I: Die Prologe van her Gerardus,” in: Het Belfort 10 (1895), p. 6-20. De Vreese made use of two manuscripts: the Brussels manuscript, Koninklijke Bibliotheek 3416-24 (1461), known as ms. D, and the Ghent manuscript, Bibliotheek der Rijksuniversiteit 693 (1480), known as ms. G. See ibid., p. 6-7. Part of the Prologue appeared earlier in the introduction by J. B. David to Jan van Ruusbroec. Dat boec van den Gheesteleken Tabernacule. Ed. Maetschappy der Vlaemsche bibliophilen. 2nd Series No. 1. Ghent: Annoot-Braeckman, 1858. p. VI-XIV. David bases himself only on ms. D. Ibid., p. VI, n. 1. The Prologue, probably written shortly after 1360, is the oldest literary source that came into existence while Ruusbroec was still alive. With respect to a ‘new’ date of origin, see J. Alaerts, ”Ruusbroecs bezoek aan Herne en het ‘oorspronkelijke Groenendaalse verzamelhandschrift’,” in: Ons geestelijk erf 74 (2000), p. 193-196. See also John Arblaster’s English translation of The Pro- logue by Brother Gerard of Saintes, in: A Companion to John of Ruusbroec. Ed. John Arblaster & Rob Faesen. Brill’s Companions to the Christian Tradition, 51. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2014. p. 378- 383. (Text footnote partly taken from Lieve Uyttenhove, Embraced by the Father and the Son in the Unity of the Holy Spirit. A Study of the Trinity and the Mystical Life in the Works of Jan van Ruusbroec. Preface Rob Faesen. Annua Nuntia Lovaniensia, 65. Leuven: Peeters, 2012, p. 9-10). 2 See De origine monasterii Viridisvallis una cum vitis B. Joannis Rusbrochii, primi prioris hujus monasterii, et aliquot coaetaneorum ejus opusculum Henrici Pomerii, [ed. by J. B. De Leu]. Analecta Bollandiana, 4. Brussels: Société générale de librairie catholique, 1885. Also edited by Mikel M. Kors, “Studie en kritische tekstuitgave van Henricus Pomerius’ De origine monasterii

By attending closely to these historical sources, this article will demonstrate a need to rethink the popular conception of Ruusbroec as a ‘hermit’ if we are to correctly understand his life, his mission and vocation. The article divides into three sections. The first section examines the phrasing used by both Brother Gerard and Pomerius when referring to Ruusbroec’s desire for a life away from the multitude in Brussels, and how this has been interpreted by scholars over the centuries. Building on this discussion, the second section probes further the historical sources in order to discern the basic elements of Ruusbroec’s alleg- edly new life-status in Groenendaal. Finally, by taking into account Ruus- broec’s own book, The Sparkling Stone (Vanden blinkenden steen), – which, according to Brother Gerard, was written for a hermit – the third section high- lights Ruusbroec’s ultimate goal in seeking a solitary life. Taken together the discussion from these three sections will show that far from being a departure from his life as a (secular) priest, Ruusbroec’s move to Groenendaal was in fact in service of a more contemplative living out of priestly ministry.

1. Away from Brussels to the Sonian Forest

It should come as no surprise – in keeping with the generally held view of Ruusbroec – that the organizers of the originally planned colloquium considered

Viridis Vallis,” in: Ons geestelijk erf 87 (2016), p. 227-331. The text was translated into Middle Dutch as early as the 15th century. Paul Verdeyen, Ruusbroec and His Mysticism. Translation by André Lefevere. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1994 (translation of Paul Verdeyen, Ruusbroec en zijn mystiek. Keurreeks, 150. Louvain: Davidsfonds, [1981]), p. 10. The 15th- century Middle Dutch translation appeared in P. Verdeyen, “De Middelnederlandse vertaling van Pomerius’ werk ‘De origine monasterii Viridisvallis’,” in: Ons geestelijk erf 55 (1981), p. 105- 165. For Ruusbroec’s vita Pomerius is said to have used, among other things, a biography written by Jan van Schoonhoven who was a confrere of Ruusbroec’s. See J. Huijben, “Jan van Schoon- hoven leerling van den zaligen Jan van Ruysbroec,” in: Ons geestelijk erf 6 (1932), p. 288; Geert Warnar, “Het leven van Jan van Ruusbroec. Biografie en beeldvorming,” in: Een claer verlicht man. Over het leven en werk van Jan van Ruusbroec (1293-1381). Ed. E. P. Bos & G. Warnar. Hilversum: Verloren, 1993, p. 13; Hans Kienhorst & Mikel M. Kors, “Codicological Evidence for a Chronological Rearrangement of the Works of Jan van Ruusbroec (1293-1381),” in: Quaer- endo 33 (2003) (translation of Hans Kienhorst & Mikel M. Kors. “De chronologie van Ruus- broecs werken volgens de Groenendaalse codex,” in: Ons geestelijk erf 75 [2001]), p. 162-163. Yet, Schoonhoven’s biography has not been found. Verdeyen, Ruusbroec and His Mysticism, p. 9-10. See also A. Ampe, Jan van Ruusbroec 1293-1381. II. Leven. Tentoonstellingscatalogus. Met als bijlage een chronologische tabel en drie kaarten. Brussel: Koninklijke Bibliotheek Albert I, 1981, p. 32-33. Following Joannes Jonckheere († 1510), author of a Virilogium Viridis vallis, Schoonhoven’s biography was already lost in the beginning of the 16th century. Apparently, Pomerius was held responsible for its disappearance. Stephanus G. Axters, “Ruusbroec, gelukkige Jan van, mystieke schrijver,” in: Nationaal Biografisch Woordenboek, 1. Brussel-Paleis der Academiën, 1964, p. 801-802. On the lost vita, see also Geert Warnar, Literature and Mysticism in the Fourteenth Century. Translation Diane Webb. Brill’s Studies in Intellectual History 150. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2007 (translation of Geert Warnar, Ruusbroec. Literatuur en mystiek in de veertiende eeuw. Amsterdam: Polak & Van Gennep, 2003), p. 3-4 and 8. (Text footnote partly taken from Uyttenhove, Embraced by the Father and the Son, p. 16-17). ruusbroec: mystic and theologian in the quiet of groenendaal 5

Ruusbroec to be an exemplary hermit or recluse of the Low Countries who, on moving to Groenendaal lived at first in a hermit’s house. This conviction is no doubt the legacy of the work of various scholars over the past three centuries. But, is it in fact the case that Ruusbroec and his companions moved ‘into’ a hermitage or hermit’s hut upon their arrival in the Sonian Forest? Establishing what can be reliably asserted from the historical sources on this matter is our primary concern in this first section. Going back to the late nineteenth century, we find reference to Ruusbroec having settled in Groenendaal in the Sonian Forest with a recluse called Lam- bert.3 In the mid-twentieth century both Reypens and Ter Laan broadly follow this interpretation, although they do not mention Lambert. Ter Laan tells us that Ruusbroec first was a chaplain in the Saint Gudula Church in Brussels and then in 1343 moved ‘into’ a hermit’s hut or a hermitage in Groenendaal.4 Reypens, writing just ahead of Ter Laan, also referred to the hermitage which Ruusbroec initially ‘inhabited’ and which later became a priory (proostdij) or a religious community lead by a provost.5 The theme of Ruusbroec the hermit receives further emphasis from Reypens in a later publication where he says that ‘If Ruusbroec (…) moved away from Brussels to live in a hermitage in Groenendaal, it is because he had been irresistibly attracted to it for a long time.’6 Reypens’ writing on this point is permeated with his conviction that the Prologue suggests Ruusbroec wanted to remain a ‘hermit’ in Groenendaal rather than becoming a member of a religious community.7 Although, as will be shown below, the word ‘hermit’, as used by Reypens in depicting Ruusbroec’s solitary life seems at odds with the language of Brother Gerard, the term is nevertheless taken up by Axters and used throughout an article he wrote in 1981.8 Significantly, Axters suggests that Ruusbroec and two fellow priests moved away from Brussels and settled ‘into’ a hermit’s house built forty-years earlier.9 Axters’ and Reypens’ interpretations are also supported by Wildiers10 and Brombaert, with the latter describing Ruusbroec’s settlement ‘into’ a hidden hermitage (dans un ermitage perdu) in the Sonian Forest.11 We find similar phrasing regarding ‘hermitage’

3 H. Claeys, “Jan van Ruusbroeck,” in: Het Belfort 8 (1890), p. 383. 4 K. ter Laan, “Johannes van Ruusbroec, Ruysbroeck,” in: Letterkundig woordenboek voor Noord en Zuid. Den Haag/Djakarta: G.B. van Goor Zonen, ²1952, p. 454. 5 L. Reypens, “Bij het zesde eeuwfeest der Hoogduitse vertaling van Ruusbroec’s ‘Brulocht’,” in: Ons geestelijk erf 24 (1950), p. 225. 6 L. Reypens, “Bij de Ruusbroec-herdenking in het Zoniënbos,” in: Ons geestelijk erf 27 (1953), p. 227. 7 Ibid., p. 228. For the Prologue, see De Vreese, “Bijdragen …,” p. 8-9. Reypens’ suggestion falls victim to interpretation here. Brother Gerard’s account only suggests that Ruusbroec did not advocate an expansion of the ‘first’ community (of priests) in Groenendaal. See n. 47. 8 Axters, “Ruusbroec, gelukkige Jan …,” p. 809 and 811-812. 9 Ibid., p. 809. 10 Max Wildiers, “Ruusbroec en onze tijd. Of de metamorfose van de mystiek,” in: Dietsche Warande & Belfort 126 (1981), p. 679. 11 André Brombaert, “Jean Ruysbroeck (1293-1381): une vie dans le Saint-Esprit,” in: Bonne Nouvelle 4 (1981), p. 4. 6 lieve uyttenhove in Verdeyen’s monograph on the life and the works of Jan van Ruusbroec.12 Using the same key expression, ‘in a hermitage or a hermit’s hut’, Wijngaards nevertheless indicates there was no interruption to Ruusbroec’s priestly ministry while in Groenendaal.13 It may be said therefore, that from the end of the nineteenth century through to the end of the twentieth century, there is a remarkable consistency in the usage of the expression ‘into a hermitage’ with respect to Ruusbroec’s move to Groenendaal. Thus, writing in 1993 Warnar does not dif- fer from his predecessors when reporting on the Brabantine mystic living in a former hermit’s house14 and neither does Versluys who reports on Ruusbroec’s move ‘into’ an existing hermitage.15 In the beginning of this century, Faesen demonstrates a tendency towards resumption, that is to say, a tendency to restate without significant change what has been earlier stipulated regarding Ruusbroec’s move.16 This, however, need not indicate a total dependence on previous literature. Interestingly, Faesen suggests that the Brabantine mystical writer – probably in line with the old tradition of the Desert Fathers – considered the solitary life an ideal framework for a contemplative life.17 He seems to claim that Ruusbroec’s life in physical seclusion was neither an end in itself, nor was it a desire on the part of the later Groenendaal prior to seek the life of a hermit as such, and certainly not in a restrictive understanding of the term. Rather, the point developed here is pre- cisely that Ruusbroec primarily considered living in the quiet, away from the multitude, as an excellent steppingstone for a true (inner) contemplative life. We will come back to this point in the third section when discussing the context of Ruusbroec’s ultimate goal for seeking the solitary life. For the present we can note this is an aspect not touched upon in De Baere’s introduction of a recent Modern Dutch translation of Ruusbroec’s The Spiritual Espousals (Die geestelike brulocht). Writing in the tone of Reypens and Axters above, De Baere recounts the move into a hermit’s hut,18 while, on the back cover of the book, Ruusbroec is described as a hermit or recluse. If the historical sources about Ruusbroec’s life – Brother Gerard’s Prologue and Pomerius’ De origine – were used in the development of the secondary literature up to this point, some elements may not always have been interpreted correctly. Let us now examine both texts to explore wherein lay the sources of confusion for these interpretations.

12 Verdeyen, Ruusbroec and His Mysticism, p. 33-34. 13 John Wijngaards, “Ruysbroeck and the God within,” in: The Tablet 5 (1981), p. 1194. 14 Warnar, “Het leven van Jan van Ruusbroec,” p. 20. 15 Luc Versluys, “Jan van Ruusbroec. De glorie van Groenendaal, een wereldbezit,” in: De luister van Groenendaal. Ruusbroec. Met bijdragen van P. De Ridder, M. Erkens, E. Persoons, H. Van Assche, L. Versluys. Brussel: Gemeentekrediet, 1993, p. 7, n. 5. 16 Rob Faesen, Jan van Ruusbroec. Contemplatief theoloog in een moeilijke tijd. Kampen: Kok, 2007, p. 20 and 22. 17 Ibid., p. 23. 18 G. de Baere, Introduction to Jan van Ruusbroec. De geestelijke bruiloft. Translation Jos van den Hoek. ’s-Hertogenbosch/Malines: KBS Uitgeverij, 2008, p. 9. ruusbroec: mystic and theologian in the quiet of groenendaal 7

Brother Gerard of Saintes, the Carthusian monk of Herne, casts a first look at the so-called move of Ruusbroec to a hermit’s hut in Groenendaal. In his Prologue he writes: The author’s name is the Reverend John of Ruusbroec. At first he was a pious priest and chaplain in the Saint Gudula Church, in Brussels, Brabant. (…) After- wards he wanted to withdraw from the multitude. And with the help of another pious and richer chaplain, named the Reverend Franck van Coudenberg, they set up a stone house, according to both their needs, South-East of Brussels, on a mile from here in the Sonian Forest, in a valley called Groenendaal, where formerly stood a hermit’s house for a hermit. (…) There they led a holy, solitary life.19 In contrast to all that is said in the secondary literature discussed above regarding an already existing hermitage or hermit’s hut, Brother Gerard con- nects the new residence of the Brabantine mystic and his fellow priests to a ‘newly built’ house and he stresses that it was raised on the place where a hermit’s house ‘formerly stood’. There is a kind of certainty, therefore, that they did not move ‘into’ an existing hut of a former recluse. Apparently, Gerard of Saintes primarily wanted to show that the Brabantine mystic was longing for a ‘solitary place’, away from the multitude in Brussels.

Pomerius, for his part, informs us that Ruusbroec first lived in Brussels and that ‘after he had become vicar of the Saint Gudula’s Church (of that city), he was ordained priest’.20 Later on, Ruusbroec moved away from Brussels, seemingly motivated by the Reverend Franck van Coudenberg’s suggestion: … to look for a solitary place, away from the frequent crowding of people, where they [i.e. Franck van Coudenberg and two companions, John Gerelm, called Hinckaert, and Ruusbroec] could pray, freely and without scruples, the liturgy

19 Translation of the Middle Dutch: “Dese auctor hiet her Jan van Ruusbroeck, ende was ierst een devoet priester (ende) een capelaen te Bruesel in Brabant, in sinte Goedelen kerke. (…) Daer na woude hi hem doen uter menichte vanden luden. Ende overmits den toedoen van enen anderen oec devoten ende rikeren capelaen die hiet her Vranc van Coudenberghe, stichten si tot harer beider behoef ene matelijcke habitacie, suit oest van Bruesele, op een mile int wout van Sonien, in een dal dat hiet gronen dal, dair voirtijts een cluse stont om een clusenaer. (…) Ende daer leiden si een heilich afghesceiden leven,” De Vreese, “Bijdragen …,” p. 8. For the adjective to the noun habitacie (‘house’) De Vreese incorporated the variant matelijcke (‘modest’) from ms. G, instead of keeping the adjective materilike (‘material’ or ‘stone’) from ms. D. Ibid., 8. The adjective materilike (‘stone’), however, sounds preferable to matelijcke (‘modest’). John of Ruus- broec’s and Franck van Coudenberg’s longing for a solitary life, self-evidently, must have provided for a modest dwelling. It is thus more likely that brother Gerard, stressed the building of a ‘stone’ house, unlike the existing hermit’s hut, which was only meant for solitary ‘hermits’ and perhaps, at that time, may not have been made of solid stone material. 20 Translation of: “Johannes Ruusbroec, (…) effectum vicarium ejusdem ecclesiae Sanctae Gudi- lae, etiam ad sacros promovit ordines,” De origine, ed. De Leu p. 273, ed. Kors nr 67-68. Middle Dutch translation, Verdeyen, “De Middelnederlandse vertaling …,” p. 126: ”Iohannes van ruysbroec, (…) vicarijs vander kerken van sinte goedelen ende [gepromoveerd] te wijdinge vander orden.” 8 lieve uyttenhove

of the hours, in silence and with more devotion, according to the dignity of their priestly status.21 And Pomerius goes on to write that ‘they chose a place called Groenendaal’.22 Pomerius’ text corresponds to Brother Gerard’s Prologue. This is especially clear in his statement that Ruusbroec and his two fellow priests were looking for a solitary place away from the multitude in Brussels. Both authors may have had in mind the priests’ desire, in the first place, for a holy life or a life devoted to God. In addition to that, Pomerius even states that the three companions were seeking a new life ‘according to … their priestly status’. Both these views are open to more than one interpretation. But we can hardly accept that the source texts would have wanted to present Ruusbroec’s move into a hermit’s house, in the way the secondary literature examined thus far, has largely understood it. More nuanced interpretations however, have been offered by other scholars. Unlike his contemporaries at the beginning of the twentieth century, Van Mierlo interprets the Prologue and Pomerius’ biography in a different key. He states that Franck van Coudenberg knew the ‘place’ in Groenendaal where a hermit formerly lived, that he liked it and that it was donated to them (Franck van Coudenberg and his companions) by John III of Brabant.23 Also in line with the two historical sources Stracke, another early twentieth-century author, tells us about a ‘freely elected isolation’24 and ‘Ruusbroec’s move to the solitude’.25 Even if Verdeyen speaks of Ruusbroec’s move ‘into’ a hermit’s house,26 in his monograph he mainly follows Van Mierlo and Stracke in staying close to the historical sources. In conformity with the Prologue and De origine, he too emphasizes that Ruusbroec and his two companions “were looking for

21 Translation of: “Ut videlicet seorsum a communi hominum frequentia locum eligamus solitarium, in quo libere et absque scrupulo, juxta ordinis dignitatem, horas quiete solvere, devotioni vacare,” De origine, ed. De Leu p. 276, ed. Kors nr. 89. Middle Dutch translation, Verdeyen, “De Middelnederlandse vertaling …,” p. 129: “dat wi ons uut den ghemeynen leven der weerliker menschen anderwaerts ons pijnden te samen te leven en daer om vercoren enyge afgescheyden heymelike plaetse daer wi vredeliker na onsen staet onsen heer dienen mochten na onser begeerten ende sonder scrupel ons ghetiden daer wi toe sijn verbonden bat mochten lesen met meerder rusten ende devocien.” For Jan Gerelm, called Hinckaert, see De origine, ed. De Leu p. 271, n. 1: “Iste Gerelmus qui dicebatur Hinckaert.” 22 Cf. “Vallis Viridis eligatur, (…). locus visitatur,” De origine, ed. De Leu p. 276, ed. Kors nr. 92-93. In the Middle Dutch translation, Verdeyen, “De Middelnederlandse vertaling …,” p. 130, four times the expression dese plaetse (‘this place’) is used, and once die woestine van den bos sche (‘a silent and isolated place in the forest’). Nowhere have we found ‘hermit’s hut’ or ‘hermitage’, only locus and plaetse (‘place’). 23 J. Van Mierlo, “Het leven en de werken van Jan van Ruysbroeck (vervolg, 1),” in Dietsche Warande en Belfort (1910), p. 433. 24 D. A. Stracke, “Jan van Ruusbroec’s leven en karakter,” in: Jan van Ruusbroec. Leven. Werken. Ed. Ruusbroec-Genootschap te Antwerpen. Malines: Het Kompas; Amsterdam: De Spieghel, 1931, p. 63. 25 Ibid., p. 73. 26 See n. 12. ruusbroec: mystic and theologian in the quiet of groenendaal 9 greater solitude in the first place” in order “to be able to serve and praise God better.”27 This is consistent with his article entitled ”Jan van Ruusbroec te Brussel” in which Verdeyen underlines that Ruusbroec and his companions, Franck van Coudenberg and Jan Hinckaert, left the city to live a life of solitude in Groenendaal.28 Whereas the secondary literature cited thus far predominantly emphasizes Ruusbroec’s move into a hermit’s hut, Verdeyen, to our surprise, in a subse- quent article tells us that the Duke of Brabant, John III decided to transfer the ownership of his ‘hunting lodge’, together with the neighbouring pond and the adjacent land, to this friend in Christ, the priest Franck van Coudenberg.29 Berkhout also writing in 1981 and probably showing the influence of Van Mierlo, reports that the Duke of Brabant, John III, together with the former recluse Lambert, happily gave up the domain in Groenendaal in the Sonian Forest, but he makes no reference to either a ‘hermitage’ or ‘hermit’s hut’.30 Ten years later Burger too refers to the Duke’s hunting lodge and further reports it had become a hermit’s hut where recluses had lived for forty years, but he does not suggest that Ruusbroec and his companions actually lived in the lodge.31 In contrast to his earlier article where he reported on Ruusbroec living in a former hermit’s house, Warnar in 1994 associates the desire for a solitary life with the peace and the isolation of the ‘former’ hermit’s house located there.32 This expression, however, is ambiguous. It can mean that Ruus- broec actually moved ‘into’ the former recluse’s hut. But it is more likely that Warnar wanted to highlight here only the quiet of the place that was once inhabited by a hermit or a recluse. Moving into the twenty-first century, scholars continue the line of interpretation outlined in the paragraph above. Kors simply reports on Ruusbroec’s move to a solitary place in Groenendaal33 while Arblaster and Faesen, treating closely the material of the Prologue, write: “Brother Gerard simply states that Ruus- broec ‘wanted to remove himself from public life.’ (…) Gradually, they (Jan Hinckaert, Franck van Coudenberg, and Ruusbroec) formed a plan to leave the safety of the city and seek a life of greater solitude.”34 This emphasis on a

27 Verdeyen, Ruusbroec and His Mysticism, p. 33, 34 and 37. 28 P. Verdeyen, “Jan van Ruusbroec te Brussel,” in: Ons geestelijk erf 55 (1981), p. 289. 29 P. Verdeyen, “Het levensverhaal van Jan van Ruusbroec (1293-1381),” in: Vlaanderen 30 (1981), p. 145-146. According to Verdeyen this hunting lodge formerly was inhabited by a hermit. 30 Pieter-Jacob Berkhout, “Jan van Ruusbroecs leven,” in: Benedictijns tijdschift 42 (1981), p. 140. 31 Christoph Burger, “De mysticus Ruusbroec en zijn kerk,” in: Een claer verlicht man. Over het leven en werk van Jan van Ruusbroec (1293-1381). Ed. E. P. Bos & G. Warnar. Hilversum: Verloren, 1993, p. 32. 32 Geert Warnar, “De chronologie van Jan van Ruusbroecs werken,” in: Ons geestelijk erf 68 (1994), p. 187. See also n. 14. 33 Mikel M. Kors, “Ruusbroec en de crisis van de mystiek,” in: Ons geestelijk erf 75 (2001), p. 117. 34 John Arblaster & Rob Faesen, “John of Ruusbroec’s Life and Works,” in: A Companion to John of Ruusbroec. Ed. John Arblaster & Rob Faesen. Brill’s Companions to the Christian Tradi- tion, 51. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2014. p. 55. 10 lieve uyttenhove desire for greater solitude than was possible in the city not only reflects what is described by Pomerius, it is, indeed, the only sound statement that can be asserted from the historical evidence regarding Ruusbroec’s departure for Groenendaal.

2. wearing the Habit of Secular Priests

Different theories have been proposed concerning the actual canonical and vocational status of Ruusbroec and his companions’ during the first seven years in Groenendaal. As mentioned before, it has often been suggested that the three men at first lived in the place as ‘hermits’. The early nineteenth-century author Engelhardt writes that Ruusbroec was a secular priest up to the age of sixty, at which point he and his friends left for Groenendaal. Engelhardt’s point of view thus would seem to be that the age of sixty marked (some form of) an endpoint in Ruusbroec’s priestly status. In other words, after his move to the Sonian Forest, the Brabantine mystical writer no longer lived as a priest.35 Huijben’s depiction in 1931 of Ruusbroec as a recluse or hermit is close to Engelhardt’s viewpoint. Indeed Huijben bequeaths to us the impression that the mystic envisioned glorifying God in the solitude of the forest as a hermit (heremiet), since he was no great advocate of forming a larger community in Groenendaal.36 Around the same time as Huijben, Pou kens and Reypens also adopt the idea of the ‘hermit Ruusbroec’. With respect to a Latin note found in a fifteenth century manuscript of Ruusbroec’s Espous- als: Hunc librum edidit idem dominus Johannes post ingressum religionis, the latter two authors believe that post ingressum religionis refers to the period in Groenendaal (prior to the establishment of the priory), when Ruusbroec, according to them, lead a kind of hermit’s life. And when observing that some scholars too quickly presumed that Espousals – dispatched to the Friends of God (Gottesfreunde) in the Highland (Oberlant) in 1350, when Ruusbroec became a canon regular – must have come into existence in Groenendaal, Poukens and Reypens support their claim by again connecting the Groenendaal period with Ruusbroec’s life as a hermit.37 In his introduction to The Spiritual Tabernacle (Van den geesteliken tabernakel), Stracke likewise holds the opinion that Ruus- broec together with his companions started a kind of hermit’s life in the Sonian

35 J. G. V Engelhardt, Richard von St. Victor und Johannes Ruysbroek. Zur Geschichte der mystischen Theologie. Erlangen: Palm, 1838, p. 168. 36 J. Huijben, “Uit Ruusbroec’s vriendenkring,” in: Jan van Ruusbroec. Leven. Werken. Ed. Ruusbroec-Genootschap te Antwerpen. Malines: Het Kompas; Amsterdam: De Spieghel, 1931, p. 125. To a certain extent, Reypens (see n. 7) may have been wrongly inspired by Huijben’s pronunciation here. See again n. 47. 37 J. B. Poukens & L. Reypens, Introduction to Jan van Ruusbroec. Die gheestelike Brulocht. Werken I. Naar het Standaardhandschrift van Groenendaal uitgegeven door het Ruusbroec- Genootschap te Antwerpen. Malines: Het Kompas; Amsterdam: De Spieghel, 1932, p. xxxvii- xxxix; Tielt: Lannoo, ²1944, p. xxxiv-xxxv. ruusbroec: mystic and theologian in the quiet of groenendaal 11

Forest.38 Around the celebration of the 600th anniversary of Ruusbroec’s decease, Ampe in his discussion of the move to the solitude in Groenendaal suggests that the idea of the hermit’s life was not entirely strange to the group, as Hinckaert and companions were already adapting themselves to a form of life marked by this spirit, even while in Brussels.39 In a similar vein Lammens also identifies the new fellowship in Groenendaal as a group of ‘hermits-in- community’.40 In their article at the beginning of this century reconstructing the chronology of Ruusbroec’s works, Kienhorst and Kors distinguish three periods in the life of the Brabantine mystic to which the writing and the publication of his works are related: a first period as a secular priest in Brussels, a second as a hermit in Groenendaal, and, finally, a third as a canon of St Augustine in Groenendaal.41 Of particular interest is the second period – and the dating of Ruusbroec’s third to fifth works42 in the Groenendaal Manuscript to this period.43 What strikes our interest is the fact that two of these works carry the Latin annotation presbyter secularis adhuc manens in seculo which, according to Kienhorst and Kors, illustrates that they were written when Ruusbroec, in Groenendaal, was still a secular priest from a canonical point of view. If this is the case, one wonders how the authors conclude from this, seemingly out of nothingness, that Ruusbroec was a hermit before adopting the religious state as a canon regular.44 They even characterize Ruusbroec’s companions as ‘fellow-hermits’ or ‘fellow-recluses’.45 In Kienhorst and Kors’ article, apparently, there is a rather abrupt transition from adhuc manens in seculo presbyter secularis existens to a conclusion that the annotation and the text to which it is attached, refer to Ruusbroec’s period as a hermit. This claim is moderated by Mertens who insists that “The secular priest Ruusbroec became a religious.” However, after Kienhorst and Kors, Mertens, nevertheless, recounts three periods in the life of the Brabantine mystic: secular priest in Brussels, hermit in Groenendaal and Augustinian canon in Groenendaal.46 At this juncture, it is good to turn our attention again to the works of Brother Gerard and Pomerius. What interests us here is the question whether these two authors actually considered the new group in Groenendaal to be hermits or recluses.

38 D. A. Stracke, Introduction to Jan van Ruusbroec. Van den Gheesteliken Tabernakel. Werken II. Naar het Standaardhandschrift van Groenendaal. Ed. Ruusbroec-Genootschap te Antwerpen. Malines: Het Kompas; Amsterdam: De Spieghel, 1934, p. xxxi; Tielt: Lannoo, ²1946, p. xxix. 39 Ampe, Jan van Ruusbroec 1293-1381, p. 37. 40 Jan Lammens, “Jan van Ruusbroec,” in: Innerlijk leven 35 (1981), p. 333. 41 Kienhorst & Kors, “Codicological Evidence …,” p. 150, 155, 159 and 166. 42 The Sparkling Stone, The Four Temptations (Vanden vier becoringhen), and The Christian Faith (Vanden kerstenen ghelove). 43 Kienhorst & Kors, “Codicological Evidence …,” p. 149-150 and 151. 44 Ibid., p. 150. 45 Ibid., p. 166. 46 Th. Mertens, Introduction to Jan van Ruusbroec. Van den geesteliken tabernakel (The Spiritual Tabernacle). Ed. Th. Mertens. Translation into English by H. Rolfson, Opera omnia, 5-6; cccm, 105-106. Tielt: Lannoo; Turnhout: Brepols, 2006, p.14. 12 lieve uyttenhove

In his Prologue Brother Gerard develops some aspects of the three companions’ life in Groenendaal by means of an explanation of how the new ‘community’ was expanding. In contrast to the interpretation suggested by many of the scholars above, he does not describe the setting up of a ‘strict’ hermit’s or recluse’s life. Indeed, the following text from his work leads us to believe that the three men in Groenendaal lived a communal life as priests, and that other priests and religious persons wanted to associate with their small fellowship or priestly community: But God wanted more people to benefit from their blissful life and to be modelled on the form of their religious example. Moreover it happened that some kind people – both with secular and religious habits – from the cities of Brabant joined them to live with them. Though the Reverend John [of Ruusbroec] had not dealt rather with this flood of new people, however, he realized that the Reverend Franck desired to increase God’s love in many persons. And, therefore, he let the community take its course.47 Turning to Pomerius, it would appear he had his own source(s) of informa- tion. His presentation is permeated with several suggestions that denote the status of Ruusbroec and his companions as priests. He makes reference, in the first place, to the building of a chapel, which was being modelled on the example of a parish church: In the year 1344, the three aforesaid men started their life in Groenendaal, in a unanimous and harmonious way, and with great joy. And by courtesy of the bishop they began to build a chapel. When on March 13, the constructed chapel had become a parish church for themselves and their co-residents, they began to live together devoting themselves happily to God.48 For the sake of clarity, Pomerius notes that a certain John of Affligem joined with the community (of priests), and together with them tried to live the solitary,

47 Translation of the Middle Dutch “Mer want God woude dat meer luden hare heylicheden te bad hadden ende gheformt werden in die forme van hare religiose exempelen, dair bi gevielt dat eenighe goetwillich menschen uten stede van Brabant aen hem vergaderden om met hem te wonene van weerliken abite en oec van religiosen. Ende al hadde her Jan alle dese(r) vergade ringhen liever ledich gheweest, nochtan om dat hi ghevoelde dat her Vranc begherde die minne Gods te vermeeren in vele personen, soe liet hi die vergaderinghe daer werden,” De Vreese, “Bijdragen …,” p. 8-9. 48 Translation of: “Praefati viri unanimi proposito concordes et cum multo gaudio coeperunt anno Domini Millesimo tricentesimo xliiii°, agentes viriliter in Viridivalle, de consensu episcopi capel- lam erigere. Qua erecta mensis martii die xiiia in ecclesiam parochialem pro se et suis familiaribus, coeperunt ibidem pariter residentes Domino feliciter deservire,” De origine, ed. De Leu p. 277, ed. Kors nr. 94-96. Middle Dutch translation, Verdeyen, “De Middelnederlandse vertaling …,” p. 130-131: “Ende soe begonsten die voerseiden devote mannen dese plaetse te bewoenen inden iaer ons heren mccc en xliiii met groter blijtscap te samen. Daer si doen oec bi orlove ende con- sent des bisscoppen maecten een oetmoedige cappelle ghewijt des xiii daechs van merte om die te samen met hoerder familien te bewoenen.” See also Warnar, “Het leven van Jan van Ruus- broec,” p. 20, who believes that the chapel possibly was dedicated to parish church in 1345, and that perhaps Ruusbroec and his companions, only at that time, finally settled in the Sonian Forest. ruusbroec: mystic and theologian in the quiet of groenendaal 13 although unusual life (vitam solitariam quamvis insolitam).49 If the solitary life were to be paralleled with his understanding of the life of recluses, Pomerius, probably would not have spoken of an ‘unusual’ life. Moreover the biographer states that the three men remained secular priests: … granted that they were priests, [they] first lived there for about five years together, wearing the habit of secular priests.50 It is worth realising also that according to Pomerius, their ‘communal’ living was not considered to be appropriate by lay people, or by religious and secular clergymen: So much so that the then prior of Saint Victor in Paris, an order of canons regular, condemned their quite unusual way of living, which had not been approved by the Church.51 With this phrase Pomerius probably intended to convey that even though they lived in isolation, they had a kind of community life, and, therefore, did not live as strict hermits or recluses. Moreover, Pomerius gives the impression that the ‘unusual’ group – ‘unusual’ because it was neither a community of religious canons nor a group of hermits, e.g. after the example of the Carthu- sians – nonetheless continued to be a ‘priestly’ community for about five years, and, eventually became a ‘religious’ community: On a par with the exhortation by the foresaid prior of Saint Victor, they accepted the habit of canons regular, handed over to them by this very priest, thus changing the chaplaincy (cura) into a priory or a religious ‘community lead by a provost’ (praeposituram).52

49 Cf. “Quorum tunc sequens contubernium Johannes quidam de Affliginio, (…) spei anchoram figens in Domino vitam cum eis solitariam, quamvis insolitam, attentavit,” De origine, ed. De Leu p. 277, ed. Kors nr. 96-97. Middle Dutch translation, Verdeyen, “De Middelnederlandse vertaling …,” p. 131: “Tot welker versameninge oec ten selven tide biden wille gods hen verselde een leeck man, geheyten Jan van affligem, (…). Die welke, (…) settende (…) sinen hope vol- comelijc inden here, aenveerde te leven met desen gezelscap in die woestine.” 50 Translation of: De origine, ed. De Leu p. 277, ed. Kors nr. 99: “Cum enim annis quinque vel circiter, licet presbyteri, sub habitu tamen seculari ibidem insimul habitassent, (…). Middle Dutch translation, Verdeyen, “De Middelnederlandse vertaling …,” p. 131: “Want na datse plaetse aldus te samen vredelijc ende eersaemlijc beseten hadden als weerlike priesteren houdende hoer ghetiden, (…).” 51 Translation of: “In tantum ut (…) prior tunc temporis Sancti Victoris Parisiensis, Ordinis canonicorum regularium (…), de modo vivendi eorum minus solito et nusquam ab Ecclesia appro- bato eos non modicum reprobaret,” De origine, ed. De Leu p. 277-288, ed. Kors nr. 99-100. Middle Dutch translation, Verdeyen, “De Middelnederlandse vertaling …,” p. 131: “(…), ten selven tide die prior vanden regulieren van sint victors buten parijs hen overscreef een lange ende scerpe epistele, daer in dat hise hem pijnde te berispen ende te onderwisen van hoerder dolinghe daer si in stonden mitds der nyewicheit van horen state van leven diemen nyeghernis in die h. kerke en vant gheapprobeert.” 52 Translation of: “Juxta exhortationem praefati prioris de Sancto Victore assumpto habitu Canonicorum Regularium, quem idem episcopus eis tradidit, curam mutans in praeposituram, 14 lieve uyttenhove

It is also interesting how Pomerius, with respect to Hinckaert, treats of his help in setting up the new ‘community devoted to Christ’.53 In contrast to the portrayal of Ruusbroec, whom he never likens to a hermit, Pomerius, when reporting on Hinckaert’s preference not to be professed in the new order of religious canons, explicitly stresses his (Hinckaert’s) new and rigid discipline, after the example of the first Groenendaal recluses: There he [i.e. Jan Gerelm/Hinckaert] had a modest house built for himself, as he preferred to live amid his fellow brothers, and spend his days in seclusion, maintaining a rigid discipline and penance.54 Notwithstanding the accounts described thus far in which various authors refer to Ruusbroec and his companions living as hermits, other authors understand them to have remained in holy orders as priests. Going back again to the nineteenth century, we find according to Böhringer, that Ruusbroec who became a priest at the age of twenty-four and died at the age of eighty-eight, remained a priest for sixty-four years.55 Van Mierlo’s account, cited above, fits with this line of interpretation, mentioning as it does the building of a chapel and its dedication to Saint John as a parish church. Van Mierlo also brings to our attention the uncommon character of the group, in wearing the habit of secular priests and living together without a religious rule.56 Noteworthy too is Stracke who, prior to writing his introduction to the Tabernacle in which he referred to Ruusbroec and his companions starting a kind of hermit’s life in Groenendaal, had in an earlier work empha- sized the departure from Brussels simply in terms of a desire on the part of the mensis martii die decima, annnis praemissis quinque appositis,” De origine, ed. De Leu p. 278, ed. Kors nr. 105-106. Middle Dutch translation, Verdeyen, “De Middelnederlandse vertaling …,” p. 132: “Ende ter stont na datse prior van sinte victors bi parijs hadde onderwijst, soe aenveerden si dat habijt der canoniken regulier die hen die selve bisscop oec doen verleende, verheffende hoer cappelle inden tytel van eenre proesstien [cf. prevostdie, proostye, proostdie] opten xiii dach inden meerte inden iaer voerseit.” Franck van Coudenberg, until that day gardian (curatus; overste) of the priestly community, was appointed provost (praepositus; proest). De origine, ed. De Leu p. 277, 278-279, ed. Kors nr. 106, 114, 120, 124, 125; Middle Dutch translation, Verdeyen, “De Middelnederlandse vertaling …,” p. 131 and 132. 53 Translation of: “Dominus Johannes Gerelmi [Hinckaert], fons et origo hujus venerandi in Christo collegii,” De origine, ed. De Leu p. 279, ed. Kors nr. 109. Middle Dutch translation, Verdeyen, “De Middelnederlandse vertaling …,” p. 132: “Ian gherems, die die yerste orspronc was van deser devoter gheesteliker vergaderinghe.” 54 Translation of: “(…) facto sibi seorsum habitaculo, maluit ibidem cum fratribus suis dies suos ducere in solitudine sub rigore disciplinae et poenitentiae,” De origine, ed. De Leu p. 279, ed. Kors nr. 111. Middle Dutch translation, Verdeyen, “De Middelnederlandse vertaling …,” p. 133: “ (…) soe dede hi ter syden op een plaetse een oetmoedige woning voer hem maken, want hi hadde liever daer te bliven bi sijn bruederen in enicheden ende met hen te leyden een leven van penitencien.” 55 F. Böhringer, Die deutschen Mystiker des vierzehnten und fünfzehnten Jahrhunderts: Johannes Tauler, Heinrich Suso, Johannes Rusbroek, Gerhard Groot, Florentius Radevynzoon, Thomas von Kempen. Zürich: Meyer & Zeller, 1855, p. 445. 56 Van Mierlo, “Het leven en de werken …,” (vervolg, 1), p. 433-434. ruusbroec: mystic and theologian in the quiet of groenendaal 15 three men to be able to celebrate the Eucharist, to pray the liturgy of hours peacefully, and to progress in their spiritual way of living.57 In this earlier work, Stracke follows Van Mierlo in recounting how some in the new community’s wider environment found it strange that the three men lived sub habitu seculari, while others blamed them for living as a ‘priestly’ community, but not wanting to accept a rule of a religious order. Nowhere in this article does Stracke speak specifically of hermits or recluses (kluizenaars). He calls the three companions solitaries (eenzaten). He also refers to them as priests and brothers living in Groenendaal and he associates the new ‘material environment’ with a presby- tery, not with a hermitage, except when talking about Hinckaert.58 In the manner of Pomerius, Stracke stresses Hinckaert’s desire to live in seclusion while not taking off his secular canon’s habit.59 Reypens distances himself somewhat from Stracke in claiming that Hinckaert was a recluse in a different sense to the first Groenendaal recluses.60 Moreover, although he came to emphasize Ruusbroec’s wanting to remain a ‘hermit’,61 Reypens initially had highlighted Ruusbroec’s status as a priest in Groenendaal, basing his claim on the introduction by Rulmann Merswin to his German translation of The Espousals in which the latter tells us the work was sent to him by a holy secular priest (ein lieber heiliger weltpriester) who lived in Groenendaal.62

57 Stracke, “Jan van Ruusbroec’s leven …,” p. 88-89. 58 Ibid., p. 90-91. 59 Ibid., p. 92. See also W. H. Beuken, Ruusbroec de wonderbare. Bloemlezing van fragmenten in de oorspronkelijke tekst met inleiding en aantekeningen. ’s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 31981, p. 20; Verdeyen, Ruusbroec and His Mysticism, p. 41-42, who believes that “On the Groenendaal honor panel he [Hinckaert] is rightly portrayed as a hermit next to the inhabitants of the first hermitage.” 60 L. Reypens, “Een eere-paneel met Groenendael’s beroemdheden,” in: Ons geestelijk erf 6 (1932), p. 46, n. 12. For the life of the first Groenendaal recluses, see De origine, ed. De Leu, p. 265-266, 267-268, 270, ed. Kors nr. 14-21, 27-36, 46-52. Middle Dutch translation, Verdeyen, “De Middelnederlandse vertaling …,” p. 117, 120 and 123. 61 See n. 7. 62 Reypens, “Bij het zesde eeuwfeest …,” p. 225-226, a reference to a quote by Merswin in his Buch der furkommenen gnoden und von der verdientlichen gnoden, found in Engelhardt, Richard von St. Victor und Johannes Ruysbroek, p. 345-346: ‘Dis ist gar ein gewore fruhtber nütze lere genummen usser den anuange des brunluft buchelins das ein lieber heiliger weltpriester in Prabant schreip, heisset bruder Johannes Rüsebruch.” English translation after Kienhorst & Kors, “Codi- cological Evidence …,” p. 158: “This is a true, profitable, beneficial teaching, taken from the beginning of the little book containing The Spiritual Espousals, written by a dear holy secular priest in Brabant, his name is brother Johannes Ruusbroec.” See also Huijben, “Uit Ruusbroec’s vriendenkring,” p. 129, n. 2, a reference to ms. München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cgm 818. On this page, however, waltpriester (‘forest priest’) is mentioned in stead of weltpriester (‘secular priest’) (see figure p. 17). The quote appears in alternative reading in Wolfgang Eichler, Jan van Ruusbroecs ‘Brulocht’ in oberdeutscher Überlieferung. Untersuchungen und kritische Tex- tausgabe. München: C. H. Beck’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1969, p. 30, n. 2, who, with regard to Ruusbroec, also speaks of a nice and holy forest priest (waltprister): “Dis ist gar eine gewore fruhtbere nútze lere, genummen usser dem anefange des brutlouf bue chelins, das ein lieber heiliger waltprister in Brobant schreib, heisset brue der Johans von Rúsebrue ch …” Eichler refers to Strasbourg, Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire, Cod. 739, 122r. From our inquiry at the Stras- bourg Library I learned that the original quote, indeed, speaks of a forest priest. The term 16 lieve uyttenhove

Verdeyen’s purpose in recounting Pomerius’ story then is to emphasize again that the three men “remained in Groenendaal what they were in Brussels: secular priests living in a community.”63 Like Van Mierlo and Stracke, he too points out that the outside world in Ruusbroec’s time could not very well place this group of solitary men, whom they considered as ‘hermits-in-community’.64 For Verdeyen what also speaks for their status of priesthood is first, the fact that the chaplaincy (kapelanie) was transformed into a priory (proostdij),65 and, second, the concern of the three companions to seek solitude – after a kind of hermit’s lifestyle – without renouncing their claim to the office of hours.66 When mentioning the transfer of a hunting lodge to the three men by John III, Verdeyen indeed informs us the Duke stipulated as a condition, that the place should be inhabited by at least five pious men of whom at least two should be priests. And, in sympathy with the interests of Ruusbroec and his companions, John III wanted the community to take care of the divine services to the glory and honour of God Almighty, of the glorious Virgin Mary and of all the Saints.67 Even if Ampe at first stressed the Hinckaert-group’s yearning for a kind of hermit’s life,68 he too believes it was not the intention of the three companions to break away from the diocesan priesthood. According to Ampe, they only wanted to live in the solitude in order to be able to serve the Lord. And he underlines that they wore the priestly habit, just as they did in Brussels.69 We find echoes of this in Berkhout’s article that places the emphasis upon the three companions’ new life in Groenendaal as ‘secular priests living together’.70 All the above is reflected in Mommaers’ claim in the introduction to Ruus- broec’s Little Book of Enlightenment (Boecsken der verclaringhe): “(…) that these priests explicitly did not want to disappear into an unreachable desert as cenobites, much less as hermits. (…) In the beginning, their only intention was to found a sort of small model parish where they, as priests, could approach the faithful in a new, undistorted way, where they could fittingly say the office in

waltprister should, however, be spelled as waltpristere, with a final ‘e’. Another citation by Merswin written at the end of some excerpts from Espousals, likewise presents Ruusbroec as a e ‘forest priest’ (waltpriester): “… er solte es in daz brunloft buchelin schriben und dem werg zů legen Brůder Johanse von Růsebruch den lieben heilgen waltpriester in Brobant ...” See (http:// www.manuscripta-mediaevalia.de/dokumente/html/hsk0067), Ms. Stuttgart, WLB, HB I 203, fol. 32v. In any case, the terms weltpriester and waltpristere both refer to Ruusbroec’s ‘priesthood’ in the first years of Groenendaal, and not to an alleged ‘hermit hood’. See also Warnar (2007), 130-131, and Verdeyen (‘Het Levensverhaal’, 1981), 147, who refers to the three Groenendaal companions as a ‘group of forest priests’. 63 Verdeyen, Ruusbroec and His Mysticism, p. 37. See also Verdeyen, “Het levensverhaal van Jan van Ruusbroec …,” p. 146. 64 Verdeyen, Ruusbroec and His Mysticism, p. 39-40. 65 Ibid., p. 41. 66 Ibid., p. 43. 67 Verdeyen, “Het levensverhaal van Jan van Ruusbroec …,” p. 145. 68 See n. 39. 69 Ampe, Jan van Ruusbroec 1293-1381, p. 38. 70 Berkhout, “Jan van Ruusbroecs leven,” p. 140. ruusbroec: mystic and theologian in the quiet of groenendaal 17

Fig. 1. Ms. München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cgm 818, fol. 1r Taken from http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/bsb00093141/image_4 18 lieve uyttenhove choir. The chapel which they immediately began to build was consecrated as a parish church in 1343, and Vrank van Coudenberch was the curate (“curatus”).”71 This belief is shared by Warnar. Mommaers’ words lead him to surmise that the three men had the intention of founding an exemplary parish,72 and that initially Ruusbroec was a secular priest in Groenendaal.73 Warnar also adds, in accordance with Pomerius, that in Groenendaal the Bishop of Cambrai appointed Franck van Coudenberg parish priest of the community.74 He further emphasizes that the three men were neither hermits nor recluses. According to Burger they indeed lived in community as secular priests, a daring way of life that continued for seven years.75 In his 1994 article, dealing with the dating of Ruusbroec’s Taber- nacle, Warnar underlines that Ruusbroec, after his retreat to Groenendaal in 1343, lived as a secular priest in that place until 1350, when he became an Augustinian canon regular.76 He resumes his account in his monograph on Ruusbroec. Even if he at first pointed to the fact that the three men “settled in the former hermitage at Groenendaal”, he confirms here that ‘as priests’ of their own chapel they started a new life. And somehow repeating what he wrote in 1994, Warnar goes on to say that in 1350 the residents of Groenendaal decided to form their community of priests into a religious community of canons regular lead by a provost, following the rule of St Augustine.77 This view is supported by Van Nieuwenhove, who recalling the three periods in Ruusbroec’s life, underlines the second period – the period from 1343 to 1350 – as being determined by his priesthood in Groenendaal.78 And when referring to the dating of Tabernacle, he, in line with Warnar, points also to that second period when Ruusbroec, before his profession in 1350, was a secular priest in Groenendaal.79 This is exactly what the accounts of Brother Gerard and Pomerius indicate, no more and no less. Even though Ruusbroec and his fellow-priests were seeking a solitary way of life ‘somewhat’ after the example of a hermit’s life, obviously, their first concern was to fulfil their priestly duties in continuity with their original Brussels community and to take care of the divine services to the glory and honour of God Almighty, but in a quieter and more retiring way. Notable in that respect is Ruusbroec’s personal high regard for priesthood, as described in his last work The Twelve Beguines (Vanden XII beghinen). The meaning of the passage below makes it more probable that he did not want to

71 P. Mommaers, Introduction to Jan van Ruusbroec. Boecsken der verclaringhe (Little Book of Enlightenment). Ed. G. De Baere. Translation into English by Ph. Crowley and H. Rolfson, Opera omnia, 1; cccm, 101. Tielt: Lannoo; Turnhout: Brepols, 1989, p. 22. 72 Warnar, “Het leven van Jan van Ruusbroec,” p. 21. 73 Ibid., p. 26. 74 See n. 52. 75 Burger, “De mysticus Ruusbroec en zijn kerk,” p. 32-33. 76 Warnar, “De chronologie van …,” p. 188, 191, 192, 194 and 197. 77 Warnar, Literature and Mysticism, p. 8. 78 Rik Van Nieuwenhove, Jan van Ruusbroec. Mystical Theologian of the Trinity. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2003, p. 9. 79 Ibid., p. 10. ruusbroec: mystic and theologian in the quiet of groenendaal 19 abandon a priestly life in favour of an eremitical life, strictly considered. He uses various images to sum up significant features of a ‘good’ priest. The section begins with the help of a lively metaphor appealing to the ear, the well- known phrase “Good priests are holy vessels” (Goede priesteren dat sijn hei- lighe vate), and finishes with the conviction that “Good priests are a mirror of holy Church.” In the opening section Ruusbroec, indeed, is not calling attention to an (ascetic) cenobitical or eremitical life, but to a life in moderation applying to all good priests. The end of the section, along with the other references tell- ing us priests “are ordered to the service of our Lord,” that “they pray and desire almighty God with inner devotion,” that “they desire in common God’s glory,” and that “Christ has commended to them (…) the seven sacraments,” likewise testify that Ruusbroec, as faithful servant of the Church, would never have dared to give up holy orders: Good priests are holy vessels: they are filled with heavenly gifts above measure; for they are pure of soul and of body, sober, in moderation in all that they need. They are ordered to the service of our Lord; they bear Christ’s image in their hearts; they fulfill daily His passion, His death, His fidelity, His love, in their thoughts; they are mediators between sinners and God; they are gracious, and merciful to all people who need them; (…) they pray and desire almighty God with inner devotion for all that holy Christendom needs and uses: they seek to please no one for consolation or solace, or for temporal things, but they desire in common God’s glory and the blessedness of all people. Christ has commended to them the treasure and the revenues of holy Church, namely the seven sacraments, to dispense and give to each one what he needs, according to the mode and ordinance of holy Christendom, without selling or demanding any reward for it. (…) Good priests are a mirror of holy Church, and of all who desire to live righteously and virtuously.80

3. the Desire for a Contemplative Life

Pomerius’ claim indicating that Ruusbroec lived a quiet and silent life in Brussels and was dressed poorly,81 lead some scholars to think that, in Groenendaal, the mystic was seeking primarily an ascetic way of life. This is clear from a first article of 1890 where Ruusbroec is presented as a ‘marvel- lous’ ascetic.82 It matches Van Mierlo’s (1910) thought that “the ripe fruit of Ruusbroec’s ascetism has grown into the most beautiful book written by human

80 Beg2c563-580. Figures prefaced with Beg2c refer to the numbered lines of the fourth part of the English version of Jan van Ruusbroec. Vanden XII beghinen (The Twelve Beguines). Text and Apparatus. Ed. M. M. Kors. Translation into English by H. Rolfson, Opera omnia, 7A; cccm, 107A. Tielt: Lannoo; Turnhout: Brepols, 2000 (cursive words in the quotation refer to our emendation of the original English translation). 81 De origine, ed. De Leu p. 285, ed. Kors nr. 147. Middle Dutch translation, Verdeyen, “De Middelnederlandse vertaling …,” p. 138. 82 Claeys, “Jan van Ruusbroeck,” p. 384. 20 lieve uyttenhove hands, a kind of Imitatio Christi.”83 Van Mierlo also spells out Ruusbroec’s exemplary attitude in cultivating all virtues and in observing the convent discipline in Groenendaal. What is more, according to Van Mierlo, it appears that in penance, in vigil and in fasting he stood supreme.84 Similarly, he observes that Ruusbroec was very modest in his appearance, very plain in his clothes, but always distinguished and well cared for.85 However, evidence for this ‘ascetic’ standpoint is hard to find in Pomerius’ com- ments on Ruusbroec’s Groenendaal life. Hence, a number of other scholars propose different views. According to Verdeyen there is no reason to doubt that Ruusbroec and his companions neither desired to found a monastery, nor to become religious. All they were striving for was a deeper spiritual life.86 Therefore, they decided to look for a way of living, more hidden and remote, than that provided by existing frameworks for priestly ministry.87 Moreover Verdeyen thinks Ruusbroec highlighted the significance of the holy founders of orders who sought God in the solitude of their heart.88 According to him, this encapsulates the core of Ruusbroec’s life as a whole.89 What is revealing, however, is Verdeyen’s claim that the new religious community in fact was founded in Brussels. It was the outcome of a spiritual adven- ture of three secular priests who gradually were discovering the inner dimension of their Christian faith.90 Verdeyen elsewhere reinforces the point that the Reverend Franck and his companions did not leave Brussels for the solitude of the Sonian Forest to found a new religious community. Rather, between 1138 and 1343 Ruus- broec and his fellow priests had come to see that a deep spiritual life could not flourish in Brussels’ society with its non-evangelical attitude to life. The flight from Brussels, therefore, was a result of a distinct religious need. It was motivated by a positive call: a kind of exodus to the ‘desert’ or to a silent and isolated place. The three men wanted to live more profoundly, what they had received undeservedly in Brussels, namely a deeper understanding of God and God’s spiritual gifts. In other words, they fostered a deep desire to discover a way of life that was better adapted to a spiritual life and the inner dimension of their vocation as priests.91 Clearly, Verdeyen gives his readers the impression that the new ‘community’ had everything to do with a ‘spiritual foundation’. This emphasis on a more interior way of living in the solitude of Groenendaal is likewise expressed by Lammens92 and the idea is also present in Warnar (1994) who tells us that

83 Van Mierlo, “Het leven en de werken …,” (slot), p. 145. 84 Van Mierlo, “Het leven en de werken …,” (vervolg, 2), p. 9. 85 Ibid., p. 10. 86 Verdeyen, Ruusbroec and His Mysticism, p. 37-38. 87 Ibid., p. 39. 88 Ibid., p. 160-161. In fact, in one of his works, Van den geesteliken tabernakel, English translation, Tab5:5714-5717, Ruusbroec refers to the Desert Fathers’ life of seeking God “in separation from the people and in the simplicity of their heart.” See also n. 17. 89 Verdeyen, Ruusbroec and His Mysticism, p. 161. 90 Verdeyen, “Jan van Ruusbroec te Brussel,” p. 294. 91 Verdeyen, “Het levensverhaal van Jan van Ruusbroec …,” p. 146. 92 Lammens, “Jan van Ruusbroec,” p. 333. ruusbroec: mystic and theologian in the quiet of groenendaal 21

Ruusbroec, together with his companions Franck van Coudenberg and Jan Hinckaert, moved to Groenendaal in the Sonian Forest to apply themselves to a true spiritual life.93 Writing at the same time as Verdeyen and Lammens above, Ampe is shift- ing into a somewhat different gear. He considers Ruusbroec’s great contribu- tion to the Groenendaal community in immersing himself more deeply in his already blossoming contemplative life, without breaking down his relations with the outside world.94 In another article, Ampe reflects just that concern and tells us about Ruusbroec’s exodus to the isolation of Groenendaal in order to deliver himself to the contemplation of God.95 Beuken thinks the flight of Ruusbroec and his friends to Groenendaal was characterized by their desire to celebrate Mass and to pray the Office of Hours, peacefully, in isolation, as well as to progress in the spiritual life.96 Moreover, in line with Ampe, he appeals to Ruusbroec’s life of contemplation, and adds that his life, at the same time, was dedicated to study and to an intense spiritual communication with those who lived there or who made pilgrimages to Groenendaal.97 Con- nected with this, Warnar’s monograph pointedly associates the isolation in Groenendaal with Ruusbroec’s desire to concentrate on his creative work98 – an idea reflected again in the claim by Arblaster and Faesen “that Ruusbroec’s move to Groenendaal was not entirely unrelated to his intellectual pursuits. On the contrary, in keeping with an old tradition (…) he [i.e. Ruusbroec] considered the hermit’s life an exemplary framework for a contemplative form of intellectual life.”99 The key to unlock the truth about Ruusbroec’s move from the city to the quiet of Groenendaal, is once again found in Pomerius’ De origine. We cannot miss it as he explicitly underlines that Ruusbroec sought a life of contemplation in the quiet of Groenendaal: And so he came to Groenendaal together with his companions hoping to contemplate more serene mysterious heavenly things and to be all the more just empty for God, in peace and away from all confusion and worldly disturbance.100

93 Warnar, “De chronologie van …,” p. 187. 94 Ampe, Jan van Ruusbroec 1293-1381, p. 38. 95 A. Ampe, “Het leven van Ruusbroec in de Cronycke van Brabant,” in: Ons geestelijk erf 55 (1981), p. 172. 96 Beuken, Ruusbroec de wonderbare, p. 20. 97 Ibid., p. 21. 98 Cf. Warnar’s observation that “Moments of enlightenment were necessarily followed by the more plodding aspects of writing, which even a great mind like Ruusbroec could not avoid,” Warnar, Literature and Mysticism, p. 122. 99 Arblaster & Faesen, “John of Ruusbroec’s Life and Works,” p. 58. 100 Translation of: “Venit itaque cum sodalibus suis in Viridemvallem, tanto serenius arcana coelesta contemplaturus, quanto quietius ab omni strepitu mundanae turbationis soli Domino vacaturus,” De origine, ed. De Leu p. 287, ed. Kors nr. 159-160. Middle Dutch translation, Ver- deyen, “De Middelnederlandse vertaling …,” p. 140: “Ende hier om soe is hi met sinen gesellen gecomen te gruenendale om dat hi daer also te bequamer sijn soude te oeffenen sijn inweyndige contemplaci, als hij daer dat soude mogen vredeliker doen dan hij in die werelt plach.” 22 lieve uyttenhove

Earlier in his work Pomerius referred to Ruusbroec’s preference for a contemplative life that was already manifest in Brussels. According to the biographer, the mystic loved the peace and the quiet of the contemplation of God more than external activities.101 Pomerius moreover makes it clear that in Groenendaal, Ruusbroec retreated into the quiet of the forest, whenever he was struck by the divine light. This theme surfaces within different chapters: He had adopted the habit to retreat all alone in a secret place of the forest when a beam of divine light flooded him.102 We find a similar idea in the following citation: Some people who are still alive, testify that one day the pious prior, being under divine inspiration, as to habit, hurried all alone to the forest and claimed his solitary place where he sat down under a certain tree.103 The claims, which we may piece together from the latter modern scholars, thus accord well with Pomerius’ narrative in De origine. His explicit emphasis on Ruusbroec’s contemplative life is all the more notable when we consider that Franck van Coudenberg, the priest with the highest authority in the new community, is depicted by the biographer, as not being gifted with a high form of contemplation: With Martha, he [i.e. Franck van Coudenberg] was truly vigorous in actions, (…); and what he was missing to the part of Maria [namely, resting in God], his pious brothers, who were lead by him, abundantly restored by their readiness for inner contemplation.104

101 See De origine, ed. De Leu p. 285, ed. Kors nr. 147-148; Middle Dutch translation, Verdeyen, “De Middelnederlandse vertaling …,” p. 138. 102 Translation of: “Habebat enim pro consuetudine ut, dum divinae illustrationis radio imma desceret, solus incederet in abdita silvae,” De origine, ed. De Leu p. 293, ed. Kors nr. 205. Middle Dutch translation, Verdeyen, “De Middelnederlandse vertaling …,” p. 148: “Want hi had voer een gewoente wanneer hem die godlike rayen der geesteliker contemplacien te beschinen plagen dat hi dan ghinc op een heymelike plaetse yegerins inden bosch.” 103 Translation of: “Testantur etenim adhuc vivi quod die quadam devotus prior, cum esset divi nitus inspiratus, more solito in silvam properans, locum sibi solitarium, sub quadam arbore reidens, vendicaret,” De origine, ed. De Leu p. 294, ed. Kors nr. 212. Middle Dutch translation, Verdeyen, “De Middelnederlandse vertaling …,” p. 149: “Want noch der tijt levende personen sijn dient wel kenlijc is, dat op een tijt geviel, als die voerseiden heilige prior was uutten cloester gegaen om te contempleren in een heymelike stede, also hi plach doen, vercoes hi een plaetse onder enen boem, om daer te sitten in sijn outheit, ende alsoe te ontfaen die godlike gaven, alsoe hi was altoes van gewoenten.” The Middle Dutch translator, however, seems to suggest that Ruusbroec looked up the solitude in order to be able to contemplate. 104 Translation of: “Erat nempe cum Martha strenuus in actione, (…); et quod sibi minus affuit in parte Mariae, fratres devoti quibus praeerat, vacantes internae contemplationi, sibi non modicum recuperarunt,” De origine, ed. De Leu p. 280, ed. Kors nr. 115-116. Middle Dutch translation, Verdeyen, “De Middelnederlandse vertaling …,” p. 133-134: “Want hi was met marthen ernstich in onledicheden die dingen van buten te besorgen (…). Ende dat hi min mocht hebben ruusbroec: mystic and theologian in the quiet of groenendaal 23

Van Mierlo too, reports on Franck, being a wise leader of the new religious community, maintaining order and discipline and making Groenendaal flourish in a very short time, yet falling short in a high contemplative life.105 Thus also the suggestion by Beuken, who believes that Franck devoted himself to expanding the new foundation while Ruusbroec was a man of study and contemplation.106 Ruusbroec’s view on the true Christian contemplative life has been set out in all of his works. It is developed, in an exemplary way in his third book The Sparkling Stone, written at the request of a hermit whom he had earlier met.107 By good fortune, it seems to have been written when Ruusbroec was still living in Brussels.108 In his Prologue Geraert of Saintes specifies on what occasion the book came out: It should be known that the Reverend Jan [i.e. John of Ruusbroec] once had a conversation about spiritual things with a hermit. When they were about to say goodbye, that brother insisted very strongly that he would further clarify the conversation they had had by writing something about it.109 Apparently, the hermit wanted to know more about the true Christian spiritual life. This conclusion can be drawn from the words: “Understand this, you who want to live in the spirit, for I am not speaking to anyone else.”110 In The Sparkling Stone, Ruusbroec explains the spiritual life as an outward life ‘for’ God, an inward life ‘with’ God (through a spiritual union with Christ), and a life ‘in’ or ‘in communion with God’. It corresponds to the three (intertwined) van marien deele in enen verhavenen godschouwende leven (…), dat holpen hem ghetrouwelijc sijn bruederen dagelijcs alzoe te vermeerderen met horen gebede.” 105 Van Mierlo, “Het leven en de werken …,” (vervolg, 1), p. 435. 106 Beuken, Ruusbroec de wonderbare, p. 20. 107 Axters, “Ruusbroec, gelukkige Jan …,” p. 815, and Verdeyen, Ruusbroec and His Mysticism, p. 33, where the author suggest that “Perhaps one of them [i.e. the first Groenendaal hermits?] asked Ruusbroec to write down his teaching in The Sparkling Stone.” See also Reypens, “Bij de Ruusbroec-herdenking …,” p. 227. 108 Warnar, Literature and Mysticism, p. 136. For the chronology of Ruusbroecs works, see Uyt- tenhove, Embraced by the Father and the Son, 76, n. 7 and ibid., n. 10; 79, n. 15. It should be noted, however, that, according to Deblaere, Ruusbroec only wrote The Realm of Lovers (Dat rike der ghelieven) in Brussels and that all other works stem from his Groenendaal period. Albert Deblaere, “Altniederländische Mystik,” in: Albert Deblaere. Essays on Mystical Literature. Ed. Rob Faesen. Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium, 177. Louvain: Leuven University Press/Peeters, 2004 (Originally published in Sacramentum mundi. Theologisches Lexikon für die Praxis 1 (1967), p. 94. 109 Th. Mertens and P. Mommaers, Introduction to Jan van Ruusbroec. Vanden blinkenden steen (The Sparkling Stone). Ed. G. De Baere, Th. Mertens & H. Noë. Translation into English by A. Lefevere, Opera omnia, 10; cccm, 110. Tielt: Lannoo; Turnhout: Brepols, 1991, p. 11. Trans- lation of De Vreese, “Bijdragen …,” p. 16: “Voirt (...) van den blinkenden steen, is te weten dat her Jan op een tijt sat ende redende van gheesteliker materien met enen clusenaer, ende als sy sceyden souden, badt hem die broeder herde seer dat hi hem die redenen die si dair ghehandelt hadden, woude verclaren met enighen ghescriften.” See also David, p. XII. 110 Sto62-63. Figures prefaced with Sto refer to the numbered lines of the English version of Jan van Ruusbroec. Vanden blinkenden steen (The Sparkling Stone). 24 lieve uyttenhove aspects in the spiritual life, which Ruusbroec calls the ‘working’, the ‘inner’ and the ‘contemplative’ life. In addition, he draws the hermit’s attention to his love for all fellow human beings which necessarily arises from the contemplative person’s communion (in love) with God and which perfects the true spiritual life.111 The first aspect, the outward working life ‘for’ God, Ruusbroec links with the life of a good person, keeping away from mortal sins, obeying God in all things and always intending God in all works.112 It concerns a faithful servant who approaches God with true love.113 The spiritual life next calls for an inward life ‘with’ God. This state presumes a person’s spirit to be free of images and desires, and to feel an inner union with God.114 The emphasis is on the ongoing desire to cling interiorly to God with love.115 In the third place, Ruusbroec considers the life of a contemplative person; this is a life ‘in’ or ‘in communion with’ God.116 In that state, a person experiences the foundation of his or her

111 The perfect spiritual state of life, according to Ruusbroec, exists of the coming together of a moral good life, an inward God seeking life, a supernatural contemplative life and a life outflowing to all people with Gods love: “A person who wants to live in the most perfect state offered by holy Church must be a zealous and good person, and an inward and spiritual person, and an uplifted person contemplating God, and an outflowing person in communion with God. If a person combines these four things his state is perfect and it will grow and increase always in grace and all virtues and knowledge of truth before God and all persons of reason,” Sto1-5. (Cursive words in the quotations from The Sparkling Stone refer in each instance to our emendation of the original English translation). 112 “The first point a good person needs is a pure conscience undisturbed by remorse caused by deadly sins. (...) The second point is that a good person must obey God in all things, as well as holy Church and his own judgment, and he owes the same obedience to all three. (...) The third point every person must observe is that he must always put the glory of God first in all his works,” Sto6-16. 113 Ruusbroec resumes the specification of the first three aspects of the spiritual life in the light of the distinction between (hired and) faithful servants, secret friends and hidden sons of God. The faithful servant is a ‘a zealous and good person’ (Sto2) for he loves God and seeks God’s honour in everything: “But in that very moment when he [the hired servant] is able to conquer his selfishness with the help of God, that is when he becomes so empty of himself that he dares trust in God for all he needs, look, as he does this he is so pleasing to God that God will give him his grace, and through that grace he will experience true love and love will drive out doubt and fear and make him trust and hope and so he will become a faithful servant who loves God and seeks him in all his works. Look: this is the difference between faithful and unfaithful servants,” Sto256-263. 114 “But if this good person wants to become an inward, spiritual person, he needs to observe three more points. The first point is that his spirit should be free of images. The second point is that his mind should be free in its desire. The third point is that he should feel an inner union with God,” Sto25-28. 115 “If his heart is to be free of images, he should not possess anything with affection, nor should he willingly cling to anyone or deal with anyone. For all relationship and all affection which is not purely for the honor of God bring images in the heart of a person since they are not born of God but of the flesh. If, therefore, a person wants to become spiritual, he must forego all fleshly affection and cling to God alone with desire and affection and possess him in that way,” Sto29-35. 116 “(...) if we lead a life of contemplation, we feel that we are living in God and from that life in which we feel ourselves in God there shines a brightness in our inner countenance that illumi- nates our reason and mediates between ourselves and God,” Sto563-566. ruusbroec: mystic and theologian in the quiet of groenendaal 25 being as unfathomable (grondeloes), he or she lives the love for God ‘without manner’ (wiseloes) and possesses the indwelling of God as a divine enjoyment (godlijc ghebruken).117 Ruusbroec also points out that no one can teach others the contemplative life.118 It can only be explained or shared by describing it from one’s personal experience. Even if the contemplative aspect of the spiritual life is meant to point to a climax, there is another specific feature of the life ‘in’ God of more significance: the experience of a ‘person flowing-out from the communion with God’ (uutvloende ghemeyne mensch) with God’s love to all people.119 It concerns the notion that, in experiencing the communion (of love) with God, one cannot but only love others with God’s love.120 The love for our fellow human beings, therefore, is not as it were, a sine qua non for the contemplative life. On the contrary, it arises as the very fruit of the truly contemplative life or life in communion with God (ghemeyne leven).121 In this state, the contemplative person experiences the inner contemplation and the outward good works, without ceasing, as one life in communion with God.122 It is at this point that Ruusbroec’s purpose in recounting the life in communion with God comes up. He insists that the person in communion with

117 “You must also know that if this spiritual person is to become a person contemplating God three more points are needed. The first point is that he must feel that the foundation of his being is unfathomable and that he must possess it as such. The second point is that his exercise must be without manner. The third point is that his indwelling should be a divine enjoyment,” Sto58-62. 118 “Look, in each one of all these likenesses I show his own being and his own practice to a contemplative person. But no one else will be able to understand this, since no one can teach others the contemplative life. But where truth eternal reveals itself in the spirit all things that are needed will be taught,” Sto115-118. 119 For the meaning of the Middle Dutch ghemeyne, see T. Brandsma, “Groei en uitbloei van het mystieke leven volgens de H. Teresia en den Z. Joannes Ruusbroec,” in: Ons geestelijk erf 6 (1932), p. 349, 350-351 and 366, who believes ‘ghemeyne’ in the expression ghemeyne leven, usually translated in English as ‘common life’, is best described as the ‘most inner communion with God’. See also Uyttenhove, Embraced by the Father and the Son, p. 133, n. 84, I opt to translate ghemeyne – in the sense of a ‘life-communion’ and ‘love-communion’ between God and humankind – as ‘in communion (with God)’. Cf. the 7nd meaning of the Middle Dutch ghemeyne (gemeen) in E. Verwijs, & J. Verdam, Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek: ‘in communion with’ (verbonden, verenigd), as a synonym of heimelike (‘secret’). The experience of being one communion of love with God, indeed, is not to be understood by human reason. 120 “And from this wealth [the union in love with God without difference] derives the life in communion with God, I promised to tell you about in the beginning. The person who is sent by God down from these heights, into the world, is full of truth and rich in all virtues. (…) And he has a rich, mild foundation which is grounded in the wealth of God, and therefore he cannot but always flow into all those who need him, for the living fountain of the Holy Spirit is his wealth which cannot be exhausted,” Sto779-786. 121 “For no one can have this life in communion with God unless he is a contemplative person, (…). And therefore all people are deceived who think they contemplate while they love, practice or possess a creature in a disorderly [if not according to the order of God’s love] manner,” Sto792- 796. See also Johan Bonny, “Het ‘ghemeyne leven’ in de werken van Jan van Ruusbroec.” Unpubl. PhD Diss. Rome, 1988, p. 453. 122 “And therefore he has a life in love communion with God, for contemplation and action come just as readily to him and he is perfect in both,” Sto790-792. 26 lieve uyttenhove

God participates in God’s inner life of love.123 At first sight, there may seem to be no straight fit – but Ruusbroec is clear that just as the divine Persons are drawn into God’s unity, all loving spirits find they are urged into this same divine unity: For God’s unity which every contemplative spirit possesses in love eternally, draws and urges the divine Persons and all loving spirits into its self.124 Ruusbroec, moreover, states that a person experiencing the love communion with God in God’s unity, is participating with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, in God’s Triune life:125 And so you will see that God’s unity [i.e. the unity of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit], which draws all things into itself, is nothing other than the unfathomable love which lovingly draws in the Father and the Son, and all that lives in them in eternal enjoyment.126 Hence, although Ruusbroec deals with the fully spiritual or contemplative life, his work has a markedly theological character. As a matter of fact, his reflections on the inner life of love of the Trinitarian God constitute the central

123 Cf. my statement: “that according to Ruusbroec, there is no essential difference between the trinitarian life of God in itself and that of God in relation to the human person,” Uyttenhove, Embraced by the Father and the Son, p. 75. See also ibid., p. 6, and Lieve Uyttenhove, “Ruus- broec as a Theologian: The Holy Spirit,” in: A Companion to John of Ruusbroec. Ed. John Arblaster and Rob Faesen. Brill’s Companions to the Christian Tradition, 51. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2014, p. 196-201. 124 Sto74-76. 125 According to De Baere and Faesen Ruusbroec believes that the human being [who experiences the life in communion with God] discovers that he or she may participate in the life of the Son and thus in the eternal unity of love of the Father and the Son in the Spirit. (…). It needs to be understood as the Father’s and Son’s active encounter of love, in which the human being may participate. Guido De Baere & Rob Faesen, “Jan van Ruusbroec in Beijing,” in: Ons geestelijk erf 73 (1999), p. 86. See also Bonny, “Het ‘ghemeyne leven’,” p. 453; Uyttenhove, Embraced by the Father and the Son, p. 133-149, and Uyttenhove, “Ruusbroec as a Theologian: The Holy Spirit,” p. 196 and 199. 126 Sto102-105. Next to the citations in The Sparkling Stone, examples can be found in Re2611- 2635; Ec183-192. Figures prefaced with Re and Ec refer respectively to the numbered lines of the English version of Jan van Ruusbroec. Dat rijcke der ghelieven (The Realm of Lovers). Ed. J. Alaerts. Translation into English by H. Rolfson, Opera omnia, 4; cccm, 104. Tielt: Lannoo; Turnhout: Brepols, 2002, and the third part of Jan van Ruusbroec. Die geestelike brulocht (The Spiritual Espousals). Ed. J. Alaerts. Translation into English by H. Rolfson, Opera omnia, 3; cccm, 103. Tielt: Lannoo; Turnhout: Brepols, 1988. See also M1981-1984; R1082-1083, R1089- 1092, R1103-1107; Bk328-330. Figures prefaced with M, R and Bk refer respectively to the numbered lines of the English version of Jan van Ruusbroec. Een spieghel der eeuwigher salicheit (A Mirror of Eternal Blessedness). Ed. G. De Baere. Translation into English by A. Lefevere, Opera omnia, 8; cccm, 108. Tielt: Lannoo; Turnhout: Brepols, 2001, Jan van Ruusbroec. Van seven trappen (The Seven Rungs). Ed. R. Faesen. Translation into English by H. Rolfson, Opera omnia, 9; cccm, 109. Tielt: Lannoo; Turnhout: Brepols, 2003, and Jan van Ruusbroec. Boecsken der verclaringhe (Little Book of Enlightenment). Finally, see Jan van Ruusbroec. Vanden XII beghinen (The Twelve Beguines), Beg2c1233-1235. ruusbroec: mystic and theologian in the quiet of groenendaal 27 point of all his mystical writings. Moreover, his Trinitarian-theological expla- nations are especially designed to clarify the meaning of the contemplative life on the basis of God’s Triune life.127 Therefore, the experience of one life, or one communion of love between God and the human person can only be fully understood if the contemplative person’s participation in the inner-divine life of love is considered.128 The above discussion on the ‘love-communion with God’ shows that de facto Ruusbroec should be pictured as a mystic and a theologian, studying and writing in the quiet of Groenendaal, and focusing on the inner Trinitarian theo logical ‘structure’ of the contemplative’s encounter with God. He embodies what the renowned Orthodox theologian Vladimir Lossky (1902-1958) states in his celebrated work The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church: “There is, therefore, no Christian mysticism without theology; but, above all, there is no theology without mysticism.” According to Lossky, “Far from being mutu- ally opposed, theology and mysticism support and complete each other. One is impossible without the other.”129 This ‘renewed’ portrayal seems to concur with Rik Van Nieuwenhove’s depiction of the Groenendaal mystic as a “mystical theologian of the Trinity.”130 His endeavour in exploring the theological dimension of Ruusbroec’s oeuvre is both valuable and justified. Van Nieuwen- hove, however, approaches Ruusbroec’s mysticism from a philosophical (and specifically neo-platonic) perspective, and the theologian may find a more sat- isfying understanding of Ruusbroec’s Trinitarian theology in Faesen’s work, which in our view rightly concentrates on its contemplative character. It refers to Ruusbroec’s insight into God’s Trinitarian life – or to his enlightened understanding of the divine Mystery – granted to him in his spiritual intimacy with God. This particular way of ‘seeing’ or ‘contemplating’ God’s Triune Mystery (contemplatio) and the central role it occupies when Ruusbroec is explaining the Christian mystical life to others, makes Ruusbroec a truely contemplative or mystic theologian.131 The portrayal of Ruusbroec as a mystic and a theologian, in the first period in Groenendaal, therefore, is preferable to his depiction as a hermit. It may not always satisfy Ruusbroec scholars, but I recommend steering away from the latter general representation even if the term ‘hermit’ is not understood in its restricted sense.132 Due to the writings of some of the earliest scholars, this picture is etched in our collective memory. It does not however, match the Prologue and De origine. There is no reason to doubt Brother Gerard. According

127 See Uyttenhove, Embraced by the Father and the Son, p. 80-202, 239, n. 1. See also Ibid., p. 251- 261 and 298-300, and Uyttenhove, “Ruusbroec as a Theologian: The Holy Spirit,” p. 196-201. 128 L. Reypens, “Ruusbroec’s mystieke leer,” in: Jan van Ruusbroec. Leven. Werken. Malines: Het Kompas; Amsterdam: De Spieghel, 1931), p. 158; Uyttenhove, Embraced by the Father and the Son, p. 73-75; Uyttenhove, “Ruusbroec as a Theologian: The Holy Spirit,” p. 203. 129 Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, London: Clarke, 1957, p. 8-9. 130 Van Nieuwenhove, Jan van Ruusbroec, title and introduction, p. 1-5. 131 Cf. Faesen, Jan van Ruusbroec, p. 31. 132 Cf. Verdeyen, “Het levensverhaal van Jan van Ruusbroec …,” p. 141. 28 lieve uyttenhove to Verdeyen, the historical value of his Prologue can hardly be overesti mated.133 This does not entirely apply to Pomerius’ De origine, which is hagio graphic rather than biographic.134 Either way, nowhere in these expositions is Ruusbroec referred to as a hermit (clusenaer; eremita, hermijt); nor is he considered to have lived a hermit’s life. Of course, one may ask: ‘What’s in a name?’ To Brother Gerard and Pome- rius the term ‘hermit’, certainly was not the outcome of a meaningless conven- tion. Pomerius, especially, seems to observe the characteristic features of a hermit’s life in terms of asceticism rather than contemplation. With respect to the ‘hermits’ Arnold and Lambert, he thus concentrates on their secluded life without contact with the outer world, their extreme poverty, and their preference for penance and abstinence.135 In contrast, neither the Prologue nor De origine, in their description of Ruusbroec’s solitary life in the Sonian Forest, include that reference to an ascetic, frugal and penitential way of life. Even if there is some truth in the claim regarding the ‘unreliability’ of Pomerius’ biography as a historical source (because of its hagiographical nature), not all of its chapters have been found to contain inconsistencies. Pomerius, indeed, may have neglected some facts of Ruusbroec’s life and not have interpreted all of his sources correctly, but his work certainly contains many reliable facts concerning Ruusbroec as a person.136 Pomerius and Gerard of Saintes rightly may have seen that, unlike the earliest inhabitants of the Groenendaal valley, Ruusbroec’s solitary life resembled the life of the first Desert Fathers who were seeking God “in separation from the people and in the simplicity of their heart.”137 That is why they probably did not take up the term ‘hermit’, thus emphasizing that Ruusbroec’s life away from the multitude was defined far more by an interior contemplative character than by exterior ascetic features. Both authors, indeed, describe Ruusbroec as a mystical or contemplative person. The Carthusian monk of Herne presents him as someone who “could work in earthly things and rest in God at the same time.”138 Pomerius emphasizes in several places Ruusbroec’s contemplative life in Brussels as well as in Groenendaal.139 Both ‘biographical’ accounts also

133 P. Verdeyen, Introduction to Geraert van Saintes. Hendrik Utenbogaerde. De twee oudste bronnen van het leven van Jan van Ruusbroec door zijn getuigenissen bevestigd. Uit het Mid- delnederlands en uit het Latijn vertaald door de Benedictinessen van Bonheiden. Mystieke teksten met commentaar, 4. Bonheiden: Abdij Bethlehem, 1981, p. 13. 134 Ibid., p. 34. 135 De origine, ed. De Leu p. 265-266, 267-268, 270, ed. Kors nr. 14-21, 27-36, 46-52; Middle Dutch translation, Verdeyen, “De Middelnederlandse vertaling …,” p. 118, 120-121 and 123. 136 Verdeyen, Introduction to Geraert van Saintes, p. 34-37. 137 Cf. n. 88. See also Verdeyen, “Het levensverhaal van Jan van Ruusbroec …,” p. 147, where the author, with respect to Ruusbroec and his companions, suggests speaking of ‘seekers of the desert’ (woestijnzoekers). 138 Translation of De Vreese, “Bijdragen …,” p. 9: “dat hi [Ruusbroec] conste werken in ertsche dinghen ende rusten in Gode te samen.” 139 See n. 100, translation of De origine, ed. De Leu p. 287, ed. Kors nr. 159-160. Middle Dutch translation, Verdeyen, “De Middelnederlandse vertaling …,” p. 140. ruusbroec: mystic and theologian in the quiet of groenendaal 29 underline the writing activities of Ruusbroec.140 Unfortunately, they pay little or no attention to his great theological and intellectual capacities,141 which perhaps, next to Ruusbroec’s desire to live the real contemplative life, were the reasons for the move away from the crowding in Brussels and the search for a solitary place. All things considered, I am inclined to argue that Ruusbroec would be best described as a mystic and a theologian in the first period in Groenendaal, having chosen the solitude of the valley in order to live a truely contemplative relationship with God and, through his writings to explain the contemplative life in Trinitarian theological terms for the benefit of his fellow human beings.

Concluding Summary

In each of the three points taken into consideration ample reference was made to secondary literature. The survey of these studies revealed that scholarly attention to both Brother Gerard and Pomerius has not always resulted in a correct understanding of their accounts. At first sight, the issue of a ‘hermitage’ offered to Ruusbroec upon his move to Groenendaal, seemed not to have been under discussion. Indeed, Brother Gerard’s phrase, ‘where formerly stood a hermitage’, has often self-evidently been regarded as if Ruusbroec and his companions literally ‘took possession’ of a hermitage and first lived as ‘hermits’. It was indicated, however, that Ruusbroec and his companions upon their move to Groenendaal remained what they were in Brussels, namely secular priests. Also, we found out that Ruusbroec’s ‘solitary life’ entailed primarily a contemplative life or a life in a communion of love with God and all fellow human beings. And even if Ruusbroec’s retreat to a solitary place was perhaps his first intention, he had no other purpose than to describe the true Christian spiritual life for the benefit of others. Interestingly, in all of his works he explained the perfect spiritual life in a theological way by analogy with the Trinitarian life of love. In conclusion therefore, it is argued that having regard to the expositions of Brother Gerard and Pomerius’, the hypothesis of the ‘hermit’ Ruusbroec is no longer plausible and it is better to assign to Ruusbroec the status of mystic and a theologian, or a mystical theologian, during that first period in Groenendaal.

140 De Vreese, “Bijdragen …,” p. 7-8, 10-12.; De origine, ed. De Leu p. 273, 287, ed. Kors nr. 71, 158; Middle Dutch translation, Verdeyen, “De Middelnederlandse vertaling …,” p. 126, 140. 141 Pomerius mentions Ruusbroec having taken classes in the collegiate school (of Brussels) for a short time. In learned matters, however, he stresses Ruusbroec’s inspiration by God’s Spirit. Cf.: “cum scholas tam modico frequentasset termpore (…), tanto est rore divini spiraminis (…),” De origine, ed. De Leu p. 273, ed. Kors nr. 68. Middle Dutch translation, Verdeyen, “De Mid- delnederlandse vertaling …,” p. 126: “doen hi een alsoe luttel tijts ter scolen hadde ghegaen (…), doe waert hi also metten dauwe der godliker gracien also verlicht ende overgoten.” For Ruus- broec’s intellectual pursuits, see n. 99. 30 lieve uyttenhove

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Electronical data Verwijs, E. & J. Verdam. Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek. Zedelgem: Flandria Nos- tra, 1990-1991. Original Version: ’s-Gravenhage: Nijhoff, 1885-1952: http:// gtb.inl.nl/ http://www.manuscripta-mediaevalia.de/dokumente/html/hsk0067. Stuttgart Library. Image: http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/bsb00093141/image_4.” München Library.

Abstract

Many scholars hold the view that John of Ruusbroec and his companions, upon moving from Brussels to Groenendaal in 1343, lived there initially as hermits. Such a viewpoint however, fails to take adequate account of the two extant testimonies from the fourthteenth and fifteenth centuries relating to Ruusbroec’s life, i.e. Gerard of Saintes’ Prologue (c. 1360) and Henricus Pomerius’ De origine monasterii Viridisval- lis (c. 1414-1420). This article addresses the issue of Ruusbroec’s early years in Groenendaal by attending closely to these two sources. Specifically it relates them to the works of later authors in order to reveal previously misunderstood references to ‘hermitage’ and ‘hermit’s hut’ and misunderstood connections between the move to 34 lieve uyttenhove

Groenendaal and the priestly life being lived in Brussels. I argue that in the early period in Groenendaal, Ruusbroec and companions remained secular priests and furthermore, for Ruusbroec the solitude of the Sonian Forest facilitated not an eremitical life but a life of contemplation, the fruits of which he shared with others through his rich and profound writings. In conclusion, this article, by attending closely to the extant sources, moves away from the hypothesis of the ‘hermit’ Ruusbroec, and sheds a light on Ruus- broec as mystic and theologian.

Address of the author: Onderzoekseenheid Geschiedenis van Kerk en Theologie, Faculteit Theologie en Religiewetenschappen, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Charles Deberiotstraat 26 - bus 3101, B–3000 Leuven ([email protected])