© 2019 JETIR March 2019, Volume 6, Issue 3 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162) BARTOLOMEA OF LOVERE, THE UNDAUNTED DAUGHTER OF AN AUDACIOUS MYSTIC, IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA 1Sr. Maria Benadicta Cross (SCCG), 2Dr K S Antonysamy 1Ph.D Research Scholar (Full Time), Head & Research Supervisor 1Department of English 1Loyola College (Autonomous), Chennai - 34, India Abstract: Wisdom gained from experience empowers one to realise the need of human beings to relate intimately with the divine and examination of conscience enhances this comprehension. The quest of human beings for ‘Truth’ persistently moves from generation to generation even in the twenty-first century when technology is trying to divert the minds and hearts of people especially the vulnerable from the pursuit. Moreover, experiences in life lead to the perception of the reality that technology is not in control of everything, as it seems to be, but it is the Divine, who continues to triumph in guiding humankind’s destiny. A human being longs to be in union with the Divine and this desire for Mystical union is unbounded. Mystics of all times respond to the Truth and invite people of every generation to contemplate God’s action in human history in faith and in charity. In this context, the paper attempts to illustrate that the life of a mystic on earth does not end in the Union with the Absolute but continues to share the fruits of such union with others. Consequently, it elaborates this reality, by analysing the lives of two great personalities - one is the acclaimed Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus (S.J.) and the other is the very little known Saint Bartolomea of Lovere, the foundress of the Congregation of Sisters of Charity of Saints Bartolomea Capitanio and Vincenza Gerosa (SCCG). Finally, it tries to conclude that persons who have experienced mystical union sacrifice themselves for the good of their neighbour’s body and soul and their spiritual children continue to do likewise. The paper is set in the background of Underhill’s expertise; thus, many appropriate quotes are taken from her authoritative work on Mysticism. Keywords: Spiritual Parents, Mystical Union, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Bartolomea of Lovere. I. INTRODUCTION “in every generation she (wisdom personified) passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets; for God loves…the person who lives with wisdom” (NRSVCE, Wis. 7. 27b) and wisdom urges humankind to pursue this intimacy. God, enables the wise to understand this power of the Divine, and they find real meaning in being in union with and in pursuing the Almighty who creates, sustains and immortalises life in all forms. When the Divine grants the mystics the gift of this perfect union, they become givers of life. Furthermore, the words of Aquinas clarify the view, “The last perfection to supervene upon a thing, is its becoming the cause of other things. While then a creature tends by many ways to the likeness of God, the last way left open to it is to seek the divine likeness by being the cause of other things…” (qtd. in Underhill 428). In other words, the union between a mystic and God is consummated in the birth of “Spiritual Children”. This union is elucidated by Richard of St. Victor, who says, “…the Bride (the soul that is in union with God) accepts the pains and duties…and becomes a source, a “parent” of fresh spiritual life” (qtd. in Underhill 140). Moreover, as seen in the Scriptures, a human being who is intimately united with God receives new life and becomes a new creation. Underhill quotes Madame Guyon who emphasises the fact, saying that, the life of a human being who has felt the fertilising power of the Unitive life is no more like the life which was lived before the union, it now becomes a perfect life. As a result of the effect of their union with the divine, the mystics no longer live or work, instead the Almighty lives, acts and works in them. With God’s perfection, they become perfect, with His riches, they become rich, and ultimately with His love they are loved (431) and are taught to love God and their sisters and brothers the way God loves. The words of Richard of St. Victor’s which Underhill is reminded of, while speaking of the Unitive life of a mystic, serves to illuminate the point, that the fresh, compelling, and authentic life received after the union with the Absolute not only leads to performing relentless good deeds and actions of charity but also to have new offsprings. He says, “In the fourth degree of love, the soul brings forth its children. It is the agent of a fresh outbirth of spiritual vitality into the world, the helpmate of the Transcendent Order, the mother of a spiritual progeny” (qtd. in Underhill 431). Additionally, Happold says that the true mystic or the greatest contemplatives, feel called “to take on the humility of Christ, who ‘took upon Him the form of a servant’”. They are inflamed with the Divine Love because of their total detachment, entirely subdued selfhood and partake in the Divine life united totally with God, who is the Ultimate Reality. God makes them not only serene but also confident, and they receive that creative power and strength which ordinary people cannot possess, so in whatever field of active life they may engage, it leads to the supreme manifestation of Divine Love (101). The paper tries to highlight the fact that the soul united with God bringing forth its spiritual children is one of these great creative actions of Divine love. The great mystics, led by the transcendent spirit, stand witness to the credibility of becoming the parents of spiritual families, whole groups of persons, who acquire or inherit their vision of truth. These mystics have founded Institutes from where new transcendental life radiates making them Power Centers, which spread out, all over the world. Human history records that St. Paul’s JETIR1903D99 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 652 © 2019 JETIR March 2019, Volume 6, Issue 3 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162) deep union with Christ led him to found Christian churches everywhere he went (Underhill 431). Furthermore, the life of the other Christian mystics is shaped according to the life of Christ their Lord, who came into the world so that all may have life and life in abundance. Consequently, the world receives renewed energy from the lives of the mystics to keep every generation connected to Reality. After their union with the Absolute, the great mystics return enriched and renewed to the same world they had renounced. They “return to the world…, as Centers of transcendental energy, the creators of spiritual families, the partners and fellow- labourers with the Divine life,” says Richard of St. Victor’s (qtd. in Underhill 140). The objective of the paper is to elucidate the fact that the life of the mystic is for the benefit of the world and not for personal gains and through the study of the lives of the two great personalities mentioned earlier the objective is realised, they are taken as models of spiritual parents who begot spiritual progeny. In the background of tenets expounded by Evelyn Underhill, the paper attempts to examine the lives of these two holy souls who became parents of spiritual families. In the case of Ignatius Leonard says, “we discover without difficulty how God, the prime spiritual accompanist of Ignatius of Loyola, caused to be born in him without delay the great need to help others…Ignatius notes that “outside of his seven hours of prayer, he was busy helping souls…” In addition, Ignatius was convinced that “If God was leading him…in his spiritual education, it was not to keep for his own profit what God was communicating to him…to help the people he met along the path of a relationship with God” (18). Later, the paper goes to demonstrate how St. Ignatius becomes a parent of St. Bartolomea and she, in turn, inspired by his Spiritual writings becomes a parent to others. The paper emphasises the fact that a mystical union is not only for the self - fulfilment of the persons who have attained union with God or only for that period but is also for their sisters and brothers for all ages to come. II. LIFE OF THE SOURCE OR PARENT, IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA: The First Phase: Ignatius was the youngest son of a noble and wealthy family, born in the ancestral castle of the Loyolas on 23rd October 1491 at Azpeitia in Spain. “Up to his twenty-sixth year, the heart of Ignatius was enthralled by the vanities of the world ” (O’conor-Autobiography, Chp.1). The Momentous Event: It is worth delving a little deeper into a happening, which may be an ordinary one in the life of any soldier, but in the case of Ignatius it was the turning point of his life. While defending the citadel of Pamplona against the French, Ignatius was hit by a cannonball, which badly fractured his right leg and damaged his left. He was treated at Pamplona, as that did not help; he was shifted to Loyola. There his health condition was so critical that, all including him thought he would die. Nevertheless, he providentially came out of danger. He then underwent an excruciating surgery, and during the period of convalescence, he had no other choice but to read the only reading matter the castle afforded The Life of Christ and a book on the lives of the saints.