240 Meeuwsen Chapter 8 Maria Petyt’s Support of the French King Veronie Meeuwsen Introduction A new text by Maria Petyt, which has not been edited before and has therefore remained unknown so far, provides an opportunity to scrutinize her spiritual- ity anew. The text consists of a collection of letters that Maria wrote to Michael of St. Augustine. All of them deal with the period of the Dutch War and Maria’s experience of it. The letters are well worth studying, because they make it clear that although Maria Petyt lived a secluded life, she was certainly concerned with the world outside her hermitage. This article examines the insight that the new text by Maria Petyt affords into her spirituality, focusing more specifically on her support of the French king and the discernment of spirits in this context. The text tells how Maria developed a preference for the French king and how she prayed for him from her hermitage. She speaks about sending angels to him and his army to assist them, and how she was concerned about him like a mother. She seemed to be advocating his cause so that Michael would also side with the French. Regard- ing her belief that it was God who sent her to help the French, we have to ask what role the discernment of spirits played in this. This spiritual practice was an important part of her religious life. In what follows I look at Maria’s own criteria of the discernment of spirits and how she applied them in her choices regarding the Dutch War so as to see how it worked and whether it failed or succeeded. Discernment of Spirits First I briefly describe what the discernment of spirits meant to Maria Petyt: how did she make her choices and how did she discern what stemmed from God and what did not? The term ‘discernment of spirits’ indicates judging which spirit directs the impulses of the soul: the good spirit of God, the evil spirit of Satan or the human spirit itself. This is necessary to determine whether the cause of a given impulse is good, evil or should be seen as neutral. Sometimes such discernment is made possible by a special gift of intuitive © Veronie Meeuwsen, 2015 | doi 10.1163/9789004291874_010 This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-NC 3.0) License. Veronie Meeuwsen - 9789004291874 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 04:45:54PM via free access Maria Petyt’s Support of the French King 241 perception, but mostly it also requires reflection on arguments and emotions, as well as the direction of others. The most famous example is the Spiritual Exercises by Ignatius of Loyola, where we find rules for the discernment of spir- its.1 Maria Petyt learned much about the discernment of spirits from her spiri- tual father Michael of St. Augustine. He taught her to ‘conform completely to the Holy Humanity of Christ, with all that concerns his external person, like his humble, mild, meek lovingness, his way of speaking, all his virtues and ways of acting’.2 To do so it is essential to learn to let go of all personal activity so as to grow in pure faith in God’s presence and in loving inclination towards him. You must let go of all of your own sensory expectations and images as well as your thoughts.3 It is important to discriminate between your own activity and God’s activity in you. In this regard Maria frequently used the word ‘deiform’, refer- ring to conformity with God’s will and letting go of your own. But the word ‘Godlike’ can also indicate that the form of the essence or activity is deter- mined by divine influence.4 Important criteria of discernment are mentioned in chapter 54 of Maria’s autobiography.5 The key criterion is termed ‘holy freedom’. Spiritual discern- ment has to provide this freedom for the soul to be able to grow in love of the Beloved.6 There are other criteria mentioned in this chapter of her autobiogra- phy. Maria says that the divine spirit grants the soul the power of discernment so as to moderate all her activities which are focused on God.7 Although it is 1 Cf. Baers (2003) 68; DS (1990), vol. 3, 1311–1330. 2 Merlier (1976) ch. 41 = Petyt (1683) vol. 1, 54. ‘Hy leyde my voor, dat ick moest sien my heel ghelijck-vormigh te maecken aen de H. Menscheyt CHRISTI, soo veel als sijnen uytwendighen Persoon aengaet, ghelijck aen sijne ootmoedighe, soete, sachtmoedighe, ende minnelijcke minne, ende conversatie, ende soo voorts in alle sijne andere deughden, ende manieren van doen.’ All English translations of the Life in this article are my own. 3 Merlier (1976) ch. 42 = Petyt (1683) vol. 1, 55. 4 Deblaere (1962) 394. 5 Maria finished writing her autobiography four years before the Dutch War. So it provides us with a good frame to analyse the changes in her thoughts about discernment. 6 Merlier (1976) ch. 54 = Petyt (1683) vol. 1, 71. ‘(…)het welcke involghende, wiert ick terstont ghewaer een beantwoorden vande Goddelijcke gratie, in mijn inwendigh, met een vermeer- deren vanden inwendighen peys ende vrede der zielen, ende een soetere toeneyghinghe der liefde tot den Beminden, ende soo voorts; want andersints de heylighe liberteyt des gheests soude daer door te seer ghehindert gheweest hebben.’ 7 Merlier (1976) ch. 54 = Petyt (1683) vol. 1, 71. ‘Het is eyghen aenden Goddelijcken Gheest, al waer hy werckt, oft de ziele jevers toe drijft, ’t zy tot penitentie, vasten, abstinentie, waecken ende bidden, oft jet anders, daer altijdt maete in te stellen; hy gheeft haer een onderscheyt, ende discretie, om het lichaem niet te bederven, oft te seer te matteren, op dat het bequaem Veronie Meeuwsen - 9789004291874 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 04:45:54PM via free access 242 Meeuwsen true that Maria had the typically dualistic approach to humanity of her day, in which the body was considered of little value and mind and spirit were all- important, she uses in this stage of her life moderation as a criterion of dis- cernment. Moderation is necessary so that the body will not be excessively confused or fatigued. A third criterion Maria writes about in chapter 54, is the distinction between exhortations and movements induced by a good spirit and those that come from an evil spirit. Maria looks at the ‘fruits’ of the spirit. What comes from the good spirit, the spirit of God, is accompanied by ‘mild- ness, peace of mind and soul, inner quiet, humility, resignation, subservience, love and caution. (...). Anything that does not have these virtues is suspect.’8 The role of the spiritual guide is no less important. Maria submitted all her experiences to him and expected him to help her discern what came from her- self and from the ‘Fiend’ and what came from God. Maria usually had great confidence in Michael’s discernment.9 Hence she set great store by obedi- ence, which entailed relinquishing her own will and learning to curb her im- pulses. Through such blind docility and obedience to her spiritual father she believed she would draw closer to following God’s will. In this sense she saw her spiritual guide as a representative of God. She believed that in the words of the guide God himself was speaking to her, admonishing and leading her.10 In her autobiography these were the things Maria Petyt held on to when she had to decide what to choose. The prime consideration was that all criteria of discernment had to lead to ‘holy freedom’ of the soul so it would be free from all that keeps it from doing God’s will. The divine spirit could be recognized by its moderation, whereby the body would not be unduly confused or fatigued. It was also accompanied by experiences of inner peace, humility, resignation, love and the like. Finally, obedience to her spiritual guide was a major support, especially in times of crisis. zy, om den gheest te volghen ende te dienen.’ Although Maria mentions moderation as a criterion of discernment, this seems to be somewhat arbitrary, dictated perhaps by her spiritual director. In practice this was not one of Maria Petyt’s chief criteria. 8 Merlier (1976) ch. 54 = Petyt (1683) vol. 1, 71. ‘Syne aendryvinghen ende beweghinghen komen altoos aen met eenighe soetigheyt, ende stilligheyt des ghemoets, met inwendighen peys ende vrede der ziele, met een sekere inwendighe ruste ende ghetuyghenisse, dat sulcke dryvinghen, inghevinghen ende beweginghen voort-komen vanden goeden gheest, verghesel- schapt met een ootmoedighe, vredighe gelatentheyt ende onderworpentheyt aen ’t goet- duncken, ende wille van de ghene, die haer regeren. Als het anders is, soo is het suspect.’ 9 Although her confidence in Michael was great, Maria also had moments of doubt and lack of faith in him, e.g. Petyt (1683) vol.1, 248. 10 Cf. Merlier (1976) ch. 78, 109 = Petyt (1683) vol. 1, 99, 139. Veronie Meeuwsen - 9789004291874 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 04:45:54PM via free access Maria Petyt’s Support of the French King 243 We will keep these criteria in mind when we look at her experiences and choices at the time of the Dutch War.11 Historical Background to the Dutch War Let me explain the historical background to her text about the Dutch War. This war was a political and military conflict between France and the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, the current Netherlands. In 1672 the French king Louis XIV attacked the Republic.