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Document Details : Title: The Mystical Fulfilment of a Spiritual Ideal Subtitle: Common Love in Baldwin of Forde, Beatrice of Nazareth and the Vita Beatricis Author(s): ARBLASTER, John Journal: Ons Geestelijk Erf Volume: 89 Issue: 3-4 Date: 2018 Pages: 295-316 DOI: 10.2143/OGE.89.3.3287358 Abstract : This contribution treats the theme of ‘common love’ in the Cistercian tradition, and specifically in Baldwin of Forde’s Spiritual Tractate XV, Beatrice of Nazareth’s Seven Manners of Love and the Vita Beatricis. It is impossible to establish definitively whether Beatrice knew Baldwin’s text, and yet he provided a rich synthesis of the theme of common love and the common life as rooted in the common love of the Persons of the Trinity. Beatrice mentions such love only once in her short text, but for her too, it has important Trinitarian implications. While for Baldwin, common love is a spiritual ideal, Beatrice describes this love as the fullness of the soul’s transformative mystical encounter with God. Finally, in the Vita Beatricis, we see an example of how this theme is woven into the hagiographical account of Beatrice’s life. |
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