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Document Details :

Title: Antonio Daza's Essercitii Spirituali
Subtitle: The Renewal of Fransiscan Life in the 17th Century
Author(s): MERTENS, Benedikt
Journal: Studies in Spirituality
Volume: 11    Date: 2000   
Pages: 212-253
DOI: 10.2143/SIS.11.0.505283

Abstract :
Whereas eremitism as such played a major role in the Observant reform movement in the Franciscan Order since the late fourteenth century, Francis of Assisi's Rule far Hermitages rarely appeared in Franciscan spiritual literature and legislation. This article presents a rare comment on Francis opusculum at the crossroads between the Spanish mysticism of the Sigto de oro and the development of annual religious retreats in the early seventeenth century.
After giving a short introduction into Antonio Daza's life and work, three chapters of his treatise have been translated into English and the remaining chapters summarized. A commentary on the treatise highlights Data's contribution to giving the evolving retreat movement a specific Franciscan shape. Data's use of the Rule for Hermitages as a framework for a ten day retreat emerges as an original attempt to provide an efficient means of the renewal of Franciscan religious life at large. Little is known about the actual dissemination and influence of Daza's work. The present study might serve to initiate more research in this field.


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