i Maria Petyt – A Carmelite Mystic in Wartime © Joseph Chalmers et al., 2015 | doi 10.1163/9789004291874_001 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. ii Radboud Studies in Humanities Series Editor Sophie Levie (Radboud University) Editorial Board Paul Bakker (Radboud University) André Lardinois (Radboud University) Daniela Müller (Radboud University) Glenn Most (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa) Peter Raedts (Radboud University) Johan Tollebeek (KU Leuven) Marc Slors (Radboud University) Claudia Swan (Northwestern University Evanston) VOLUME 4 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/rsh iii Maria Petyt LEIDEN | BOSTON A Carmelite Mystic in Wartime Edited by Joseph Chalmers Elisabeth Hense Veronie Meeuwsen Esther van de Vate iv This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 2213-9729 isbn 978-90-04-29186-7 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-29187-4 (e-book) Copyright 2015 by the Editors and Authors. This work is published by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. Koninklijke Brill NV reserves the right to protect the publication against unauthorized use and to authorize dissemination by means of offprints, legitimate photocopies, microform editions, reprints, translations, and secondary information sources, such as abstracting and indexing services including databases. Requests for commercial re-use, use of parts of the publication, and/or translations must be addressed to Koninklijke Brill NV. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Cover illustration: Maria Petyt © Universiteitsbibliotheek Nijmegen, sign. OD 694 c 26. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Maria Petyt - a Carmelite mystic in wartime / edited by Joseph Chalmers, Elisabeth Hense, Veronie Meeuwsen, Esther van de Vate. pages cm. -- (Radboud studies in humanities, ISSN 2213-9729 ; VOLUME 4) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-29186-7 (hardback : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-90-04-29187-4 (e-book) 1. Petyt, Maria, 1623-1677. 2. Carmelites--Spiritual life. 3. Dutch War, 1672-1678. 4. Carmelites--Netherlands--Biography. I. Chalmers, Joseph, editor. BX4705.P48M37 2015 271’.97102--dc23 [B] 2015023027 This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-NC 3.0) License, which permits any non-commer- cial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. v Contents Contents Contents Chronological Table vii List of Contributors ixii Introduction 1 Elisabeth Hense, Veronie Meeuwsen and Esther van de Vate Part 1 Maria Petyt in her Context 1 Maria Petyt – A Short Biography 7 Esther van de Vate 2 Maria Petyt against the Background of the Political and Religious Situation in Flanders in the Seventeenth Century 22 Esther van de Vate 3 Daily Life at the Hermitage in Mechelen at the Time of Maria Petyt (1657–1677) 53 Michel van Meerbeeck 4 Living as a Spiritual Virgin and Claiming Prophetic Authority: The Parallel Lives of Maria Petyt and Antoinette Bourignon 67 Mirjam de Baar Part 2 The Latin Manuscript about the Dutch War and Its interpretations 5 Some Notes on the History of the Latin Manuscript of the Life of Maria Petyt by Michael of St. Augustine 83 Giovanni Grosso 6 ‘Oh, How Spiritual Directors are Obliged to Remain Silent!’ Michael’s Redaction of the Writings of Maria Petyt: Some Initial Findings 92 Esther van de Vate vi Contents 7 The Latin Manuscript about the Dutch War and Its Translation in English 119 Veronie Meeuwsen (ed.) 8 Maria Petyt’s Support of the French King 240 Veronie Meeuwsen 9 The Spirituality of Teresa of Avila and the Latin Manuscript about the Dutch War (folios 30r–49v) 252 Elisabeth Hense 10 The Prophetic Spirituality of Maria Petyt in the Latin Manuscript about the Dutch War 266 Anne-Marie Bos Epilogue 282 Joseph Chalmers Index 289 292 Contents Contents v Contents v List of Map and Figures vii List of Map and Figures vii Chronological Table viii Chronological Table viii List of Contributors x List of Contributors x Map xii Map xii Introduction Hense et al. 1 Introduction 1 Elisabeth Hense 3 Veronie Meeuwsen 3 Esther van de Vate 3 part 1 5 Maria Petyt in Her Context 5 ∵ 5 Chapter 1 7 Maria Petyt – A Short Bibliography 7 Esther van de Vate 7 Chapter 2 22 Maria Petyt against the background of the political and religious situation in Flanders in the seventeenth century 22 Esther van de Vate 22 Chapter 3 53 Daily Life at the Hermitage in Mechelen at the Time of Maria Petyt (1657–1677) 53 Michel van Meerbeeck 53 Chapter 4 67 Living as a Spiritual Virgin and Claiming Prophetic Authority: The Parallel Lives of Maria Petyt and Antoinette Bourignon 67 Mirjam de Baar 67 part 2 81 The Latin Manuscript about the Dutch War and Its Interpretation 81 ∵ 81 Chapter 5 83 Some Notes on the History of the Manuscript of the Life of Maria Petyt by Michael of St. Augustine 83 Giovanni Grosso 83 Chapter 6 92 ‘Oh, How Spiritual Directors are Obliged to Remain Silent!’ Michael’s Redaction of the Writings of Maria Petyt: Some Initial Findings 92 Esther van de Vate 92 Chapter 7 119 The Latin Manuscript about the Dutch War and Its Translation in English 119 Veronie Meeuwsen (ed.) 119 Chapter 8 240 Maria Petyt’s Support of the French King 240 Veronie Meeuwsen 240 Chapter 9 252 The Spirituality of Teresa of Avila and the Latin Manuscript about the Dutch War (folios 30r–49v) 252 Elisabeth Hense 252 Chapter 10 266 The Prophetic Spirituality of Maria Petyt and the Latin Manuscript about the Dutch War 266 Anne-Marie Bos 266 Epilogue 282 Joseph Chalmers 282 Index 289 Index 289 vii Chronological Table Chronological Table Chronological Table 1515-1582 Teresa of Avila lived 1545-1563 Council of Trent 1571-1636 John of St. Samson lived Around 1600 Reform of Touraine started 1616-1680 Antoinette Bourignon lived 1618-1648 Thirty Years’ War 1621 Michael of St. Augustine born at Brussels 1 January 1623 Maria Petyt born at Hazebroeck 1630/1631 Maria contracted smallpox 1633 Infanta Isabella died 1634-1635 Maria went to school in a convent in St.-Omer 1635 France declared war on the Austrian and Spanish Habsburgs and in the same year forged an alliance with the Northern Netherlands; the French temporarily occupied the territory between Aire-sur-la- Lys and St.-Omer 1636 Maria left her home because of the plague and stayed for a while with her uncle in Poperinge 1637 Michael entered the Carmelites 1638-1715 Louis XIV lived 1639 Maria stayed at Lille at the house of a pious family 1640s Jansenist movement began 1641 or 1642 Maria entered the monastery in Gent 1643 Maria left the monastery: she could not participate in the divine of- fice properly because of her bad eyesight 1644? Maria’s first profession as a Carmelite tertiary 1645 The constitutions of the strict observance were definitively accept- ed in the Belgium Province O.Carm 1646 The Af-beeldinghe of the third order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel of Daniel of the Virgin Mary is published. 1646? Maria asked Michael of St. Augustine to be her spiritual director 1647 Maria Petyt’s second profession as a Carmelite tertiary 1648 Peace of Westphalia 1654 Louis XIV crowned king 1 October 1657 Maria went to the Cluyse at Mechelen 1658 Maria received her first visions 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees; period of peace between France and Spain from 1659 till 1667 viii Chronological Table 5 January 1660 Approval of the ordinances at the Cluyse 1663 Antoinette Bourignon settled in Mechelen 1667 Antoinette Bourignon settled in Amsterdam 1667- 1668 War of Devolution April 1672 Louis XIV declared war on the Republic of the Seven United Prov- inces May 1672 The French troops invaded the Southern Netherlands December 1672 William III attacked Charleroi for the first time; this attempt failed; in 1674 and 1677 he tried again June 1673 Siege of Maastricht and naval Battles of Schooneveld August 1673 Spain joined the anti-French coalition, also known as the League of The Hague or the Quadruple Alliance October 1673 Spain declared war on France August 1674 Alphons de Berghes, archbishop of Mechelen, subjected the hold- ing of processions to a strict discipline 1676 The Republic of the United Provinces was completely freed of French presence, except for Maastricht July-August 1676 William III besieged Maastricht 1 November 1677 Maria Petyt died 1677-1680 Latin translation of Maria Petyt’s writings August 1678 Treaty of Nijmegen 24 April 1680 Date of the preface of the Codex Post. III 70 1681 Kort Begryp published 1683/1684 Life of Maria Petyt published 2 February 1684 Michael of St. Augustine died ix List Of Contributors List of Contributors List of Contributors Mirjam de Baar is Professor of Cultural History of Early Modern Christianity at the University of Groningen. Her current research focuses on the performance of male and female prophets in the Dutch Republic, their communication strategies and their involvement in international networks of religious dissenters in Early Modern Europe. She has published extensively on women and religion in the seventeenth century. Anne-Marie Bos O.Carm is a researcher at the Titus Brandsma Institute, Nijmegen. Her publica- tions include Elijah looked and behold: Biblical Spirituality in Pictures (Peeters, 2012). Joseph Chalmers O.Carm, former Prior General of the Carmelite Order, has published seven books on Scriptural themes and prayer. He has also translated a number of books on Carmelite spirituality. At present he is the Chief Executive Officer of St. Luke Institute, an international treatment Centre for priests and religious, in Maryland USA. Giovanni Grosso O.Carm earned a doctorate in Political Sciences (Rome, Università degli Studi “La Sapienza”, 1983) and, after the normal curriculum of Philosophy and Theol- ogy, he gained a doctorate in Church History (Pontifical Gregorian University, 2007). He served as Postulator General for the Causes of the Saints and Direc- tor of the Historical Archive of the Carmelite Order. In 2015 he was elected Prior Provincial of the Italian Province of Carmelites. Elisabeth Hense T. O.Carm is Assistant Professor of Spirituality at Radboud University Nijme- gen. Her main fields of research are Christian spirituality, interreligious spiritu- ality, societal spirituality and theories on spirituality. She has published numerous studies on Carmelite spirituality, among them studies on John of the Cross, Francis Amelry, John of Saint-Samson, and Titus Brandsma. x List Of Contributors Michel van Meerbeeck studied history at Ghent University and theology in Liège where he was ordai- ned priest (1986). In the year 2000 he earned the degree of doctor in history of the University of Louvain. His thesis was published in 2006 in the Library of the Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique. At present he is a collaborator at the Centre for the Study of Augustine, Augustinianism and Jansenism of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Louvain. Veronie Meeuwsen M.A. was junior researcher at the chair of Spirituality at Radboud University Nijmegen in 2011/ 2012. She has published “Kritische spiritualiteit – Vruchtbare rationaliteit in oude en nieuwe spiritualiteit” (Eburon, 2010). Esther van de Vate M.A. O.Carm is working on her dissertation about Maria Petyt for the degree of doctor at Radboud University, Nijmegen. xi Map Map Map Map Map of Mechelen. © Stadsarchief Mechelen – www.beeldbankmechelen.be. ... And there was a place open in Mechelen, very suitable for her plan; because it used to be a hermitage, which was built against the wall of the Church of the Reverend Fathers Brothers of Our Lady at that place, and it had a small window, through which one could see the Divine Service in the Church. Michael of St. Augustine (1681) 24 ⸪ xii Map 1 Introduction Introduction Hense et al. Introduction The writings of Maria Petyt can be considered as belonging to the most inter- esting autobiographical documents that have been preserved in Carmelite spirituality. Her interpreters present her as a 17th century Flemish woman who retreated from the world and was devoted to a life of prayer resulting in inten- sive mystical experiences. However, this memory of Maria Petyt was challenged in 2009, when Esther van de Vate was working at the archive of the Carmelite postulator in Rome and was comparing the Flemish edition of the writings of Maria Petyt with a contemporary Latin translation of these writings in Codex Post III 70. Esther van de Vate discovered a set of folios – Post III 70, fol. 30r-49v – which present a new image of this female mystic. Here Maria Petyt proves herself to be very interested and deeply engaged in political affairs. She inwardly absorbed her- self in the Dutch War of Louis XIV and intensely shared in his victories and defeats. Maria Petyt even conjoined her spiritual credibility with the outcome of his military quarrels, which she prophesied. Another interesting aspect of the newly detected folios is Maria Petyt’s stance towards Jansenism. Maria Petyt obviously thought deeply about this internal Christian conflict and took up a specific position. Dealing with these themes the folios show a stronger self-awareness by Maria Petyt than her other writings: here, Maria Petyt not only realizes that she has a local significance, but in these texts she considers herself having also a political mission within Europe. The Latin folios about the Dutch War do not have a parallel in the Dutch edition of Maria Petyt’s works and were never referred to in earlier literature. Even Albert Deblaere who did important and profound work on the writings of Maria Petyt in the 1960s and thereafter and who described Codex III Post 70 to some extent, did not say a single word about the folios concerning the Dutch War. In order to do justice to Maria Petyt and to discover the tradition of female religious involvement in the 17th century, we have to reshape the image we have of Maria Petyt. We have all the more reason for doing this when we realize that Maria Petyt’s writings are unequalled in volume and mystical content within the historical context of the Flemish speaking 17th century. Thanks to the Carmelite Institute in Rome and Radboud University Nijme- gen, Veronie Meeuwsen was able to do pioneering work on these folios in her Master’s thesis and in a contiguous research project, supervised by Elisabeth Hense. Because the folios about the Dutch War were found to be so interesting and cause us to re-interpret the whole life and work of Maria Petyt, Elisabeth © Elisabeth Hense et al., 2015 | doi 10.1163/9789004291874_002 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. 2 Hense Et Al. Hense, Veronie Meeuwsen and Esther van de Vate decided to organise an inter- national meeting of experts at Radboud University in 2011, entitled “Maria Petyt – A Carmelite mystic in Wartime”. Colleagues from Switzerland, Germa- ny, Belgium, Italy, and the Netherlands joined in and discussed with us various aspects of Maria Petyt’s historical context (part I) and different perspectives on the folios about the Dutch War (part II). Referring to the historical context of Maria Petyt, Esther van de Vate gives a broad outline of the political and religious backgrounds of Maria Petyt’s folios about the Dutch War after having presented a short biography of Maria Petyt in which she gives special attention to the period of her life when she stayed at the hermitage in Mechelen where she wrote about the Dutch War. Michel van Meerbeeck provides new details about Maria Petyt’s life in the hermitage de- duced from the ordinances written by Michael of St. Augustine which van Meerbeeck succeeded in finding recently. Mirjam de Baar compares the life of Maria Petyt with that of another spiritual virgin living at the same place and in the same time – Antoinette Bourignon – both of them, without knowing each other, claiming prophetic authority. Referring to the folios about the Dutch War Giovanni Grosso gives a detailed description of Codex Post III 70, especially of fol. 30r-49v. Esther van de Vate supplies a critical analysis of the impact of the editing done by Michael of St. Augustine. Especially regarding Maria Petyt’s writings about the Dutch War we need to be aware of his influence. Folios 30r-49v about the Dutch War have been transcribed by Veronie Meeuwsen who also gives an English translation, complete with footnotes about the historical and spiritual background. Be- sides this, Veronie Meeuwsen comments on Maria Petyt’s support for the French King which is based on Maria’s specific use of discernment of spirits. Elisabeth Hense shows that Teresa of Avila’s spirituality of The Interior Castle – mainly the higher levels of contemplation within the 4th to the 7th mansions – is present in the folios about the Dutch War. This means that Maria Petyt considered her engagement in the Dutch War as part of her spiritual life. The specific prophetic dimension of the folios is explained by Anne-Marie Bos, who compares it to Elijah who is an important model of prophecy in Carmelite spirituality. This study is brought to a conclusion by Joseph Chalmers who reflects on the changing views of the figure of Maria Petyt and how these might impact on Carmelite spirituality in general. We cordially thank the Faculty of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Stud- ies, the International Office and the research group for Culture, Religion and Memory of Radboud University Nijmegen, the Sormani Foundation (Nijmegen), the Titus Brandsma Institute (Nijmegen) and the Institutum 3 Introduction Carmelitanum (Rome) for making this meeting of experts and the publication of its proceedings possible. Elisabeth Hense Veronie Meeuwsen Esther van de Vate 4 Hense Et Al. 5 Introduction part 1 Maria Petyt in Her Context ∵ 6 Hense Et Al. 7 A Short Biography Chapter 1 Maria Petyt – A Short Biography Esther van de Vate This biographical overview outlines Maria’s girlhood, her period in Gent and her life in the Cluyse. The focus is mainly on the latter. It describes Maria’s spiritual journey, her burgeoning spiritual authority and the last years of her life. The concluding section places Maria Petyt’s spirituality in the context of her time.1 Maria’s Youth Maria Petyt was born on 1 January 1623, the eldest daughter of a middle class family in Hazebrouck, a town in northern France which at that time still formed part of the southern Netherlands.2 Maria’s education – she describes it at length in her autobiography3 − reflects the strong confessional identity of the early seventeenth century Catholic reformation. At an early age she longed for the religious life and pledged eternal faithfulness to Jesus.4 Fulfilling this ideal proved to be a long road, especially at a mental level. Maria was a child of her times, and the seventeenth century was a turbulent age fraught with spiri- tual confusion, the toll of bitter political friction, much warfare, a minor ice age and several plague epidemics.5 Although many of these events affected Maria’s youth, she mentions them only in passing in her autobiography: she spent 1 I want to thank Marcelle Manley (†) for the translation of this article. 2 At the treaty of Nijmegen in 1678 the places where Maria spent her youth (Hazebrouck, Ieper, Menen, Poperinge, Saint-Omer) were ceded to France. Staring (1948) contains a compact but excellent biographic survey on Maria’s youth. 3 The autobiography appears in Petyt (1683) vol. 1, 1–195. The completeness of the information still needs to be researched. The earliest version – the Latin translation – contains 31 chapters in addition to the 155 of the subsequently published Dutch version: Het leven vande weerdighe moeder Maria a S.ta Teresia, (alias) Petyt (1683). See Giovanni Grosso’s contribution to this volume, p. 86. So far most historiography has been based on the Dutch version. 4 Petyt (1683) vol. 1, 10. 5 Lehmann (1999) provides a good introduction to the history of the religious mentality of this century. © Esther van de Vate, 2015 | doi 10.1163/9789004291874_003 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. 8 Van De Vate whole days playing on the ice6 and with her brothers and sisters had to stay elsewhere because of an outbreak of the plague.7 She devotes far more atten- tion to the mental impact of these events, which commenced after she was scarred (for life) by smallpox: ‘I became much rougher and wilder, and playful like other children (...) so gradually I acquired all sorts of bad ways and inclinations.’8 A detail from her autobiography – not even mentioned by her biographer9 – marked the end of Maria’s ‘wild years’. A Spanish officer billeted in their home10 caught Maria’s fancy more than her parents deemed proper. They in- tervened and sent Maria to Lille to stay with ‘deeply devout, pious people’.11 There Maria’s mind complied with their devotional piety. Her prayers to Our Lady to give her a nice and pleasant body ‘to please someone more and to at- tract to my love’12, were not unavailing. When the bells chimed on St. Stephen’s day Maria had a foretaste of the glory and bliss of heavenly life.13 Nonetheless she had to be touched by her Beloved no fewer than three times before she was able to write: Look, my Beloved was so overly generous and in love with such an evil, bad and ungrateful creature (...) that I could not resist it the third time; for he used a stronger hand, and grace, that seemed to overwhelm me (...) he touched my heart so deeply that the world became disgusting to me.14 Maria returned to Hazebrouck and presented herself to the Regular canon- esses of the Groenenbriel abbey in Gent, where she was accepted. However, 6 Petyt (1683) vol. 1, 8. 7 Petyt (1683) vol. 1, 13. 8 ‘Ick wiert wat meer woest ende wilt, en speelachtigh ghelijck andere kinderen, (...) soo dat ick allenskens aen namp veele quaede manieren, ende gheneghentheden .’ Petyt (1683) vol. 1, 8. 9 Michael of St. Augustine (1681). 10 Petyt (1683) vol. 1, 16. In 1635 France declared war on the Austrian and Spanish Hapsburgs and in the same year formed an alliance with the northern Netherlands. The result was French incursions on the southern border of the Southern Netherlands, which Maria mentions in her autobiography. This unrest continued until 1660, albeit with a peaceful interlude of a few years. 11 ‘ by seer Godtvruchtigh ende stichtbaer volck .’ Petyt (1683) vol. 1, 16. 12 ‘om beter jemant te moghen behaeghen, ende te trecken tot mijne liefde’ Petyt (1683) vol. 1, 17. 13 Petyt (1683) vol. 1, 17. 14 ’siet, mijnen Beminden was soo overgoet, ende soo verlieft op een soo boose, quaede ende ondanckbaere Creature (...) soo dat ick den derden keer daer niet teghen en kost; want hy ghebruyckte een stercker handt, ende gratie, die my scheen te overweldighen; (...) hy hadde het herte soo gheraeckt, dat de werelt my een walghe wiert. ’ Petyt (1683) vol. 1, 19.