MARY OF OOSTERWIJK (Maria van Hout; De Ligno, Lignana). - Mystic, born at Oosterwijk, a village near 's Hertogenbosch (Bois-le-Duc) in northern Brabant, around 1470, into a wealthy family, died at Cologne on 30 September 1547; from her paternal home she passed into the beguinage of her native village, and while still very young she set out toward the heights of contemplation.
In 1531 the Carthusian G. Kalckbrenner published anonymously a first writing of M. Van Hout, Der rechte wech 120 der Evangelischer volkomenheit (True Way to Evangelical Perfection), with an appendix of some of her spiritual letters, which reveal the whole sublime development of this soul enamored of the divine absolute; then in 1532: Dat Paradijs der liefhorvender sielen (The Paradise of Loving Souls). The two masterpieces of sixteenth-century Dutch spirituality cannot be attributed to M.: Vanden tempel onser sielen (On the Temple of Our Soul [1543, republished several times up to 1626 and translated into various languages]) and Die evangelische Peerle (The Evangelical Pearl [1535 and 1538]), which are instead works of a close friend of hers, whose doctrine and spirit M. shared.
The influence of her books, in the Netherlands, in France (Ecole française) and in Germany, is incalculable. M.'s doctrine, of a very speculative character, is essentially Christocentric and theocentric; the sacramental and liturgical life has in it a well-defined organic function. M. presents the synthesis of the mystical currents of the Middle Ages in the Netherlands and in the Rhineland.
Bibliography6 worksA. Möllmann, M. von O. und ihre Schrift (Der rechte Weg zur evangel. Volkomenheit), in Zeitschrift f. Assese u. Mystik, 2 (1927), pp. 319-33
BIBL.: A. Möllmann, M. von O. und ihre Schrift (Der rechte Weg zur evangel. Volkomenheit), in Zeitschrift f. Assese u. Mystik, 2 (1927), pp. 319-33; P. Kettenmeyer, in Ons geestliche Erf, 1927, pp. 278-293, 370-95; id., in Aunalien des Hist. Vereins f. d. Niederrhein, 1929, pp. 1-33; L. Reypens, in Ons geestliche Erf, 1928, pp. 52-76, 189-213, 304-41; Dom Huyben, ibid., 1928, pp. 361-92 and 1929, pp. 60-70; J. Lortzing, M. von O., Zeitgenossin Luthers, ibid., 7 (1932), pp. 250-60.
Ampe, Alberto. “Maria d'Oosterwijk (Maria Van Hout; de Ligno, lignana).” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VIII, col. 125. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1952. https://azioneromana.com/article/maria-d-oosterwijk-maria-van-hout-de-ligno-lignana.
MLA
Ampe, Alberto. “Maria d'Oosterwijk (Maria Van Hout; de Ligno, lignana).” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VIII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1952, col. 125. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/maria-d-oosterwijk-maria-van-hout-de-ligno-lignana.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec8_maria_d_oosterwijk_maria_van_h,
author = {Ampe, Alberto},
title = {Maria d'Oosterwijk (Maria Van Hout; de Ligno, lignana)},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {VIII},
pages = {125},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1952},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/maria-d-oosterwijk-maria-van-hout-de-ligno-lignana}
}
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