RUUSBROEC, Jan of, Blessed. - Prince of Flemish mysticism, called Admirabilis and Doctor divinus, b. at Ruisbroek (Brussels) in 1293, d. at Groenendael on 2 Dec. 1381. A priest at 24, R. later obtained the post of vicar.
Possessed of a sublime experience, because he had made his own all that his Flemish predecessors and the recent Rhenish mystical speculation had produced of the most solid and elevated, R. felt called to become a guide and defender of orthodoxy among the crowds, won over by mystical movements in which errors were mingled, such as that of Heilwig, called Blomardinne or Blommaerdine (d. ca. 1336), a noble and influential Brussels woman, champion of the "free spirit."
Around 1330 R. began to write in the vernacular. Of his 11 treatises, 6 were composed at Brussels: Dar Rijche der Ghelieven ("The Kingdom of the Lovers"); Die gheestelike Brulocht ("The Spiritual Espousals"); Vanden blinckenden Steen ("The Sparkling Stone"); Vanden vier Becaringhen ("The Four Temptations"); Vanden herstenen Ghelove ("The Christian Faith"); Vanden gheesteliken Tabernakel ("The Spiritual Tabernacle").
In order to devote himself to the contemplative life and to divine praise with a celebration of the Divine Office more recollected than that in which he had been participating, in 1343 R. withdrew into the forest of Soignes, together with his relative J. Hinckaert and with the canon Francon de Coudenberg, "magister artium," occupying an ancient hermitage at Groenendael. In 1350 they adopted the Rule of the Canons of St. Victor of Paris; but they did not place themselves under the dependence of that mother house. Under Francon as provost, R. was the first prior.
There he wrote: Vanden VII Sloten ("The 7 Enclosures"); Een Spieghel der eeuwigher Salicheit ("The Mirror of Eternal Salvation"); Vanden VII Trappen ("The 7 Steps"); Dat Boecsken der Verclaringhe ("The Little Book of Clarification" or "Retractation"); Vanden XII Beghinen ("The 12 Beguines" or "The Highest Contemplation"). R. also left 7 "Letters" that reveal him as a prudent and perspicacious spiritual director; these are preserved only in part in the original language; the rest remains in the Latin translation of L. Surius. Among the other writings attributed to R., only two can be authentic: a Gloss on the Pater, extracted from a lost treatise on prayer, and an allocution on the Eucharist. From the very beginning the writings of R. had a wide diffusion in all the Flemish lands. The sending of his masterpiece, The Spiritual Espousals (1350), to the
"Friends of God" of the Oberland, gave rise to the translation of the work into a Germanic dialect. After a few years followed the Latin translation of Jordaens, and then the more literal one of Geert Groote (v.): of these two Latin translations the first spread principally in the Romance countries, the second in the Germanic countries.
Founded upon a vigorous synthesis, the writings of R. are characterized by a didactic form and by a concentric exposition. In substance his mysticism is clearly Trinitarian and Christological; systematized with a Christian Platonizing rhythm, of flux and reflux, which brings into wonderful light the natural and supernatural dynamism deposited in the soul in the image of the Most Holy Trinity.
The influence of R. was and remains European, as is attested by the approximately 250 known manuscripts of his works, by the numerous editions and versions diffused in all the nations of Europe, and by the extracts that other writers make from them. Let it not surprise therefore to discern the influence of R. in notable mystics, such as John of St. Samson in France, John of the Angels and St. John of the Cross in Spain. A new interest is noticeable in our century: the Benedictines of Nisques gave a new French version of it and there were partial translations into English, Italian, Polish, Russian.
Feast on 2 Dec. His cult was confirmed by Bl. Pius X, on 9 Dec. 1908 (AAS, 1 [1909], pp. 164-67).
Bibliography8 works
Leonzio Reypens