inner experience

STRUCTURE AND TRADITION OF PIERRE DE JEAN OLIEU’S OPUSCULA: INNER EXPERIENCE AND DEVOTIONAL WRITING* To Paul Lachance, ioculator Domini

1. INTRODUCTION With the expression “inner experience” we refer to a complex linguistic and philosophical problem which is present even in the most recent theology. If, in general, this concept expresses the experience of something which is perceived by an individual in the absence of external stimulus or observable sensations, in Christian and mystical tradition it indicates more precisely the action and the transformation which God arouses in the inner conscience. I propose investigating the specific way the Provençal Franciscan Pierre de Jean Olieu used this concept and presented it, both philosophically and theologically, in a small collection of writings which critical tradition has defined in various ways, but which I continue defining, with a term which maintains a Franciscan suggestion, as opuscula.1 These short devotional texts were written by Olieu and his followers in both Provençal and in Latin, and explicitly addressed the Beguins of the so-called “poverty houses,” as well as the laity which congregated around the Franciscan Order.2 Unlike the prayers * I would like to thank Adriano Zanni, Kathryn Krug and Charlotte Lantery for having helped me in translating the text in English; I am grateful to David Burr and Sylvain Piron for their generous help; finally let me thank †Paul Lachance, for invaluable and memorable support. 1 For the biography of Pierre de Jean Olieu, see David Burr, L’histoire de Pierre Olivi. Franciscain persécuté (Fribourg: Editions universitairesParis: Le Cerf, 1997). 2 See Louisa Burnham, “Les franciscains spirituels et les béguins du Midi,” in Le pays cathare. Les religions médiévales et leur expressions méri-

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and treatises concerning prayer by Olieu, these texts are not completely set but are conceived and written as models of continuous meditation on the part of the reader.3 In view of the critique I am editing, I here furnish a list of these texts, with the aim of updating the incomplete lists complied by Efrem Bettoni4 and Antonio Ciceri:5 Cavalier armat (Provençal6 and Latin7) Exercens se sacris orationibus et meditationibus (Latin8 and Provençal9) Informatio Petri Ioannis (Provençal10 and Latin11) dionales, éd. par J. Berlioz (Paris: Seuil, 2000), 147-60 and So great a Light, so great a Smoke. The Beguin Heretics of Languedoc (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2008). 3 D. Flood, “Peter Olivi on Prayer,” The Cord 48 (1998): 3-6. 4 A list of twelve works is proposed in E. Bettoni, Le dottrine filosofiche di Pier di Giovanni Olivi. Saggio (Milano: Vita e Pensiero, 1959) with the title “Opere ascetico-mistiche.” 5 Antonio Ciceri provides a list of “Opere Spirituali” and “Sermons”: see Antonio Ciceri, Petri Johannis Olivi Opera. Censimento dei Manoscritti, Collectio Oliviana I (Grottaferrata, Quaracchi: Collegio s. Bonaventura, 1999), 184-92 and 196; about Olivi’s Sermons see C. Cenci, “Sermoni anonimi già attribuiti a Pietro di Giovanni Olivi,” Antonianum 73 (1998), 43-77. 6 Edition in Petri Iohannis Olivi, “Lo cavalier armat,” in I. Arthur, “Lo cavalier armat, versione provençale du Miles armatus attribué à Pierre de Jean Olivi,” Studia Neophilologica, XXXI (1959), 54-61. 7 Petri Iohannis Olivi, “Miles armatus,” in Raoul Manselli, Spirituali e beghini in Provenza (Roma, Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medioevo, 1959), 287-90: it is not a critical edition; a new edition is in A. Montefusco, “Petri Iohannis Olivi Miles armatus. Edizione critica e commento,” Studi francescani, 2011, 51-170. 8 The text in S. Vatteroni, “La version occitane de l’Exercens attribué à Pierre Jean Olivi” (Assise, Bibl. storico-francescana di Chiesa Nuova, ms. 9), in Études de langue et de littérature médiévales offertes à Peter T. Ricketts à l’occasion de son 70ème anniversaire, ed. D. Billy, A. Buckley (Turnhout: Brepols, 2005), 193-94, is not a critical text but it is based on Pacetti’s transcription of Siena, Com., U.V.5, f. 47va-48ra. 9 S. Vatteroni, “La version occitane de l’Exercens,” 194-95. 10 Petri Iohannis Olivis, “Aysso son .XIIII. raysos per las quals puescas ton cor moure en amor de Dieu,” in P. Bianchi De Vecchi, Testi ascetici in antico provenzale (Perugia: Università degli Studi, 1984), 113-22 (it is a critical edition based on Assisi, Chiesa Nuova, 9, f. 83v-85v and Todi, Bibl. Com., 128, f. 18v-53v). 11 Petri Iohannis Olivi, “Informatio Petri Ioannis,” in Manselli, Spirituali e beghini in Provenza, 278-81: this edition is based on Volterra, Bi-

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De 14 gradibus amoris gratiosi (Latin)12 De [12/10] gradibus humilitatis (Latin)13 Grases de vera penitentia (Provençal)14 Modus quomodo quilibet potest referre gratias Deo de Beneficiis ab eo receptis (Provençal15 and Latin16) Brevis monitio ad amorem Dei obtinendum (Latin)17 Remedia contra temptationes spirituales (Provençal18 and Latin19) De 7 sentimentis Christi Jhesu (Latin)20 blioteca Guarnacciana, cod. 5230, f. 92v-95v, but the text is transmitted by Firenze, Bibl. Naz., Conv. soppr., cod C. 8. 1165, f. 11-13v, too. 12 Incipit: In nomine Domini nostri Iesu Christi crucifixi loquar tibi de gradibus amoris gratiosi; expl. secundum quod dictum est supra. Mss.: Assisi, Bibl. Com. 516, f. 31v; Capestrano 21, f. 114-115; Firenze, Naz. Conv. soppr. C.8. 1165, f. 13v-15v; Siena, Com., U.V.6, f. 286c-287d; Volterra, Guarn. 5230, f. 132-134; in Capestrano 21, f. 115v-116r it is transmitted a similar text, De conditionibus et proprietatibus amoris Dei. Incipit: In nomine D.N.I. Christi, amoris nostri crucifixi loquar tibi de aliquibus conditionibus et proprietatibus amoris Dei; expl.: decima est quod amor Dei semper est nouus. So far the text is unpublished. 13 It is unpublished. Mss.: Napoli, Naz., V.H.386, f. 50r-52; Madrid, B. Nac. 9536, f. LVIII vb-LXXX vb; Paris, BN lat. 18327, f. 134v; Siena, Com., U.V.6, f. 94 r-94v; Volterra, Guarn., f 82r-84r. 14 Petri Iohannis Olivi, “Ayssi son .VIII. grases de vera penitentia,” in Bianchi De Vecchi, Testi ascetici in antico provenzale, 131-41. 15 Petri Iohannis Olivi, “Modus,” in D. Zorzi, “Testi inediti francescani in lingua provenzale,” Miscellanea del Centro di studi Medievali (Milano: Vita e Pensiero, 1956), 269-72. 16 Petri Iohannis Olivi, “Modus quomodo quilibet potest referre gratias Deo de Beneficiis ab eo receptis,” in Manselli, Spirituali e beghini in Provenza, 274-78. 17 It is unpublished; Inc.: Hominem tepidum de fervoribus divini amoris loqui non decet; expl. te saluto et me tibi commendo. Mss.: Basel, A. X. 98; Capestrano, 21, f. 117r-v; Catania, Bibl. Univ. 75, f. 80d; Graz, Bibl. Univ., 1226, f. 125b; Siena, Com., U.V.5., f. 110d. 18 Petri Iohannis Olivi, “Ayssi comensan .XII. remedis,” in Bianchi De Vecchi, Testi ascetici in antico provenzale, 89-99. 19 Petri Iohannis Olivi, “Remedia contra temptationes spirituales,” in Manselli, Spirituali e beghini in Provenza, 282-87; about the tradition of the text, see J. Vennebusch, “Zur Überlieferungsgeschichte des Traktates De remediis contra Tentationes spirituales (Petrus Johannis Olivi, Venturinus de Bergamo, Ludolphus de Saxonia, Johannes Gerson),” Scriptorium, XXXIII (1979), 2, 254-59. 20 The text in Petri Iohannis Olivi, “De 7 sentimentis Christi Jhesu,” in M. Bartoli, “Il Tractatus de septem sentimentis Christi Iesu di Pietro di Giovanni Olivi,” in Pietro di Giovanni Olivi, opera edita et inedita (Grot-

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Tractatus de 7 tentationibus (Latin)21 Tractatulus de fugiendis, desiderandis, meditandis (Latin)22 This approach is particularly interesting, because it is my conviction that, in these texts the author focuses on the paths and transformations of conscience, on the intercommunication of them and on the potential of repeating and recreating, autonomously, an uninterrupted process of spiritual transformation and strengthening. In this sense, as we will see, the concept of “inner experience” is central to the opuscula and, anticipating the results of my analysis, I can say that being in a significant position of the spiritual and meditative path delineated by the text, it constitutes its structural core. Such a placement finds meaning and justification within the philosophical, theological and apocalyptical reflections of the author.23 For Olieu, inwardness and outer activity, although remaining distinct, are balanceable and organizable in a reassemblage founded on devotio. We can say that the devotion of the reader, confirmed and strengthened by the inner experience of his personal reflection on mercy, taferrata: Quaracchi, 1999), 533-50, is based on Pacetti’s transcription of Siena, Intronati, U.V.5., f. 11ra-13ra. Inc. Hoc enim sentite in vobis quod et in Christo Ihesu. Mss.: Capestrano 21, f. 110r-114v; Siena, Com., U.V.5 f. 11-13; Volterra, Guarn., 5230, f 97r-111v. 21 The text is unpublished. Inc. In sex tribulationibus liberabo te. Mss.: Capestrano 21, f. 163v-167r; Siena, Com., U.V.5, f. 13v-15v; Volterra, Guarnacciana 5230, f. 111v-124r. 22 It is unpublished. Inc.: Tria sunt nobis singulariter fugienda et metuenda. Mss.: Graz, Bibl. Un., f. 125rb; Siena, Com., U.V.5, f. 46d; Köln, Stadtarchiv GB 8° 62, f. 251rv; Köln, Stadtarchiv GB 8° 152, fol.140v-1v; Köln, Stadtarchiv GB 8° 246, f. 30v; Köln, GB 4° 238; Volterra, Guarn. 5230, f. 130v-132r. 23 Olieu’s theological and philosophical thought is analyzed in S. Piron, “Le métier de théologien selon Olivi. Philosophie, théologie, exégèse et pauvreté,” in Pierre de Jean Olivi. Philosophie et théologie, ed. by C. König-Pralong, O. Ribordy, T. Suarez-Nani (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2010), 17-85, while the important Apocalypse Commentary is studied in D. Burr Olivi’s Peaceable Kingdom. A Reading of the Apocalypse Commentary (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993). See also Bettoni, Le dottrine filosofiche di Pier di Giovanni Olivi and R. Manselli, La “Lectura super Apocalipsim” di Pietro di Giovanni Olivi. Ricerche sull’escatologismo medioevale (Roma: Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medioevo, 1959).

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is the element which allows this reassembling. We will see in what sense we can speak about an element of fracture and an entirely new forma mentis, which opens the way to modern secular spirituality.

2. INNER EXPERIENCE AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE OPUSCULA

I begin with the text entitled Informatio ad virtutum opera. This could be considered the manifesto text of the opuscula, because in this work Pierre de Jean Olieu clarifies the principle subject of the meditations offered to the reader, and proposes a stylistic, structural model which is respected, more or less precisely, in all the other texts of the corpus. This structure is very simple: the author lists twenty-eight subjects which the reader is invited to reflect upon during his personal endeavor towards virtuous perfection. The text is divided in two parts: the first presents fourteen orderly reflections centered on pedagogical-moral subjects like the meditation on God and the Passion of Christ, on the example of the Saints, the awareness of one’s sins, and on the coming of the Day of Judgement; in the second, the author emphasizes and amplifies these fourteen reflections in a memorialis which serves the reader to better understand the concepts and strengthen his own will. In the incipit of the text, the author explains his desire to propose a series of considerations to a reader who has already embarked upon a path of moral perfection; these spiritual instructions serve to urge his heart both toward a greater love of God and toward a still more virtuous life: I greatly appreciate the good you have undertaken to honor God, not only that you might improve yourself in terms of more virtuous actions but that you might desire these. Consequently, I have decided to set out some considerations [rationes] that should help you to urge and stimulate your heart towards a greater love

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of God and a more perfect and virtuous course than that which you have undertaken. [1Inf, 278-279]24 Once completing the list of the fourteen considerationes, before confirming them in his short memorialis, Olieu explains that from these small hints, the reader must learn to develop greater reflections on his own. To learn autonomous practice, the reader must stimulate, with affection and spiritual sense, his own will in the reflections which spring from the fourteen considerationes: I have touched upon these fourteen considerations very briefly and I have not explained them, so that you could learn how to develop more significant thoughts from small considerations, reaching high, broad contemplation as a result of each consideration. Know this: if you want to improve on your own, you should not confine yourself to merely urging these considerations with the intellect, you must strengthen your will through your heart’s affection during these thoughts suggested by my considerations. To allow you to better understand, I will review them in a short memorial [memorialis] showing how these reflections are not useful and effective if they are not confirmed by affection and spiritual sense [affectus et sensus spiritualis] [1Inf, 280]25 Petri Iohannis Olivi, “Informatio Petri Ioannis,” 278-79: Quoniam multum placet mihi bonum quod incepisti ad honorem Dei non solum ut perseveres, ymmo ut ad maiora opera virtutum convoles vel saltem desideres convolare, ideo scribo tibi aliquas rationes quibus poteris cor tuum movere et excitare ad maiorem Dei dilectionem et ad maiorem omnium virtutum perfectionem melius quam incepisti. 25 Petri Iohannis Olivi, “Informatio Petri Ioannis,” 280: Predictas quattuordecim rationes potius prelibavi quam explicavi, ut disca ex paucis magna cogitare et ut tibi quelibet ratio sit materia alte et spatiose contemplationis. Scias tamen quod si vis in predictis rationibus perficere, non debes eas formare solum per intellectum, ymmo est necessarium quod per affectum cordalem moveas voluntatem tuam in hiis que ipse rationes dictant. Et ut melius intelligas, in brevi memoriali tibi replicabo ipsas ostendendo qualiter non habent efficaciam alicuius utilitatis, nisi firmentur per afectum et sensum spiritualem. 24

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The spiritual sense, "one of the most important segments of the discourse about inner transformation,"26 intervenes therefore, to strengthen and consolidate the path of improvement of the reader. Thus the author guides the reader with precision through the text; the inner experience of its contents constitutes the indispensable element so that, in this path of reading, one passes to a moment of more important contemplation, together with a more holy moral conduct. In the incipit of the Remedia, Olieu provides us with further important clarification. The Remedia are, within the corpus, the work most characterized by immediate apocalyptic concern.27 Not by chance, the author misses no opportunity to define what audience he is addressing, as well as the eschatological moment in which the reader is explicitly called to that particular way of reading a text. We find ourselves at the point where "the chair and seat of the Antichrist" are prepared, and precisely "now" the considerationes of the Informatio become necessary remedies against the spiritual temptations expressly prepared for the elect, the more aware spirits, and not certainly for the imperfect and the weak. I will explain to you some remedies [remedia] against the spiritual temptations that are plentiful in the world right now for purifying and testing the chosen few [electi]. These temptations do not expressly relate to some main articles of faith, but threaten to destroy their main root and prepare the Antichrist’s chair and seat. I cannot tell these temptations to the simple and imperfect [simplices et imperfecti], to avoid the occasion of scandal and turmoil, but I will explain them to you urging you to use spiritual discretion, so as not to be defeated [1Rem, 282].28 B. McGinn, “The Language of Inner Experience in Christian Mysticism,” Spiritus 1 (2001), 156-71: 157. 27 B. McGinn, The flowering of mysticism: men and women in the new mysticism (1200-1350) (New York: Crossroad, 1998) [it. transl. Storia della mistica cristiana in Occidente. La fioritura della mistica (1200-1350) (Genova: Marietti, 2008), 195-99]; Burr, Olivi’s Peaceable Kingdom, especially chapters 5 and 8. 28 Petri Iohannis Olivi, “Remedia contra temptationes spirituales,” 282: Ad honorem Dei dicam tibi aliqua remedia contra aliquas 26

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The dualistic structure of the Informatio is a common characteristic of the entire corpus of the opuscula. All the texts, in fact, are divided in two parts: the first, briefly states a group of reflections of a moral character (an external pedagogy); while the second tends to assert them in a more precise and contemplative manner (an inner experience). Thus, the Informatio proposes a clear and important text-model in the form of spiritual exercise, based on a simple conceptual scheme, comprehensible to all, which develops in a discursive manner based on succinctness: the brevitas of the considerations, the insistence, the repetition of the meditationes, and the reproducibility, the memoria of the reader through the devotio. To enable the reader to reproduce or invent new exercises, Olieu turns to two mechanisms for textual construction, while never abandoning the principle of two-part division. At times he uses a numerical scheme with intense symbolic meaning. This is the case in those treatises which can be considered more strictly eschatological: the Tractatus de 7 tentationibus is divided into six tribulations and a final tribulation; the Tractatulus de fugiendis, desiderandis, meditandis proposes a path articulated in three reflections repeated three times. Now and then an image is used, as in Miles armatus and Grases de vera penitencia. In this case, however, we witness a mixed mechanism, because the image is distributed in smaller elements according to numerical schemes, they themselves of a symbolic nature. 2Exc = 7 "maneras" + 7 "maneras de vera amistat" 1Inf = 14 "considerationes" + 14 "considerationes in brevi memoriali replicate" temptationes spirituales que in hoc tempore habundant in terra ad purgandum et probandum electos, que, quamvis expresse non sint de aliquo articulorum fidei principalium, tamen, qui bene advertit, cognoscet quod sunt in periculum destructionis principalium radicum nostre fidei et quod preparant cathedram et sedem Antichristo. Quas temptationes nolo exprimere ut non ponam materiam seu occasionem scandali et turbationis coram simplicibus et imperfectis; sed demonstrabo tibi per quam spiritualem discretionem debes te regere, si non vis esse victus a predictis temptationibus.

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Modus = 7 "gratias" + 10 "perseverationes" 1 Rem = 12 "remedia" + 4 "remedia que debes custodire regendo te ipsum" Tent = 6 "tribulationes" + 1 "tribulatio" Tract = 3 "fugienda" + 3 "desideranda" + 3 "meditanda" Grases = "temple fait al servici de Dieu ab vestiari e vestiduras" + 8 "grases" 1Cav = 1. Armour: 3 "loricas duplicate" (= 6) + 2 "ocree" + "galea" + "christa" + "lancea" + "ensis" + "scutum" (but "cum triplici textura" = 3) + "sagitte" + "ensis" + "archus" + "dextrarius"; 2. Army: "caterva militum superiorum" + "caterva militum inferiorum" + "pedites" + "tubicines" + "tube" + "expense" + "victualia" + "classis navium" + "remiges" + "nauclerii" + "fixio tentorium" + "locatio castrorum" + "excubie" + "fortalicia" As a provisional conclusion for the first part of this analysis, it can be said that the reading of the opuscula constitutes a central practice for the lay, but, as is obvious, does not wholly exhaust the journey toward perfection which makes them of them the elect. This quote is from the Modus: O my Lord God Jesus Christ, in whom there is every sweetness, true light and love, open the eyes of my soul so that I can see distinctly and unceasingly and understand all these realities. […] O my Lord God, engrave your holy passion in my heart so much that, while I am talking about it, while I am thinking about it carefully, while I am listening to it, I can lead my heart to cry pitifully and compassionately for your most painful passion. […] O Lord God, for all the benefits that You have done, You continuously do and You will do for ever, grant me to be ever grateful, thanking

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your most reverend Majesty with humility and devotion. [2Mod, 269-272]29 The Modus is like a prayer of thanksgiving; it can be said that the path of the reader begins before the text, it is nourished by the mercy transmitted through the text, it is consolidated through the inner experience of the meditations, and it continues through the devotio which gives substance to the procedures of the lay after the reading. This conceptual system is not surprising, as it finds justification within the reflection by Olieu on the problem of devotio.

3. INNER EXPERIENCE IN THE THOUGHT OF PIERRE DE JEAN OLIEU According to a recent analysis by Sylvain Piron, the reflection on personalitas holds great importance in the thought of Olieu; not by chance it was already systematized by the mid-1270s, and again, not by chance, the theologian places personalitas among the characteristic roots of the life of man, along with intellectuality and freedom.30 The most interesting aspect for our discussion is constituted by the call to inner experience. It is of decisive importance because it constitutes the basis of freedom of the individual, both

Petri Iohannis Olivi, “Modus quomodo quilibet potest referre gratias Deo de Beneficiis ab eo receptis,” 275-78: A, Domine Deus meus Ihesu Christe, in quo est omnis dulcedo, verum lumen et amor, aperi occulos anime mee ut hec omnia clare videam iugiter et cognoscam. […] Domine Deus meus, fac quod tua sancta passio ita cordi meo invisceretur quod de ipsa loquendo, cogitando vel audiendo, moveat ad fletum pietatis et compassionis tue acerbissime passionis. […] Placeat tibi, Domine Deus, quatenus de omnibus gratiis istis quas fecisti michi et continue facis et facies, sim omni tempore recognoscens et referens gratiarum continuas actiones humiliter et devote tue reverentissime maiestati. 30 S. Piron, “L’expérience subjective chez Pierre de Jean Olivi,” in Généalogies du sujet. De saint Anselme à Malebranche, dir. by O. Boulnois (Paris: Vrin, 2007), 43-54. 29

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in philosophy and in religious matters: suffice it to think of vows31 and of ecclesiology.32 For Olieu, the soul is endowed with unparalleled selfsufficiency: it is dynamic and active and moves towards perfection owing to its inner energy. In this concept of active spiritual life, he denies the function of movens to the object of knowledge, because it would mean to deny the ‘inwardness’ of knowing.33 But also in the psychological area, anti-Averroist and anti-Thomist controversies lead Olieu to appeal, with diligent constancy, to the experientia of the sensus intimus as the most convincing proof, and endowed with demonstrative value.34 Elaborating on an important suggestion by Alain de Libera, who indicated in Olieu the first formulation of the individual,35 Sylvain Piron has shown how the Franciscan theologian uses a great variety of expressions referring to the concept of inner sense.36 For Olieu, the individual is, in fact, founded on an inner experience, which is defined as “experimentum suae suitatis.” See A. Emmen, “La dottrina dell’Olivi sul valore religioso dei voti,” Studi Francescani, 63 (1966): 88-108; D. Burr, Olivi and Franciscan Poverty Poverty. The Origins of the Usus Pauper Controversy (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989); Burr, L’Histoire de Pierre Olivi, 24-25. 32 O. Capitani, “Da una ecclesiologia medievale ad una ecclesiologia moderna: il pensiero di Pietro Olivi,” in La presenza francescana tra medioevo e modernità, ed. by A. Chessa e M. Poli (Firenze: Vallechi Editore, 1996), 213-21; M. Bartoli, Petri Iohannis Olivi de Romano Pontifice Pontifice (Grottaferrata: Quaracchi, 2002); about the relationship with the censure see L. Bianchi, “Censure, liberté et progrès intellectuel à l’Université de Paris au XIIIe siècle,” Archives d’Histoire doctrinale et littéraire du Moyen Age, 63 (1996), 45-93. 33 Bettoni, Le dottrine filosofiche di Pier di Giovanni Olivi, 467-500; in general see R. Pasnau, Theories of Cognition in the later Middle Ages (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997). 34 Piron, “L’expérience subjective”; see Petri Iohannis Olivi, Quaestiones in secundum librum Sententiarum, ed. by B. Jansen (Grottaferrata: Quaracchi, 1922-26), q. 57 (II, 334). 35 A. De Libera, “Sujet,” in Vocaboulaire européen des philosophies. Dictionnaire des intraduisibles, dir. by Barbara Cassini (Paris: Robert-Le Seuil 2004), 1239-44  in general see J.C. Schmitt, “La ‘Découverte de l’individu’: une fiction historiographique?” in La Fabrique, la figure et la feinte. Fictions et statuts des fictions en psychologie, ed. by P. Mengal and F. Parot (Paris: Sciencies en Situation, 1989), 213-36. 36 Piron, “L’expérience subjective”: 48. 31

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The nature of personhood [ratio personalitatis] cannot be posited or understood without including intellect and will, because "person" seems to imply an existence that reflects on itself or is at least capable of doing so, as well as an existence or entity that is fully self-contained. But no reflection on oneself or ability to do so can be considered without these powers [i.e. intellect and will] nor can one conceive of it as fully self-contained or as exerting any dominion over itself or others. This can only be conceived of as a power fully capable of possessing itself or others, without which one could not understand it as having the nature of a person. Undoubtedly the soul can know and love through these capacities. Yet, if these are accidents, then the understanding [act] of the intellect [potency] of the one that understands [subject] or the act of willing of the will of the one who wills or their subject wouldn’t have properly in themselves the reason of the experience of their, so to say, selfness [experimentum suae suitatis] that is, the soul understanding by the intellect its own substance [Summa, q. 54 (II, 249-251)].37 Here Olieu states that, through this experience of self, the soul gains self-awareness and acknowledges identity with itself. Olieu expresses this relationship of the individual with itself through the concept of “personalitas,” which involves the two faculties of the soul, the intellect and the will. Petri Iohannis Olivi, Quaestiones in secundum librum Sententiarum, q. 54 (II, 249-251): Ratio etiam personalitatis sine intellectu et voluntate non videtur posse poni nec intelligi, quoniam persona videtur dicere existentiam super se reflexam seu reflexibilem et existentiam seu suppositum in se ipso plene consistens. Nulla autem reflexio nec reflexibilitas sui ipsius super se potest intelligi sine istis potentiis nec plena consistentia sui ipsius nec breviter aliquod dominium sive in se sive in aliis. Quod non est aliud quam potestas plenarie possessiva sui et aliorum sine qua non est intelligere rationem personae. […] Certum est enim quod anima per has potentias cognoscit et diligit se et alia. Si autem ista sunt accidentia […] tunc intelligere intellectus intelligentis seu velle voluntatis amantis substantiam animae seu subiectum ipsarum non habebunt proprie in sui ratione experimentum suae, ut ita dixerim, suitatis, hoc est, anima per intellectum intelligens substantiam suam. 37

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Like the will, the personalitas is driven by two diverse forces: first, a "reflexibilitas super se" and then a "plena consistentia in se ipso." These are two distinct moments, and what is necessary to pass from one to the other is the "experientia" of the "sensus intimus," namely the inner experience. As in the reflection on the will, it is in this passage and at this distance that the infinite freedom of man is found.38 However, to understand the mechanism and structure of the opuscula more clearly, we must go to the period of his sojourn in Santa Croce, in Florence (1287-1289) and his second period of teaching in Montpellier (1289-1292).39 I believe that during these two periods, the project of a corpus of works intended for the Beguins who had gathered around the Franciscans in Provence, begins to take shape.40 In a particularly dramatic passage from his Commentary on The Lamentations of Jeremiah, Pierre de Jean Olieu directs his attention to the Church of his time; within the contrast between good and evil which characterizes the final battle, is structured the despairing vision of a "quasi vidua" Ecclesia, according to which God is dead. Commenting on verse 10 of book IV, the tragic image of mothers who cook and eat their own children come to light. The mulieres are traced back, through the Olieu exegesis, to the prelates of his time, who devour their spiritual children, depriving them of the spiritual nourishment constituted by doctrine.

See Petri Iohannis Olivi, Quaestiones in secundum librum Sententiarum, qq. 52, 54, 58, 59 (II, 199-421); Piron, “L’expérience subjective”: 51; about Olieu’s exaltation of individuality, see A. Boureau, “L’individu, sujet de la vérité et suppôt de l’erreur. Connaissance et dissidence dans le monde scolastique (vers1270-vers 1330),” in L’individu au Moyen Age. Individuation et individualisation avant la modernité modernité, dir. by B. Bedos-Rezak, D. Iogna-Prat (Paris: Aubier, 2005), 288-306 and “Pierre de Jean Olivi et l’émergence d’une théorie contractuelle de la royauté au XIIIe siècle,” in Représentation, pouvoir et royauté à la fin du Moyen Age Age, dir. by J. Blanchard (Paris: Picard, 1995), 166-75. 39 See R. Manselli, “Firenze nel Trecento: Santa Croce e la cultura francescana,” Clio, 9 (1973), 325-42 and S. Piron, “Le poète et le théologien: une rencontre dans le Studium de Santa Croce,” Picenum Seraphicum. Rivista di studi storici e francescani, 19 (2000), 87-134. 40 Burnham, “Les franciscains spirituels.” 38

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Manus mulierum misericordium, i.e. that were considered merciful or that were so before, coxerunt filios suos; facti sunt cibus earum in contrictione, i.e. during the period of captivity and siege, filie populi mei. […] According to the Gloss, one must mystically understand that “ypocrite dum virtutis pascuntur laudibus quasi proprios natos ardenti amore glorie humane cocunt et comedunt.” Indeed, because of the aforementioned spiritual hunger, many weak and effeminate prelates kill and devour the spiritual sons they had begotten in mercy. They reduce everything to their own carnal convenience, expounding with excessive distinctions and lucrative foolishness or oppressing their sons with heavy taxes and punishment [In Lam ad 4.10].41 In this reflection on false clerics and corrupt prelates, "the greatest guilt of these [ spiritual directors] is their contempt towards the lay faithful."42 The pastoral concern for lay devotio, which already emerged in the Commentary on the Lord’s Prayer (the well-known De oratione dominica) in terms of spiritual nourishment being a precious good and one which the faithful need "cotidie,"43 constitutes thereby one of the Petri Iohannis Olivi, “Lectura super Lamentationes Hieremie,” in M. Bartoli, La Caduta di Gerusalemme. Il commento al Libro delle Lamentazioni di Pietro di Giovanni Olivi (Roma: Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medioevo, 1991), ad 4.10: Manus mulierum misericordium, id est que reputabantur misericordes vel que prius fuerant, coxerunt filios suos; facti sunt cibus earum in contrictione, id est in tempore captivitatis et obsessionis, filie populi mei. Simile reffert Iosephus contigisse in Samaria. Per quod secundum Glosam mistice intelligitus, quod “ypocrite dum virtutis pascuntur laudibus quasi proprios natos ardenti amore glorie humane cocunt et comedunt.” Multi etiam prelati molles et effeminati spirituales filios quos misericorditer generant, tandem propter prefatam egestatem spiritualium crudeliter occidun et vorant; omnia scilicet illorum ad suum carnalem comodum reducentes et nimis distinctionibus et lucrosis supiditatibus propter se exponentes vel duris exactionibus et obiurgationibus opprimentes. 42 Bartoli, La caduta di Gerusalemme, LVIII. See S. Piron, “La critique de l’Église chez les Spirituels languedociens,” in L’anticléricalisme en France méridionale, milieu XIIe- début XIVe siècle, Cahiers de Fanjeaux, 38 (Toulouse: Privat, 2003), 77-109. 43 See Petri Iohannis Olivi, “De oratione dominica,” in F. Delorme, “Textes franciscains,” Archivio italiano per la storia della pietà, 1 (1951), 179-218: 181. 41

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cornerstones of his philosophical thought. In the exegetical text written in Santa Croce, concern is expressed for the edification of the simpler faithful, through the image of bread which cannot be eaten by children if not suitably broken up. In my opinion, the passage represents a sort of “programmed manifesto” of a written commitment aimed at “breaking” and “distributing” doctrine-spiritual nourishment; the author intends to undertake such an enterprise personally, and he here delineates the concrete modality.44 This project will be realized once Olieu returns to Narbonne, after 1292. In his native homeland, not only will he devote himself to his most challenging works (Summa and Lectura super Apocalipsim), but he can also develop a more rigorous projection of his works toward the outer societas Christiana45 by proposing, starting from his reflection on pauperism, a model of perfectio valid for all, each according to his own possibility: not only the professed, but also the lay society (including merchants).46 His pastoral concern, which earns for Olieu the fame of “Beguin proselytizer,” takes on greater and greater eschatological significance, as revealed in this passage of his commentary on the Apocalypse: Petri Iohannis Olivi, “Lectura super Lamentationes Hieremie,” ad 4.4: Parvuli id est iam grandisculi, nondum tamen viri facti, pertierunt panem, quasi solidiorem doctrinam vel victum, et non erat qui frangeret eis, scilicet exponendo vel dispensando. Is it possible to indicate here a reference to the vulgarization of Lectura super Apocalipsim (“exponendo”) and to the opuscula (“dispensando”)? 45 See J.L. Biget, Autour de Bernard Délicieux. Franciscanisme et société en Languedoc entre 1295, présentées à la table ronde du CNRS, réunies par A. Vauchez (Paris: Beauchesne, 1984), 75-93; “Culte et rayonnement de Pierre Déjean Olieu en Languedoc au debut du XIVe siècle,” in Pierre de Jean Olivi (1248-1298): Pensée scolastique, dissidence spirituelle et société, ed. by A. Boureau et S. Piron (Paris: Librairie Philosophique J. Vrin, 1999), 277-308; R. E. Lerner, “Writing and Resistance among Beguins of Languedoc and Catalonia,” in Heresy and Literacy, 1000-1530, ed. by P. Biller and A. Hudson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 186-204. 46 In general, see G. Larguier, “Autour de Pierre de Jean Olivi. Narbonne et le Narbonnais, fin XIIIe-début XIVe,” in Pierre de Jean Olivi, 26576; about the merchants, S. Piron, “Marchands et confesseurs. Le Traité des contrats d’Olivi dans son contexte (Narbonne, fin XIIIe-début XIVe siècle),” in L’argent au Moyen Age (Paris: La Sorbonne, 1998), 289-308. 44

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He will place his right foot upon the sea of infidel nations and his left upon the land of the faithful, because his principal impetus and progress will be toward conversion of the whole world to Christ, yet not in such a way as to desert the early church of the faithful. For just as, in the time of the apostles, their principal (and, as it were, right) progress was toward conversion of the pagans, and their secondary (or, as it were, left) progress was toward the Jews, because they sensed that they would not prosper so much by fishing on the land of the Jews as by fishing in the sea of the pagans, so this angel will sense that he will not prosper as much in the carnal church of the Latins as among Greeks, Saracens, and Tartars, and at last Jews... Moreover, from Francis’s time until now this angel has fished more in the sea of the laity tossed about by secular cares than on the land of the regulars and clerics. For simple, uneducated men are more easily brought to penance than great clerics or monks [In Ap. f. 564].47 In the reading which Olieu provides of the sixth period and life after the Antichrist, there are two interesting themes Petri Iohannis Olivi, Lectura super Apocalipsim (unpublished: ms. Par., BNF, 713), f. 564; trans. by Burr, Olivi’s Peaceable Kingdom, 121: Ponet etiam pedem suum dextrum super mare nationum infidelium et sinistrum super terram fidelium, quia principalis impetus et processus eius erit ad totum orbem convertendum ad Christum, sic tamen quod ex hoc non deseret priorem ecclesiam fidelium. Sicut enim tempore apostolorum fuit principalis et quasi dexter processus eorum ad conversionem paganorum, secundarius vero et quasi sinister ad plebem Iudeorum, quia senserunt non se ita prosperaturos seu prospere piscaturos in terra Iudeorum sicut in mari paganorum, sic et iste angelus sentiet non se ita prosperaturum in carnali ecclesia Latinorum sicut in Grecis et Sarracenis et Tartaris et tandem in Iudeis. Ponet etiam pedem dextrum super mare, quia promptior erit ad adversa tolleranda et ad antichristi prelia invadenda quam ad propsera temporalis pacis et glorie asumenda. Pro tempore etiam quod a Francisco usque nunc cucurrit, plus piscatus est hic angelus in mari laicorum secularibus curis fluctantium quam in terra regularium et clericalium. Simplices enim idiote facilius trahuntur ad penitentiam quam magni clerici vel monachi. 47

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in particular,48 the first is conversion. Drawing a parallel between the thirteenth century crisis and the origins of Christianity, Olieu identifies the categories among the Greeks, the Muslims and Tartars which will more easily be led to repentance, as emphasized by David Burr, whereas in the Latin world conversion will be more substantial among the lay than among monks and clerics who, being united in error, will oppose evangelical renewal.49 The second theme concerns the powerful development of the intellectus spiritualis in the older generations, which will lead to a total penetration of the Holy Scriptures, not only in terms of conceptual comprehension, but also through taste and tactile experience.50 The theme of the spiritual senses was already anticipated in his commentary on the Song of Songs, likely written in the early 1290s.51 But differently than might be expected, it is not in the traditional mystical theme of the spiritual senses that Olieu specifies and defines his concept of inner experience. The Franciscan theologian is not concerned with furnishing a redefinition of mystical language;52 rather, he dedicates himself to the definition of an inner path of the soul which is constantly projected in communicating with the outside, that is, with an outer activity which consists in holy and virtuous behavior. In a way, he “franciscanizes” inner experience: in the Commentary on the Song of Songs, evangelical poverty is represented also as an inner act which follows that of its outer one;53 intimate experience, however, remains the experience of Christ. From which it is clear that even in the Old Testament it was noted – in fact, it is a proposition noted per See Burr, Olivi’s Peaceable Kingdom, passim. Burr, Olivi’s Peaceable Kingdom, 120. 50 Burr, Olivi’s Peaceable Kingdom, 110-15. 51 F. Borzumato, “Spunti di ricerca dall’Expositio in Canticum Canticorum di Pietro di Giovanni Olivi,” Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, 91 (1998), 553-72 52 McGinn, The flowering of mysticism, 195-99. 53 About Olivi’s vision of usus pauper in general, see Burr, Olivi and Franciscan Poverty. 48 49

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se – that perfect charity (the kind of charity a spouse should possess) always includes within itself evangelical poverty as its interior act and, unless there is some legitimate obstacle or impediment, its exterior act should always and necessarily follow. [In Cant 341].54 In the same Commentary, the most effective image in the theory of the spiritual senses formulated by Olieu, is that of the devotio as scent and fragrance: Capud tuum ut Carmelus, i.e. as fruitful and fertile as very rich of grass and pastures Mount Carmel was; these can mean the abundant harvest of devotions and spiritual meditations, placed at the peak of the spiritual mount, i.e. the mind. Since Carmelus is interpreted as something soft or tender or knowing the circumcision. Consequently it means the threshold of tenderness or the sweetness of the devotions of one who experiences the circumcision of every carnality and superfluousness [In Cant 296].55 Petri Iohannis Olivi, Expositio in Canticum Canticorum, curavit J. Schlageter, Collectio Oliviana 2 (Grottaferrata: Quaracchi, 1999), 341: Ex quo patet quod etiam in Testamento Veteri erat notum, immo et propositio per se nota quod perfecta caritas – qualis utique debet esse caritas sponsae – includit in se semper evangelicam paupertatem quoad suum actum interiorem, quem – nisi assit legitimum obastaculum vel impedimentum – actus suus exterior semper et necessario habet sequi. 55 Petri Iohannis Olivi, Expositio in Canticum Canticorum, 296: "Caput tuum ut Carmelus,” id est: sic pinguis et fertilis, sicut erat mons “Carmelus” qui in herbis et pascuis valde abundat, per quod significatur exuberans pinguedo et fertilitas sapientialium devotionum et meditationum in vertice mentis spiritualis existens. Et quia “Carmelus” interpretatura “mollis” vel “tenellus” vel “sciens circumcisionem,” significat teneritudinem et suavitatem devotionum experimentaliter scientium circumcisionem omnium carnalium et superfluorum. [...] See 356 in Borzumato’s italian translation [Pietro di Giovanni Olivi, Commento al Cantico dei Cantici (Casale Monferrato: Piemme, 2001)]: "Here the wife depicts the conditions of one who ascends. […] These qualities are placed in us, when we quickly flee from the earthly good through the mind’s aversion; when we examine the celestial phenomenona with keenness through the mind’s contemplation; when we insistently do it through the devotion of the mind; and finally we 54

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The scent of devotio allows the inner experience of meditation to flow outwardly as virtuous behaviour. Therefore, this concept defines the apocalyptic, catechetical picture in which the opuscula can be placed. To state it briefly, Olieu claims that in the time of the Antichrist we will all be disciples of God, doctrine will be “experiental,”56 conversion will be greatly increased both in the lay and clerics, but the clerics will no longer be worthy and so there will be a need for the doctrina to be fracta and distributed to the laity. As a result, the Opuscula represent the textual realization of a push towards the elect, in whom succinctness, conciseness and insistence in meditation is distributed, preparing them for the time of the Antichrist, modelling their inner experience to the Franciscan spirit, producing, through the devotio, holy behavior.

4. TRADITION AND POSTERITY Putting into practice the possibility of a connection between inner experience and outer activity which places reading at the center of the path of moral perfection, Olieu occupies a very particular place both in the history of mysticism

are crowned by the mind’s regeneration." This paragraph is not present in the critical edition of Schlageter. 56 Petri Iohannis Olivi, Expositio in Canticum Canticorum, 193-94 and 244: Unguenta quibus sponsa est delibuta, sunt confectiones suarum suavissimarum devotionum. [...] Vestimenta sponsae sunt omnes habitus suarum virtutum et specialiter exterior habitus suae conversationis qui omnes divinae devotionis fragrantia sunt conspersi. [...]; “Dilectus meus descendit in hortum suum." Eius descensus est mentis per speciales consolationes visitatio in quibus sua presentiam experimentalius exhibet. [...] Haec [...] in virtutibus longe lateque fragrantiam sui odoris spargentibus Deus singulariter delectatur. (The unguents the wife is rubbed with mean the packets of her most sweet devotions […] Wife’s clothes are all the clothes of her virtues, especially the exterior clothes of her life that are spread with the fragrance of divine devotion. […] My love comes down into the garden, i.e. his descent upon the mind means a visit through the spiritual consolations. Here he shows his presence experientially. […] He takes delight in the virtues that diffuse their own scent’s fragrance everywhere.) See also Piron, “L’expérience subjective,” 46, about the utilization of inner experience as a philosophical argument.

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and in the history of spiritual direction.57 His originality is measured first of all, by his capacity to overcome the distinction between inner experience and outer activity which Origen, Gregory of Nyssa and St. Augustine greatly emphasized.58 Gregory the Great, a twofold personality of Pope and mystic, remains imprisoned in this vision. The pursuit of perfect interiority, summarized in the Dialogues with the formula "habitare secum," is resolved in an antithesis, more violent if you will, between the world of temporal authority and perfect contemplation.59 This distinction begins to erode with monastic theology. In the opinion of Pier Damiani, homo interior is a creation which takes place during the process of reading with the help of exegetical meditation, but remaining undisputed is the pre-eminence of an external pedagogy which promotes personal effort based on the Regula Benedicti and the emulation of saints.60 The Victorines develop reading and exegesis to a zenith "as the way par excellence of forming the person and of giving expression to this forming-process,"61 and, in fact, Bernard of Clairvaux, bringing liber scripturae and liber experientiae together, describes, for the first time, a situation in which exegesis and inner experience enlighten one another. But the most interesting contribution made by Bernard consists of the rhetorical and linguistic bringing together of both the carnal dimension and the spiritual. This fusion of the two levels, which is based on Christological reflection, will be strengthened by female mysticism and radically rejected by

See Storia della direzione spirituale. Vol. 2. L’età medievale, dir. by S. Boesch Gajano (Brescia: Morcelliana, 2010). 58 McGinn, “The Language of Inner Experience.” 59 Gregorius Magnus, Dialogi, ed. by A. De Vogüé (Paris: Le Cerf, 19781980), II, 3, 37. 60 About the development of Pier Damiani’s project, see U. Longo, La proposta cristiana di Pier Damiani, in Pier Damiani e il monastero di San Gregorio in Conca nella Romagna del secolo XI (Spoleto: Fondazione del Centro Italiano di studi sull’Altomedioevo, 2008), 89-104. 61 I. Van ‘t Spijker, Fictions of inner Life. Religious Litterature and Formation of the Self in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries (Turnhout: Brepols, 2004), 183. 57

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Eckart and his “anti-experimentalism,” as clearly illustrated by McGinn.62 Pierre de Jean Olieu kept his distance from this development, as did the Franciscan tradition and especially his mentor Bonaventura.63 But to appreciate the break with this tradition also, it is sufficient to rapidly compare the reflection made by Olieu, with which the German friar and mentor to novices, David of Augsburg, proposes in his treatise De exterioris et interioris hominis Compositione (1271). In this text, concentrating on the dangers which come from the earthly world, David advises the reader (in this case the novice or laic) to close his heart completely. Consequently, the composition between inner and outer experience is sought in methodical meditation which disciplines innerness and is a precursor to a more perfect contemplation.64 Olieu is in a paradoxical position. He salvages the monastic legacy but he projects it powerfully onto the lay world, identifying the moment of reading as central to the path of perfection. To do this, he succeeds in solving the aporia of the path of perfection which had once been that of the friar, because, an understanding of inner life and worldly life makes it complete.65 But the moment in which he draws together both inwardness and outer activity in this original manner, he removes it from the domination of the mystical, placing this path within a general apocalyptic vision of history, church and society. And the moment in which it stimulates a confessionalization of daily life, he retrieves the freedom of the individual and puts it in the circle. This cultural mutation, linking devotio, inner experience and freedom, marks an era and a forma mentis which, being extraneous to sucMcGinn, “The Language of Inner Experience.” See B. McGinn, “Ascension and Introversion in the Itinerarium mentis in Deum,” in San Bonaventura: 1274-1974, 5 vol. (Grottaferrata: Quaracchi,1974), III, 535-52. 64 B. Roest, “The discipline of the heart: pedagogies of prayer in Medieval Franciscan Works of Religious Instruction,” in Franciscans at Prayer, ed. by T. Johnson, (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 413-49. 65 See G. Constable, “Twelfth-Century Spirituality and the Late Middle Ages,” in Religious Life and Thought (London: Variorum Reprints, 1979). 62 63

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cesive mystical tradition, will be retrieved and strengthened by the restless spirituality of Petrarch.66 Antonio Montefusco Università La Sapienza, Roma

E. Anheim, “L’individu, l’écriture et la prière. Une lecture de Pétrarque,” in L’individu au Moyen Âge, sous la direction de B. Bedos-Rezak et de D. Iogna-Prat, (Paris: Flammarion, 2007), 187-209. 66