Mysticism is usually associated with the occult or eastern religions today, but Christianity had a number of mystics. Indeed, the monastic system was ideally designed to allow such mystics to exist.
SAINT BENEDICT
The father of western monasticism was St Benedict. Born about 480, he was sent to Rome for an education but was horrified by its decadence. At age 14 he fled to a village called Subiaco where he met a monk who took him to a cave.
Over the next three years he lived ass a hermit and developed miraculous powers from deep meditation. Going on to gain many followers, he organised 12 monasteries of 12 monks, each under a prior. In 525 he went to Monte Casino where he destroyed the pagan temple there and began to build the famous monastery.
Going about the country curing the sick, he also wrote ‘The Rule,’ laying down the guidelines for monastic life, including a probationary year, obedience to an abbot, asceticism and a life of work and prayer.
He described his mystical experiences as a taste of heavenly food following a flood of shining light. Seeing the whole world before his eyes, he could look down from above and see how small everything was.
ST HILDEGARD OF BINGEN
Another early mystic was St Hildegard of Bingen, born to a noble German family near Bingen in 1098. Influenced by local Celtic traditions, she had visions from an early age before being educated by Benedictines from age eight.
A prioress by 38, she was often ill and became an early feminist, believing in gender equality and even downplaying Eve’s role in the Fall. From her early 40s she began having illuminations about God, the soul and the interconnectedness of the universe.
Advising, in her ‘Scivias’, that all living things are sparks of radiance from God, she records 26 ‘illuminations’. With an interest in science and love of music, she travelled throughout Europe denouncing corruption and criticising monotheistic faiths as dried up, even celebrating human sexuality. She died in 1179 in her eighties.
JULIAN OF NORWICH
Julian of Norwich was an English mystic born about 1342. In her work, ‘The Revelation of Divine Love’, we read that in her youth she asked God for a severe illness to purge herself of worldly desires, as well as a vision of the Passion of Christ.
When she was 31 she fell gravely ill, prompting a number of visions. She described in one how she saw God in a twinkling of an eye. Propped up so she could gaze on a crucifix, she saw the crucified Christ. Then her chamber filled with blood before being grasped by the throat by the Devil, the damned all about her. Then she saw a cathedral on a mountaintop with Christ on a throne.
For the next 20 years she became a hermit within a convent to contemplate her visions, deciding that faith consisted of God’s love for his elect, and the soul’s need to return that love. Her revelation drew people to her, and she gained a reputation as a healer. When she died is unknown.
ST TERESA OF AVILA
A further Christian mystic worthy of mention is St Teresa of Avila, born in 1515 to a noble family near Avila in Castille. Her mother died when she was 15 and shortly after she became ill, beginning a series of illnesses that would plague her throughout her life.
At 20 she left home against her father’s wishes and became a nun. Due to improper care she experienced a coma for three days and upon recovery began intense daily meditations. In 1555 she began having visions. Many more were to follow.
She called them a ‘delectable death’ and included terrifying visions of hell. St Teresa classed the visions as the soul lifted out of the body and becoming awake to God. Writing a number of books about her visions, she claimed to experience a spiritual marriage with Christ. Going on to found some 17 convents, she died in 1582.
IN CONCLUSION
It was natural that the monastic system would create such mystics, and in their visions we can see many classic elements of the mystical experience, from symbolism of the Divine, to a feeling of Oneness with everything.
The Church itself was often suspicious of such mystics. After all, Christianity was based on the idea that ‘oneness’ with God could not come until death. In this way, Christianity demanded good Christian obedience in life so as to deserve heaven rather than hell.
Of course, it would have been inappropriate to take action against such obviously ‘good’ Christians, so they were given a special category by being blessed. But it is important to note, had such experiences been admitted by ‘normal’ people, the Inquisition and death would be the result, for they would have been possessed by the Devil.
© Anthony North, August 2007
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