The French School Of Spirituality

Paper Summary:

According to this paper, in the Roman Catholic tradition, schools of thought develop on the basis on their understanding and articulation of the common teachings of the faith including repentance, prayer, meditation on scripture and devotion to the sacraments. This paper examines the French School, also known as the Berulle School, which focused on the intersection between human experience and divine mystery and tried to unlock the meaning of humanity and indicate why French mystics had such a concentrated fascination for the mystery of the Incarnation. In addition, to examining the French School, the paper also examines it's influence on theologians and other religious figures including Francis Libermann.

From the Paper:

"These four men were all related in thought although there existed perceptible differences between them. On the whole, the paths they offered to Christians were more rugged than earlier paths. They certainly did not imply, as some Protestants and Jansenists did, the wholesale condemnation of human nature. But they also knew that man, whose greatness they did not fail to recognize, was steeped in weakness and misery--'the glory and the outcast of the universe,' said Pascal, who was a follower of Berulle. Cardinal Berulle stated the fundamental definition in these incomparable words: 'What is man? A mere nothing, capable of reaching God!' All the masters of the French School developed this belief according to their individual genius. Nothingness--that is man's condition; to rise from it Berulle advised him to adore, so that he might lift himself up towards God . Condren says man must get the measure of his weakness, the pit-less darkness from which God drew him by creation. Olier counseled him to become conscious of his sinful state."

Sample of Sources Used:

• The French School of Spirituality: http://www.ewtn.com/library/Montfort/Handbook/Frenchs.htm
• Daniel A. Helminiak: Catholicism's Spiritual Limbo: A Shift in "Incarnational" Spirituality http://www.spiritualitytoday.org/spir2day/873944helminiak.html
• Bernard Tenailleau, "Father Libermann's Spirituality," Spiritans Today 4 (1985): 49-76
• Jordan Aumann, Christian Spirituality in the Catholic Tradition (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1985), p. 218.

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