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 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) De 14 gradibus amoris gratiosi (Latin)¹²De [12/10] gradibus humilitatis (Latin)¹³Grases de vera penitentia (Provençal)¹⁴Modus quomodo quilibet potest referre gratias Deo de Beneficiis ab eo receptis (Provençal¹⁵ and Latin¹⁶) Brevis monitio ad amorem Dei obtinendum (Latin)¹⁷Remedia contra temptationes spirituales (Provençal¹⁸ and Latin¹⁹) De 7 sentimentis Christi Jhesu (Latin)²⁰ Tractatus de 7 tentationibus (Latin)²¹Tractatulus 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 inter-communication 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, 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...