¶ JACQUES LEFÈVRE TO HIS DEAR RAYMOND, GREETINGS.

Peter? original: "Petrus." This marginal note appears to be a name, possibly a reader or owner's mark. A small sketch of a manicule (pointing hand) towards the text

Decorative woodcut initial 'C' containing a stag standing amidst stylized foliage.Since every state of the particular religious ordersoriginal: "religionum." Here referring specifically to monastic and mendicant orders like the Carthusians or Celestines rather than "religions" in the modern global sense., dearest Raymond, is a certain flight from the world and an approach to things beyond the world—a forsaking of the many and the divided, and a clinging to the One—it follows that each order possesses as much truth as it cleaves to things beyond the world, and to that One which is above all oneness. In this union and cleaving consists true contemplation and the sweetest fruit of the contemplative life. This fruit is known by few, as it is achieved not without secret infusionsoriginal: "immissionibus." In mystical theology, this refers to the "pouring in" of divine grace or knowledge directly into the soul. and divine visitations. Through these, as far as is permitted to mortal man, the spiritual state is unveiled.

For the blessed souls who have already cast off the garment of mortality live the spiritual state perfectly; those, however, who have not yet cast it off can indeed live in it, but not yet perfectly—not of themselves, but through a certain divine arrival. "I go," says the Savior, "and I come to you" original: "Vado... & venio ad vos." A reference to the Gospel of John 14:18 or 14:28, often interpreted by mystics as the internal "coming" of Christ to the soul.. And I believe there is no particular religious order in which there are not, or have not been, some who have perceived something of this sweetness, especially those that are more solitary, withdrawn, and strict.

Therefore, I would not believe the CarthusiansA monastic order known for extreme solitude and silence, founded by St. Bruno in 1084. and CelestinesA branch of the Benedictines founded by Peter of Morrone (later Pope Celestine V) that emphasized asceticism. to hold the lowest places in this sublimity of the contemplative life; and rightly so, both because of their greater solitude and the strictness of their life, and because of their most watchful providence in defending their state from falling away. On this account, they also love the books of contemplative men most of all. This is not because books make contemplatives most perfect, but because they prepare and incite beginners; God, however, completes the rest. For in a higher way, a heavenly ray and a certain divine encounter make men contemplatives.

Nevertheless, the Celestines of Lefèvre lists several monastic houses in France. Mantes, Sens, Marcoussis, and Paris, and the Carthusians of Saint-Omer, Mont-Dieu, Bourgfontaine, and the "Green Valley" of the Parisian solitude original: "vallis viridis." Referring to the Carthusian monastery of Vauvert in Paris, located near the current Jardin du Luxembourg., have frequently shared most of these kinds of books with us, and they continue to share them most kindly every day as need requires; among whom...