Introduction

Author’s preface to the English edition

We are happy to have an English translation of this book in which our purpose was to establish, according to the principles formulated by St. Thomas Aquinas and St. John of the Cross, that Christian perfection consists especially in charity according to the plenitude of the two great precepts: “Thou shall love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind: and thy neighbor as thyself * (Luke 10 • 27). We also show that infused contemplation of the mysteries of faith, the mysteries of the Blessed Trinity present in us, of the redeeming incarnation, of the cross, of the Eucharist, sacrament and sacrifice, is in the normal way of sanctity. This contemplation proceeds from faith illumined by the gifts of understanding and wisdom, which are in all the just; that is, from living faith, which has become penetrating and sweet.

This view of perfection is by no means something novel. The number of theologians who of late consider it as traditional has increased notably. This doctrine seems to us the theological commentary of our Savior’s words: “If any man thirst, let him come to Me, and drink. . . . Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 5 : 37 f,). All are invited to drink from the fountain of living water, as St. Catherine of Siena says in her Dialogue (chap. 53); the only condition laid down for reaching the fountain is a true thirst for virtue, the honor of God, and the salvation of souls.

fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.

The works and reputation of the great Dominican theologian, Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, are already well known to American readers. Two of his outstanding contributions to theological literature have been translated and published within the last two years.

It is the earnest wish of the translator of this volume on mystical theology to make accessible to souls eager for instruction the treasures of light so marvelously organized and synthesized by Father Garrigou-Lagrange, and also to offer them his encouragement to “seek the things that are above.”

The translator is deeply indebted to the Very Reverend Peter O’Brien, O.P., and to the Very Reverend Norbert Georges, O.P., prior and subprior respectively of the Dominican House of Studies in River Forest, Illinois, who kindly read the manuscript and gave invaluable assistance. She wishes also to acknowledge the help of the Reverend H. J. Schroeder, O.P., and of the members of the Department of English of Rosary College.

For the courtesy of permission to use quotations from their publications, she is indebted to the Benedictines of Stanbrook, to Thomas Baker of London, and to Houghton Mifflin Company. She acknowledges the permission of Burns, Oates and Washbourne to use quotations from their publications, especially from the Summa theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, and of The Macmillan Company for quotations from The Imitation of Christ .

The translator will feel amply repaid if this volume opens up a new perspective and a wider spiritual horizon to even one soul.

Sister M. Timothea Doyle, O.P.

Rosary College

Feast of St. Catherine of Siena, 1937 vii

ARCHBISHOP’S HOUSE 5418 Moeller Avenue

The learned author of Perfection chretienne et contemplation, Father Garrigou-Lagrange, needs no introduction. His works in philosophy and theology have given him wide renown. Sister Timothea’s translation, Christian Perfection and Contemplation, makes available to English readers a valuable treatise on ascetical and mystical theology which is clearly expounded and is solid in doctrine. The author gives reasonable attention to the historical and traditional aspects of the questions treated. He wisely chooses as his guides the great teachers of ascetical and mystical theology, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. John of the Cross, St. Francis de Sales, and St. Teresa of Avila.

Sister Timothea, while faithfully adhering to the French text, has given us a smooth, idiomatic translation in which little, if any, of the clarity and charm of the original is lost.

Everyone is called to advance in the way of perfection according to his state of life. Ascetical and mystical theology, as Father Garrigou-Lagrange remarks, is the application of moral theology, as expounded by St. Thomas, in directing souls to an ever closer union with God. Too many imagine" that ascetical and mystical theology is for the select few. They therefore wrongly think that it is confined to priests, religious, and a few chosen souls in the world.

The appearance of Father Garrigou-Lagrange’s work in English should not only aid greatly in dispelling this false idea but should, we trust, lead many souls to a higher state ix

X

LETTER OF ARCHBISHOP McNICHOLAS of perfection and to a closer union with God. It should find a place in the library of every priest and seminarian, in the libraries of sisters’ convents, and in homes where there is Catholic reading. May Christian Perfection and Contemplation awaken in many an appreciation of the higher things of the spiritual life.

John T. McNicholas Archbishop of Cincinnati

Introduction

This work is based on the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas and of St. John of the Cross. St. Thomas, “Doctor Communis” as he is called in Pius XI’s encyclical Studiorum ducem, is preeminent among theologians because he attained to the heights of acquired and infused wisdom. To explain the secrets of this twofold wisdom, he received in a very high degree the special grace which St. Paul calls sermo sapientiae. By acquired wisdom he marvelously synthesized the knowledge of the philosopher and that of the theologian, and the gift of wisdom raised him to the highest degree of infused contemplation. Often accompanied by ecstasy and the gift of tears, it taught him what human language could not express. It was this infused contemplation which prevented him from dictating the end of the Summa theologica; what he could put in words seemed to him only straw in comparison with what he beheld. 1

The encyclical Studiorum ducem, by presenting St. Thomas to us as the undisputed master of dogmatic and moral theology, and also of ascetical and mystical theology, draws particular attention to a beautiful doctrine, which we have developed at length in this book (chaps. 4-6), namely, that the precept of the love of God has no limit and that the perfection of charity falls under this precept, not, of course, as something to be realized immediately, but as the end toward which every Christian must tend according to his condition. 2

1 See his Life by Guillaume de Tocco; also the Bollandists, March 7. Cf. the recent work of Father Petitot, O.P.: Saint Thomas d'Aquin, la vocation, Vceuvre, la vie spirituelle, 1923.

2 Encyclical Studiorum ducem , June 29, 1923: “Haec igitur a Deo delapsa seu infusa sapienda, ceteris comitata donis Sancti Spiritus, perpetuum in a

St. Francis de Sales taught the same doctrine, which has often been misunderstood, although it was clearly formulated by the fathers of the Church, in particular by St Augustine. 8

St. Thomas, in his treatise on the infused vir tues and the gifts of the Holy Ghost, sets forth particularly their nature and properties. St. John of the Cross explains the various phases of their progress, up to their perfect development. Among spiritual authors, we have taken him as our guide: (1) He is certainly one of the greatest Catholic mystics. (2) He is canonized, and his doctrine, which underwent the test of criticism and was examined by the Church, is perfectly sound. (3) Coming as he did in the sixteenth century, he benefited by all the earlier tradition, especially by the works of St. Teresa, which

Thoma accepit incrementum, aeque ac caritas, omnium domina et regina virtutum. Etenim ilia huic erat certissima doctrina, amorem Dei numquam non oportere crescere ‘ex ipsa forma praecepti: Diliges Dominum tuum ex toto corde tuo; totum enim et perfectum idem sunt. . , . Finis praecepti caritas est, ut Apostolus dicit, I Tim. 1:5; in fine autem non adhibetur aliqua mensura, sed solum in his quae sunt ad finem’ (Ila Ilae, q. 184, a.3). Quae ipsa est causa quare sub praeceptum perfectio caritatis cadet tanquam illud quo omnes pro sua quisque conditione niti debent. . . . Itaque praeceptum de amore Dei quam late pateat, caritas eique adjuncta dona Sancti Spiritus quomodo crescant, multiplices vitae status, ut perfectionis, ut religjosorum, ut apostolatus, quid inter se differant et quae cujusque natura visque sit, haec et talia asceticae mysticaeque theologiae capita si quis pernosse volet, is Angelicum in primis Doctorem adeat oportebit.”

8 The encyclical written by Pope Pius XI for the third centenary of St. Francis de Sales, January 26, 1923, calls attention to this doctrine in the following terms: “Christ constituted the Church holy and the source of holiness, and all those who take her for guide and teacher must, according to the divine will, aim at holiness of life: ‘This is the will of God/ says St. Paul, ‘your sanctification/ What type of sanctity is meant? Our Lord Himself explains it in the following manner: ‘Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ Let no one think that this invitation is addressed to a small, very select number and that all others are permitted to remain in a lower degree of virtue. As is evident, this law obliges absolutely everybody without exception. Moreover, all who reach the summit of Christian perfection, and their name is legion, of every age and class, according to the testimony of history, all have experienced the same weaknesses of nature and have known the same dangers. St. Augustine puts the matter clearly when he says: ‘God does not command the impossible, but in giving the commandment. He admonishes us to accomplish what we can according to our strength, and to ask aid to accomplish whatever exceeds our strength/ ” Concerning this doctrine, see St. Francis de Sales, Treatise on the Love of God , Bk. Ill, chap. 1.

he knew thoroughly and explained by connecting the mystical states she experienced and described with the supernatural principles from which they proceeded; especially with the theological virtues and with the gifts of the Holy Ghost, which had attained their full development in her. Thus he goes beyond even St. Teresa and as a theologian treats very lofty problems on which she wrote but little. In so doing, he unites the data of descriptive mysticism and the speculative theology of the virtues and gifts. (4) St. John of the Cross, like all Carmelite theologians, is fully in accord with St. Thomas on the great questions of predestination and grace. 4

The doctrine of these teachers is the safe expression of tradition, as we shall see by comparing it with that of the doctors who preceded them and of those who followed them.

Our aim is to explain the unitive way, that we may lead souls to aspire to it, and may encourage them to make generous efforts to attain it.

Some persons talk about mysticism, but misunderstand it and abuse it. These persons must be enlightened by the sound teaching of theology. Others, far greater in number, are altogether ignorant of mysticism and apparently wish to remain so. They rely only on their own efforts, aided by ordinary grace; consequently they aim only at common virtues, and do not tend to perfection which they consider too lofty. Hence religious and priestly lives, which might be very fruitful, do not pass beyond a certain mediocrity that is often due, at least in part, to their early imperfect training and to inexact ideas about the union with God to which every Christian can and must aspire.

Some, who should be well acquainted with the writings of the great saints, rarely consult them, under the pretext that their teaching on mysticism is beyond reach, that it leads to divergent interpretations, and that according to several theo-

4 Following the example of St. Thomas, he distinguishes infused contentplation from the extraordinary phenomena that sometimes accompany it.

logians it is not possible as yet to determine in what their teaching consists, even along broad lines, and in particular on this fundamental question: Is the contemplation, which they speak of, in the normal way of sanctity or not?

Consequently in the matter of mystical theology a certain agnosticism exists, just as there is an agnosticism which maintains that true miracles cannot be discerned because not all the laws of nature are known, and that one cannot rely on the Scriptures because certain obscure passages of the Old and New Testaments have not been fully elucidated. We believe that this agnosticism about mystical theology is false, that it can do no good, and that it ends disastrously.

The teaching of St. Thomas and of St. John of the Cross on this problem seems very clear to us. If these great masters had left this important problem unsolved, the very elements of mystical theology would still have to be constituted.

Pope Benedict XV congratulated the editor of La vie spirituelle for making this doctrine known, and wrote to him as follows (September 15, 1921) : "In our day many neglect the supernatural life and cultivate in its place an inconsistent and vague sentimentalism. Hence it is absolutely necessary to recall more often what the fathers of the Church, together with Holy Scripture, have taught us on the subject, and to do so by taking St. Thomas Aquinas especially as our guide, because he has so clearly set forth their doctrine on the elevation of the supernatural life. We must also earnestly draw the attention of souls to the conditions required for the progress of the grace of the virtues and of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, the perfect development of which is found in the mystical life. This is exactly what you and your collaborators have undertaken in your review, in a manner at once learned and solid.”

In the delicate questions that we have had to consider, in combating an error, it is not always easy to avoid alining oneself with the contrary error, and to formulate the doctrine which rises above these opposing deviations and which is a just mean only because it is a summit. If we have inadvertently employed any inexact expressions in this study, we retract them here and now, and declare that we reject all spirituality that deviates ever so little from that of the saints, which has been approved by Holy Church. That is why, as a rule, we have quoted only canonized mystics whose teaching is commonly received.

Our conclusions may be summed up in the table on the following page. 5

This table gives some idea of the progress of doctrine on this subject from St. Augustine to St. Teresa, passing as it does from the general to the particular. St. Augustine made a distinction between the beginners, the proficients, and the perfect, a classification which, according to the terminology of Dionysius, corresponds to the purgative, illuminative, and unitive ways. St. Thomas several tunes in Kiswritings noted the corresponding progress of the virtues and the gifts, which are the principle of supernatural acts, in particular the degrees of humility. 6 The passive purifications of the senses and of the spirit indicated by St. Gregory the Great were described by Tauler and especially by St. John of the Cross. The latter tells us 7 that in the passive purification of the senses “God begins to communicate Himself no longe r by the senses a s formerly, by means of reasoning . . . but in a manner purely spiritual, in an act of s imple con templation.” Evidently we are here considering qinfused contemplation^ as the saint already declared. 8 We can understand why St. John says: “The proficients are in the illuminative way. It is therein God nourishes and fortifies the soul by infused contemplation.” 9 s This table differs slightly from that published by Father Gerest, O.P., in his excellent little Memento de la vie spirituelle, 1922, in which he expresses the ideas which we hold in common, and according to which he revised the work of Father Meynard, O.P., Traits de la vie intirieure .

e See Ha Ilae, q.161, a.6.

7 The Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. I, chap. 9, 3d sign.

8 The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 13.

fl The Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. I, chap. 14.

Beginners

Proficients

Perfect

$

<J <J

Q

(purgative way) Ascetical life

(illuminative way) Threshold of the mystical life

(unitive way) Mystical life

Virtues

Initial virtues, first degree of charity, temperance, chastity, patience, first degrees of humility.

Solid virtues, second degree of charity, obedience, more profound humility; spirit of the counsels.

Eminent and heroic virtues, third degree of charity, perfect humility, great spirit of faith, abandonment, almost unalterable patience.

Gifts

Gifts of the Holy Ghost rather latent, inspirations at rare intervals, slight aptitude as yet to profit by them, feeble docility. The soul is above all conscious of its activity.

The gifts of the Holy Ghost begin to manifest themselves, especially the three inferior gifts of fear, knowledge, and piety. The soul, more docile now, profits more from inspirations and interior illuminations.

The superior gifts manifest themselves more notably and in a frequent manner. The soul is, as it were, dominated by the Holy Ghost. Great passivity, which does not exclude the activity of the virtues.

Purifications

Active purification of the senses and of the spirit, or exterior and interior mortification.

Passive purification of the senses, under the influence especially of the gifts of fear and knowledge. Concomitant trials.

Purification of the spirit under the influence especially of the gift of understanding. Concomitant trials in which are manifested the gifts of fortitude and of counsel.

Acquired prayer: vocal prayer, discursive prayer, affective prayer, which becomes more and more simple, called the acquired prayer of recollection.

Initial infused prayer, isolated acts of infused contemplation in the course of the acquired prayer of recollection; then, prayer of supernatural recollection and of quiet; manifest influence of the gift of piety.

Infused prayers of simple union, of complete union (sometimes ecstatic), of transforming union, under the more and more marked influence of the gift of wisdom. Concomitant favors.

Mansions f St. Tersea

First and second mansions.

Third and fourth mansions.

Fifth, sixth, and seventh mansions.

o

In another place he says: “The passive purification of the senses is common. It takes place in the greater number of beginners.” 10 It is indeed the threshold of the mystical life, like the prayer of supernatural recollection described by St. Teresa. 11 This prayer is often preceded by isolated acts of infused contemplation in the course of the acquired prayer of recollection described by the saint. 12 In the illuminative way, the gifts of fear and of knowledge are clearly manifested (passive purification of the senses in which one recognizes the emptiness of created things) and also the gift of piety (quiet of the will in which this gift is found).

In this approximate table, we consider the ideal soul in an abstract manner. The illuminative and unitive ways are therein considered, not only in their imperfect form but in their plenitude, in the same way as they are considered by St. John of the Cross, who is a faithful echo of tradition.

This lofty perfection is that described by St. Augustine and St. Gregory; the perfection to which the twelve degrees of humility enumerated by St. Benedict or the seven degrees counseled by St. Anselm lead: (1) to acknowledge ourselves contemptible; (2) to grieve on account of this; (3) to admit that we are so; (4) to wish our neighbor to believe it; (5) patiently to endure people saying it; (6) willingly to be treated as a person worthy of contempt; (7) to love to be treated in this fashion. 18

This great conception of Christian perfection and of the illuminative and unitive ways is the only one which seems to us to preserve all the grandeur of the Gospel and of the Epistles of St. John and St. Paul.

As we have just said, the precept of love knows no limit. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with all thy strength and with all thy

10 Ibid., chap. 8.

11 The Interior Castle, fourth mansion, chap. 3.

12 The Way of Perfection, chap. 28.

1* See the explanation of these degrees of humility in St. Thomas, Ha Ilae, q.161, a.6.

B mind; and thy neighbor as thyself/' 14 Christ adds for all of us: “Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect”; 15 and the whole Sermon on the Mount, which begins with the beatitudes, is a sort of commentary on this exhortation. To raise us to this perfection, “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, . . . and of His fulness we all have received.” 16 The life of grace, which has been given to us, is the seed of the life of heaven, and is the same life in its essence. “Amen, amen I say unto you: He that believeth in Me, hath everlasting life.” 17 The contemplation of the mysteries of Christ's life will be given to those who follow Him faithfully. “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father. And I will love him, and I will manifest Myself to him.” 18 “I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you forever. . . . The Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you.” 19

Love of neighbor, too, must go far. “A new commandment I give unto you: that you love one another, as I have loved you.” 20 “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” 21

Our Savior, to make us understand in what the perfection of charity consists, prayed for us thus: “Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, whom Thou hast given Me; that they may be one, as We also are. ... And the glory which Thou hast given Me, I have given to them; that they may be one, as We also are one.” 22

14 Luke 10: 27.

is Matt. 5: 48.

1® John 1: 14, 16.

17 John 6 : 47; 8: 51.

i® John 14: 21.

is John 14: 16, 26.

20 John 13: 34.

21 John 15: 13.

22 John 17: 11, 22.

St. Matthew’s Gospel is not less sublime when it recalls these words of Christ: “I confess to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones.” 28

Lastly, St. Paul shows us all that the mystical body of Christ is and should be; how the Christian must be incorporated into Christ by a progressive sanctification, which gives a very broad idea of the three phases distinguished later on.

The purgative way. Incorporated in Christ, the faithful must orient their lives toward heaven and die more and more to sin. “Mortify therefore your members which are upon earth . . . stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds.” 24 “For we are buried together with Him by baptism unto death. . . . For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin may be destroyed to the end that we may serve sin no longer.” 26 “And they that are Christ’s have crucified their flesh with the vices and concupiscences.” 26 Moreover, the Apostles bore in their bodies “the mortification of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in their bodies.” 27 He who sacrifices his life, finds it again transfigured. “Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” 28

The illuminative way is also indicated by St. Paul, when he tells us that the Christian, by the light of faith and under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, must put “on the new, him who is renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of Him that created him. . . . Put ye on therefore, as the elect of

23 Matt. 11: 25.

24 Col. 3: 5, 10.

sc Rom. 6: 4-6; 12: 2. 23 Gal. 5: 24.

27 See II Cor. 4: 10.

28 John 12: 24.

io

God, holy and beloved, the bowels of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience. . . . But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection.” 29 We must imitate Jesus Christ and those who resemble Him; 80 we must have His sentiments, catch the spirit of His mysteries, of His passion, 31 crucifixion, 32 death, burial, 33 resurrection; 34 and ascension. 85 St. Paul, moreover, suffers the pains of labor until Christ be formed in the souls of the faithful, 38 until they be perfectly illuminated by the light of life. “Furthermore, I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ.” 8T The unitive way is that followed by the supematurally enlightened Christian who lives in a union that is, so to speak, continual with Christ. “Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above; where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth. For you are dead (to the world); and your life is hid with Christ in God.” 38 “And let the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts, wherein also you are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you abundantly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing in grace in your hearts to God. All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.” 39 Under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, such is

29 Col. 3: 10, 12, 14; cf. Eph. 4: 1-6; Gal. 2: 9.

so Phil. 2: 5; I Cor. 11: 1.

3 1 Rom. 8: 7.

32 Rom. 6 : 5.

88 Rom. 6: 4-11.

84 Col. 3: 1.

sc Ephes. 2: 6.

so Gal. 4: 19.

87 Phil. 3: 8.

88 Col. 3: 1-4.

89 Col. 3: I5-I7.

indeed union with God, through Christ and the loving and delightful contemplation of the great mysteries of faith. 40 It is the normal prelude to the beatific vision. “When Christ shall appear, who is your life, then you also shall appear with Him in glory.” 41

40 See infra, pp. 311 f., what St. Paul says about the spirit of wisdom.

41 Col. 3: 4.