Life of Michael of St. Augustine (1622–1684)
Jan van Ballaert was born on April 15, 1622, in Brussels. He received his education at an excellent school run by the Augustinians and, after finishing, entered the Carmel on October 14, 1640, where he took the religious name Michael of St. Augustine. At barely twenty-five, he became a lecturer in philosophy in Ghent, where he met Marie Petyt, who was still a year younger than him. Their relationship became one of the greatest mystical friendships of the 17th century.
Shortly thereafter, Michael was entrusted with various offices that required him to leave Ghent. Therefore, Marie Petyt maintained written contact with her spiritual director. In letters, at his request, she sent him detailed accounts of her mystical experiences. The texts collected in this way were published by Michael in 1683 in two volumes under the title The Life of the Venerable Mother Marie of St. Teresa (1).
Throughout his religious life, Michael held various offices; he was a novice master, councilor, prior of several monasteries, and three times provincial. He worked to promote the Tournai reform in the Belgian convents and sought to give this contemplative spirituality new impulses.
In his books, he discusses the inner journey of the mystical person with its heights and depths and repeatedly warns against hidden forms of self-love and selfishness. He encourages overcoming them because only in this way can the soul unite with its God in simplicity and freedom.
The theme of spiritual poverty is described using the terminology of Northern mysticism: a person must rest in God without wanting, without knowing, without understanding, without feeling. He should desire nothing, own nothing, nothing earthly, nothing heavenly... Spiritual poverty and complete inner self-denial enable the soul to love God not for His gifts or attributes but simply for Him alone. Only when the soul is capable of this can it be existentially and immediately united with God.
This self-denial, however, should occur “suaviter” – gently, without violence to the spirit and without overemphasis on the intellect. It is a game of love between God and man, and Michael describes it using images from the Song of Songs. The reality of this love then manifests itself in the mystic's everyday life. An inner experience of God's love, felt in the solitude and silence of prayer, cannot remain closed within itself, but inevitably leads to selfless love for creatures. What is most characteristic of Carmel is – in Michael's understanding – the fusion of contemplative and active life, the connection of Mary and Martha.
(1) Marie Petyt was a Carmelite tertiary with the religious name Marie of St. Teresa.
Excerpt from the book: Tanz der göttlichen Liebe
Published by: Elisabeth Hense, T.OCarm.
Released by the publisher: Herder, 1991
Translated and edited by: Norbert Žuška, OCarm.
