Beatrice of Nazareth in Her Context
1991
First Published
342
Number of Pages
Part of Series
Beatrice of Nazareth (c. 1200–1268) was a Belgian nun, mystic, philosopher, and prioress at Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth who experienced visions of God and described the nature of mystical experience. As a very young child she showed an aptitude for scholarship, and at age seven, upon the death of her mother, her father sent her to live for a year with a group of beguines. The beguines were laywomen in the Low Countries who chose to lead spiritual lives without taking vows at a religious institution. When Beatrice discovered her vocation for monastic life, her father allowed her to enter the Cistercian convent at Bloemendaal. n 1216 Beatrice officially became a novice, and in 1217 she traveled to the convent at Rameya to study with Ida of Nivelles. Under her tutelage Beatrice had her first mystical experience in January 1217. In 1221 she returned to Bloemendaal, where the visions continued, and the esteem with which she was treated troubled this very modest woman. In 1236 she joined the Cistercian community at Nazareth, near Antwerp, where she was made prioress and where she remained until her death. This is Volume 1 of a three volume set.
