Beatrice of Nazareth

Infobox Saint
name=Beatrice of Nazareth
birth_date= c. 1200
death_date=1268
feast_day=July 29
venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church


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birth_place= Tienen
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titles= Blessed Beatrix
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Beatrice of Nazareth (Dutch: Beatrijs van Nazareth (1200 Tienen – 1268) was a Flemish Cistercian nun. She was the very first prose writer using the Dutch language, a mystic, and the author of the notable Dutch prose dissertation known as the "Seven Ways of Holy Love". She was also the first prioress of the Abbey of Our Lady of Nazareth in Nazareth near Lier in Brabant.

The "Seven Ways of Holy Love" ("Seven Manieren van Heilige Minnen", or "Seven Manners of Holy Love") is early mystic literature that describes seven stages of love, as it is purified and transformed, before it can return to God. It has a simple and balanced prose style. [Miejer (1992:16-17).]

Beatrice was also known as a Roman Catholic saint, Blessed Beatrix. She came of a wealthy family, but when her mother died she was sent to become a nun. At the age of seven she went to live with the Béguines. She afterwards joined the Cistercian nuns at Bloemendaal/Florival where she was sent to commence the new foundation at Nazareth, Belgium.

She practised very severe austerities, wearing a girdle of thorns and compressing her body with cords. In her visions, Jesus is said to have appeared to her and to have pierced her heart with a fiery dart. She died in 1268 and was buried at the convent of Nazareth. Her devotion to the Eucharist resulted in bleeding and physical collapse. [cite web | last = Knuth | first = Elizabeth T. | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 1992 | url = http://www.users.csbsju.edu/~eknuth/xpxx/beguines.html | title = The Beguines | work = | publisher = | accessdate = 2006-04-10]

After Nazareth was abandoned during a time of disturbance, the body of Beatrice was believed to have been translated by angels to Lier. Her feast day is 29 July. Her biography is recorded by Chrysostomus Henriquez in "Lilia Cistercii, the origins, lives and deeds of the holy virgins of Cîteaux" (Douai 1633).

External links

* [http://home.infionline.net/%7Eddisse/beatrijs.html Beatrijs of Nazareth]
* [http://www.cns.bu.edu/~satra/kaatvds/beatricelife.htm Beatrice] Belgian university web page of Beatrice's life
* [http://www.sofiatopia.org/equiaeon/7ways.htm Translation of the "Seven Ways of Holy Love"] - Translated by Wim van den Dungen.
* [http://www.sofiatopia.org/equiaeon/nkm.htm Kennis en Minne-mystiek]

References

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* Meijer, Reinder. "Literature of the Low Countries: A Short History of Dutch Literature in the Netherlands and Belgium." New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1971. pp. 16-17.
*catholic

Further reading

* Beatrice of Nazareth, "Seven Ways of Holy Love", as translated by Wim van den Dungen, (1997, 1998, 2006) [http://www.sofiatopia.org/equiaeon/7ways.htm]
*Chrysostomus Henriquez, "Lilia Cistercii, the origins, lives and deeds of the holy virgins of Cîteaux" (Douai 1633).