John of St. Samson. The goad, the flames, the arrows, and the mirror of divine love. Spiritual exercises for disposing the soul to love god in himself

Abstract

Mathurinus of Saint Anne, prefaced his edition of the Goad in the Vita, Theoremata et Opuscola published in 1654, by citing Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Luke “there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.” (Lk 8:17). John of Saint-Samson himself opens The Goad with the following words, citing the Ecclesiates: “There is a time to be seen and a time to be hidden (Eccl 3:5), and so I make myself known to you as I am, and as simply as I can, in this exercise.” Hiddenness and revelation; concealment and disclosure; these are related to darkness and light, ignorance and illumination. Jesus’ words, cited by Mathurinus are in fact part of a wider discourse, where Jesus says: “No one lights a lamp and covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he sets it on a stand, so those who enter can see the light.” (Lk 8:16). These words become more powerful when one considers that Jean de Saint-Samson was “caecum ab incunabilis”, as stated in a portrait claiming to be a “vera effiges.” An inscription beneath the engraving published by Donatien de Saint-Nicolas in the edition of the Les Oeuvres spirituelles et mystiques du divin contemplatif F. Jean de Saint-Samson specifies that if Jean was physically blind he was a “Religieux laic, Theologien contemplatif tres illuminè.” The same image is also to be found, albeit without the inscription, in the above cited Vita et Theoremata, and is here reproduced. Mathurinus goes on to state that what was secretly revealed to the blind lay brother who spent his life in solitude and hiddenness, couldn’t remain unnoticed and concealed. Light shines to enlighten the surroundings and in this case, others. Mathurinus argues that the blind brother was enlightened by the Holy Spirit who gifted him with mystical science, and consequently John reflected this light for the benefit of the Church. Jean de Saint-Samson is himself paradoxical. Physically blind but spiritually enlightened; seeker of solitude but a sought master of the spiritual and mystical life, lay brother but teacher. There is a hint of subversion in his paradoxical life, and the text of The Goad is not alien to this subversion. As I argue in a recent study on The Goad, the treatise is in itself subversive as it is guidance imparted by a blind lay brother to the Bishop Antoine Révol, whose institutional role and place in the Church is that of guardian of faith and teacher in the path of discipleship.