https://doi.org/10.25167/sth.6107
This article examines Pierre de Bérulle’s conception of spiritual direction through a close reading of the Memorial (1625), a key text addressed to the superiors of the French Oratory. While spiritual guidance appears throughout Bérulle’s writings, the Memorial offers the most systematic expression of his mature understanding of this ministry. Situating the text within the context of seventeenth-century ecclesial reform, the study highlights the decisive influence of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite on Bérulle’s theology of mediation, hierarchy, and holiness. Spiritual direction is presented as an ars artium, entrusted primarily to the priesthood and structured according to the Dionysian triad of purification, illumination, and perfection. Rather than a merely juridical function, this mediation involves the communication of grace and the formation of Christ in souls, grounded in the mystery of the Incarnation. The Memorial articulates a coherent synthesis of spiritual direction that integrates Christology, Trinitarian theology, and ecclesiology, and that played a formative role in the development of the French School of Spirituality.
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