Jan van Ruysbroeck

Jan van Ruysbroeck (1293-1381), Flemish Roman Catholic mystic, born in Ruisbroek (in what is now Belgium), near Brussels. He was vicar of Saint Gudules in Brussels; afterward he founded (1349) and became prior of the religious community at Groenendaal, near Waterloo. His mysticism, expressed with consummate lucidity and grace in his writings, gained him the title of the Ecstatic Doctor; these writings were read widely through much of Europe into the 16th century.

Among those whose work Ruysbroeck influenced directly were the Dutch preacher and religious reformer Gerhard Groote and the German mystic Johannes Tauler. Written in Middle Flemish, his books were published in Latin in 1552, in German in 1701, and in English in 1934; his masterpiece was translated (1952) as The Spiritual Espousals. Ruysbroeck was beatified by Pope Pius X in 1908. His feast day is December 2.