Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi: Selected Revelations (Classics of Western Spirituality)

In one of the only English translations available, here are the mystical visions of Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi (1566-1606), one of the most original woman mystics of the Renaissance. However, until now she has curiously been neglected by scholars of Christian history and Italian literature alike. Editor and translator Armando Maggi rectifies this in an utterly fascinating volume of the Classics of Western Spiritualityâ„¢.

Soon after entering a convent in Florence, where she spent all of her adult years in strict enclosure, Maria Maddalena experienced visions in which she spoke to the Trinity, in particular to Christ. She did not intend to communicate these to an outside audience, and they were transcribed by her fellow nuns. Maggi offers readers here a selection from the whole corpus of Maria Maddalena's visions as contained in the manuscripts The Forty Days, The Dialogues, Revelations and Knowledge and The Probations. Unlike most other mystical works in the Western tradition Maria Maddalena's visions have a distinctly oral nature.

Maria Maddalena's mysticism lies in her interpretation of oral language. She believed that God wanted her to speak his being, i.e., to utter his being through her voice. The transcriptions of her visions, in all their disorder, theatricality and passion, offer a gripping experience of Christian spirituality. Historians and theologians, especially of the Renaissance, will welcome this outstanding contribution to literature on mysticism and spirituality.