Albert Deblaere, S.J. (1916-1994) was an erudite scholar with an original
intellectual and spiritual profile. After having been for a short time a
member of the Ruusbroec Society (Antwerp), he taught for many years at the
Jesuit Theologicum in Heverlee (Louvain) and at the Gregorian University
(Rome). He has had a remarkable impact on his disciples and on the
scientific research of mystical literature. This volume offers a selection
of his articles, in various languages, dealing with the history of
mystical literature and the methodology of the study of those texts, with
the specific mystical terminology and some major spiritual writers, such
as e.g. John of Ruusbroec, Gerlach Peters, Thomas a Kempis and Maria
Petyt. The second part of this volume consists of contributions in memory
of Albert Deblaere by a number of scholars who have been inspired by him:
Joseph Alaerts, Herwig Arts, Johan Bonny, Alvaro Cacciotti, Rob Faesen,
Paul van Geest, Max Huot de Longchamp, Paul Mommaers and Paul Verdeyen.