Amelry, Francis
AMELRY, FRANCIS
Carmelite spiritual writer and mystic; b. c. 1498; d. c. 1552. Not much is known of his life except that he held a bachelor's degree in theology and was prior at the Carmel at Ieper. The Index of 1558 mentions a mystery play of his, and he is known to have written about ten spiritual works in which love and its mystical experience is the dominant theme. Two of his tracts, Wat de Liefde Gods can bedrgven (What the Love of God Can Do) and Een Dialogus of Tsame sprekinghe der ziele or De minnende ziel (The Loving Soul), have been transposed from Old Dutch into modern Dutch and are published in the series "Bloemen von One Geestelijk Erf." The first tract is a handbook of the spiritual life. The second work, his masterpiece, has been translated into Latin by Antonius von Hemert (1552) and into other languages. It is a systematic and logical presentation of the stages of love, in seven steps, which describe love's progressively enveloping nature. Although based on sound theology, his mystical doctrine was much influenced by personal experience and is expressed in a mystical, ardent, forceful, analogous style.
Bibliography: a. ampe, Franciscus Amelry, de edele zanger der liefdle (Antwerp 1951). c. janssen, Carmelklius en Carmelwereld (Bussum 1955) 111–112. De katholieke encyclopaedie, ed. p. van der meer et al., 25 v. (Amsterdam 1949–55) 2:187.
[b. cavanaugh]