This book presents 100 meditations on events in the life of Christ, either as reported in the Gospels or inferred by the pious imagination of the author. Traditionally, this book was paired with St Bonaventure's Meditations on the Passion of Christ and was therefore often mistakenly attributed to him, however it was actually composed by an unknown Franciscan friar early in the 14th century. The early date is itself somewhat surprising, since we have been told over and over that the harnessing of the imagination in the service of piety was an innovation of the devotio moderna of the 15th century Rhineland.
The meditations themselves are both succinct and rich. Most of the commentary comes, not from the anonymous author, but from the writings of St Bernard of Clairvaux, particularly his sermons on the Song of Songs. The arrangement of the material demonstrates a deep sensibility well-formed by practice - but although the placement of short treatises on the active and contemplative life in the center of the book is organically necessary, the decision to place a reflection on the use of the Sacred Humanity as a window into Divinity at the end rather than at the beginning is questionable.
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