Having now changed his whole nature, he believed that, like the apostle St. Paul, he was called upon to be the agent of some special work in the Church; and there then occurred to him the idea of converting the Saracens to Christianity. Upon this idea he meditated for some time, till a sermon which he heard in the Church of San Francesco, by the Bishop of Mallorca, Don Pedro de Morey, or Morella, convinced him of the good of his cause, and animated him to further efforts. With this end in view, he now parted with all his worldly goods, reserving, however, sufficient for the maintenance of his wife and two children, and determined to leave his country never to return. As a pilgrim, he visited the shrine of our Lady at Montserrat near Barcelona. From thence he sought his way to Santiago de Compostella, in Galicia, and thence back to the shrine of the Holy Apostles at Rome. He then returned to Catalonia, with the intention of proceeding to Paris, in order to study grammar, philosophy, and theology, with a view of carrying out his grand task. He now chanced to meet with S. Raimundo de Peñafort, to whom he confided his project; and under his advice he returned to Palma once more, in order to convince others by his example to follow him; with the permission of his wife, he now took the habit of the Fratres Minores, and led a retired life, devoting all his energies to the study of Arabic. For this purpose he took into his service an Arab slave, who, though a boy, had well-nigh murdered him, because he was beaten by his master for blaspheming against God. The knife which he drew on this occasion passed through the garments of Raymond, and the preservation of his life was reckoned miraculous. Raymond then sought shelter under the roof of the Cistercian monastery surnamed San Real which then stood within a few miles from Palma; but he soon quitted this spot and retired to a cell on the top of a mountain near Manacor, in the s.E. of the island. This mountain, called La Randa, from an Arabic word, meaning a laurel, stands on a lovely spot, overlooking the sea and the plain nearly all round it. It belonged to Raymond's father before him, and is about eight hundred feet in height. Here Raymond led a solitary life, passing his time in the study of natural history and in composing his "Ars Universalis." The object of this book was to express metaphysics in a geometrical form by means of figures, and deduce results by the inexorable form of logic. For the further composition of this work, he descended once more to the monastery of San Real; and while resident there, wrote also the work "De Comtemplatione," or Book of Confessions, both in Lemosine and in Arabic. This work consist of three hundred and sixty-five chapters, corresponding to the days of the year, and was intended by the author to be used as a book of daily meditation. At the same epoch were written the works "De Teologia," "De Filosofia," "De Derecho," ""De Medicina," the "Liber Genutis et trium Sapientium (also written in Arabic), Demostraciones," "De Sancto Spiritu," and many others, too, numerous to be mentioned. 66 During the composition of his Ars, tradition reports that he saw many visions. On one occasion, Jesus Christ appeared to him beforecommencing his work. On another occasion, while meditating on the top of the Randa, the leaves of a rush at his feet seemed to be written over with characters in Greek, Hebrew, Chaldaic; and Arabic; and when Raymond was puzzling over what this could mean, Jesus Christ appeared to him, saying, "These leaves are typical of the countries, where your art shall be known and followed.' On a third occasion he chanced, while meditating on his. book, to see a shepherd-boy standing by him, who instantly took the book from his hands, kissed it, and gave it back to him, telling him that by its means, errors should be confuted throughout the world. Lull was now convinced that he was inspired, and so plainly and naturally does he speak of himself that one cannot believe willingly that he was an impostor. He tells us in one of his poems: 66 Moreover, I announce to you that I bear a general art, which has newly been given to me by a gift from heaven, in order that men may know all natural science, according as the intellect is sensible of it. . . O glorious Lord God! Is there in the world such a form of martyrdom as that which I now undergo? How is it that I cannot serve Thee? and how is it that there is no one to aid me? How can there continue to exist this art that Thou hast given me, from which so much good to mankind can accrue ?" James II., son of the Conqueror, had now, though in his father's lifetime, been declared King of Majorca, Rousillon, and Montpelier. Hearing of the conversion of Raymond, he summoned him to the Royal Court, determined to learn from Raymond himself more exact details of the change that had come over him. Accordingly, full of hope of gaining assistance for his project, he set out for Montpelier, where the King was then residing. The King received him graciously on his arrival, and appointed Bertram de Berengario to examine into his theology. This was fully approved; and Raymond unfolded to the King the project of converting the Saracens, and declared his intention of devoting his whole life to that object. He explained that he hoped to gain their adhesion to Christianity by the incontrovertible force of reason and logic. He thought that a holy crusade might be waged against them, not with the arms of ordinary warfare, but those of reason and the intellect; and by this means he hoped to gain for Christendom the possession of the Holy Sepulchre. He implored the King to do all in his power to assist him; to give his sanction to his undertaking; and, above all, to send men to study with him and assist him on his journeys, and in his preaching and public discussions. The King seemed convinced by the arguments of Raymond, and promised him all the assistance in his power; and so, in A.D. 1275, he founded a college of thirteen fratres minores,and endowed it with a rental of five hundred florins. This establishment settled at Miramar, on Raymond's estate of Mount Randa, in Majorca; and after having received the royal sanction, was subsequently confirmed by a bull from Pope John XXI., signed at Viterbo, on the calends of December, in the first year of his pontificate. At Miramar, then, was Raymond now resident, with thirteen brothers, engaged in the study of Arabic and other foreign languages, that they might be enabled to go and preach to all nations, inducing all whom they could to enter into the fold of the Christian Church. Long after the dissolution of this college, there remained till within the memory of man a chapel dedicated to the Holy Trinity, which occupied the site of Raymond's cell, and which is now destroyed. There is not wanting, however, a tradition that an odour of sanctity hovered over this ruin, such that divine fragrances were distinctly imbibed by the casual visitor, and that no animal of whatever kind, while browsing near, ever dared to enter the sacred spot. During his stay at Miramar, Raymond composed many works in prose and poetry. It is not worth while to mention them all, but we may signalise two written in Arabic, called. "Alchindi" and "Teliph," 1 Desconort, Rosselló, p. 45. demonstrating the falsity of Mohammedanism; the "Libro de la Doctrina del Principe para el Regimen de sa Persona, de sa Palacio, y de sa Reino," a book afterwards studied by King James III. of Majorca, while writing his celebrated "Leyes Palatinas," "El Orden Clerical y Orden de la Caballeria, la Doctrina Pueril," for his son, then thirteen or fourteen years of age; "A Didactic Poem on Logic," now lost; and "Las Horas de la Virgen Maria," in poetry. The best description of Raymond's life at Miramar is to be found in his work entitled "Blanquerna," quoted by St. Rosselló. Under the name of Blanquerna, Raymond alludes to himself: "While Blanquerna was in his hermitage, he got up at midnight, and opening the windows of his cell, set himself to contemplate the heaven and the stars. He then proceeded to pray, with all the devotion that he could feel, that his soul might rest solely in communication with God, and his eyes in tears and mourning. After spending much time in contemplation and weeping, he entered into the church and sounded the bell for matins; and when his deacon came to his assistance, he aided him to perform them, and at daybreak he celebrated mass in a devoted manner, and spoke to his deacon of God, that he might fall in love with God. While both were thus talking of God and His works, they wept together for the great devotion which those reasonings made them feel. The deacon then went to the garden, and employed himself in cultivating the trees that were in it; and Blanquerna, coming out of the church in order to refresh his spirit, already fatigued by the labour that it had undergone, stretched forth his eyes over the mountains and plains. Then, after feeling refreshed, he set to pray and to meditate, and to read the Holy Scriptures, or the grand book of contemplation, and thus he remained till the moment arrived for the hours of terce, sixt, and none. At the conclusion of prayer the deacon dressed some herbs and vegetables, and meanwhile Blanquema directed his steps to the garden, where he employed a few short moments of leisure cultivating some plants, and in this exercise improved his health. He then dined, and immediately entered alone into the temple to manifest to God his gratitude; he then went out into the garden, and passed on to the fountain, or by those spots which gave him most pleasure, giving himself up, later on, to sleep, in order to gain force to sustain the fatigues of the night. When he was awake, he washed his face and hands, prayed vespers with the deacon, and then remained alone, thinking on what pleased him most, and what most disposed him to enter into prayer. At sunset he went up on to the terrace, and there remained in long meditation, with his spirit devoted and his eyes fixed on the heaven and on the stars, discoursing on the greatness of God and the evil ways of men. In this state Blanquerna remained till the hour of the first sleep; and so great was the fervour of his contemplation, that even on his bed he appeared to be in mystical intelligence with the Almighty. Thus passed happily the life of Blanquerna, till the people of the district came to visit with devotion and frequency the altar of the most Holy Trinity of that church, and this interrupted and disturbed the contemplation of Blanquema; but he, not wishing to prevent their coming there, in order not to chill their devotion, transferred his cell to the height of a neighbouring mountain." Another of Raymond's works, the book entitled "Blanquerna de Amico et Amato," gives us some insight into his life. Like the sacre 1 Published at Valencia, 1521, in Lemosine, cap. 195. book of Proverbs, it is written in short sentences. At No. 47 is a description of his solitude. "The friend stayed in solitude under the shade of a certain fair tree; and by that spot there passed men who asked him why he was staying there in solitude? The friend answered them that he was then for the first time alone when he saw and perceived them; for before that he was in the company of his beloved." His stay at the college of Miramar was, however, not long-lived. Why the college was broken up is not quite apparent; but it is more than probable that it was on account of the jealousies and rivalries that were sure to spring up in a small community like that. Hence Raymond determined, in company with some of the friars, to go to Rome, and plead his cause with the Pope. At Rome he was successful, and the result was the mission of five brethren to Tartary. This and the breakingup of Miramar is alluded to in the poem above quoted (Desconort.)' "Hermit, I have already recounted to you, if you have remembered, the means by which God might be more beloved. This is, that the Pope induce many strong men of letters to be willing, for God's sake, to suffer martyrdom, that thus, in all the world, God might be understood and honoured, and to each of each of them the power of language might be revealed, according as was ordained at Miramar (and he knows full well in his heart who caused that to fail), and that they may journey and derive all the graces which the clergy and the bishop possesses, and thus continue till the Holy Sepulchre be taken. A book on this point is already in order." According to Sr. Custurer, who quotes authors of a life of Raymond contemporary with his life, Raymond goes to Rome only to find Honorius IV. just dead. The see remained vacant for ten months and eighteen 1 Stanza 55, Rosselló, p. 350. days, and so, in consequence of matters of greater importance, Raymond was obliged to desist from his undertaking. From hence he passed to Paris, where he read in public his "Ars Generalis." After this, he proceeded to Montpelier, where, accord to Sr. Custurer, he composed many books. Thence to Geneva, where he translated his "Ars Inventiva" into Arabic, and then continued his journey to Rome. Nicholas IV. had by this time succeeded to the pontificate, of whom it is said that, in 1291, he tried to unite the two orders of the Knights Templars and Hospitallers, on account of their dissensions. Raymond seems to have contributed much to this union; he alludes to it in the poem above quoted : "And of the Temple and Hospital, a union was effected, providing that their grandmaster should be king of the Holy Sepulchre, because such conduct as was exhibited does not contribute to the honour of God."2 As nothing could be done at Rome to further his cause, on account of the disturbed state of the Church at that time, Raymond returned to Genoa, in order to proceed from there to Africa. While there he was taken dangerously ill, and his heart seems to have failed him. His friends had deserted him, and he had failed in securing any assistance from foreign courts, although much aid had been promised to him, and he looked forward with despair to the accomplishment of his favourite project. So low did he now become that he received extreme unction from the priest who attended him, and thought that he was on his deathbed. It was not, however, fated to be so, and Raymond began to recover, and with returning health came fresh energies. and fresh resolve. Accordingly, when he was restored to his usual health, he took shipping in the first 2 Ib. st. 56., p. 352. vessel bound to Tunis. When he arrived at Tunis, he began boldly to preach the gospel, and confute the arguments of the Turks; but he was, in consequence, persecuted on all sides, and barely escaped with his life. To this he alludes, not only in his poem above quoted, but also in his book, "Blanquerna de Amico et Amato :" "The friend was seen to be hung up and bound, wounded, and slain, for love of his Beloved. And those who persecuted him asked him, saying, Where is thy Beloved?' But the friend answered, 'See Him here in the multiplication of my loves, and in the suffering which He causes me to undergo in my torments.' The friend came to demand alms at the house-doors, that he might bring before men's notice the love of his Beloved to His servants; and as one day it chanced that they gave him nothing, they asked him if he thought ill of them? He answered 'No; that humility, poverty, patience, are things that are pleasing in the sight of his Beloved.' The friend was in a foreign land, and forgetful of his Beloved, and full of home-sickness, and a longing to return to his house, and his wife, and his children, and his friends. But soon he turned and remembered his Beloved, and prayed to Him to console them, and that the strangeness of his position might not torment him, for the longing and love that he bore towards his Beloved." Sr. Rosselló says that he passed from Tunis to Perpignan and thence to Montpelier; but this could not be, for at the end of the work entitled Tabula Generalis ad Omnes Scientias Applicabilis," Raymond says, "Incepta fuit hæc scientia in mari in portu Tunici, in medio mensis Septembri, anno Incarnationis Domini 1292, et fuit finita in eodem anno prædicto in Octavis Epiphaniæ 1 Ib. 57, No. 52, 282, 365. in civitate Neapolis." That is to say, the book was finished before the recurrence of another September, namely, during the Epiphany of 1293. For some time he stayed at Naples, finishing "De Sexto Sensu id est de Affatu," in 1294, and "Flores Amoris et Intelligentiæ;" and reading his Art till the election of Celestin V. as Pope, in 1294. There is one stanza in the poem "Desconort," which, from the dates alluded to therein, is a little difficult to understand. It runs thus:3 "For wife have I left as well as children and possessions, and thirty years have I stood in labour and anguish, and three times have I been at the court before my monsignors. Moreover, at three general chapters of the order of the Preachers, have I been present, and also at three other general chapters of the Fratres Minores; and if ye only knew all that I have said to kings and nobles and how I have laboured, ye would not hesitate to affirm how bold I have been in the cause, on the contrary ye could feel great sympathy if ye were charitably disposed." In order to reconcile this passage, therefore, Sr. Custurer dates Raymond's conversion at 1265, A.D. Ten years, he says, were then passed in devotion and the study of Arabic, before the College of Miramar was founded, in 1275. Thence the date of this poem cannot be before 1305, when the thirty years mentioned would be completed. If it were written before this date, Raymond could not have been five times at the Court of Rome. St. Rosselló dates the poem at Rome in 1295, or "ten years after Lull had left that city to reside in Paris, Montpelier, Genoa, Tunis, and Naples." If 1295 is the date of the poem, the thirty years alluded to must therefore mean since his conversion in 1265. At the end of the MS. of this poem, in the British and D. Nic. Ant Bibl. Vet. lib. ix. cap. iii. no. 89. 4 Add. 16,431. |