The Third Spiritual Alphabet: a prelude to modern Spanish mysticism

Abstract

The article presents selected elements of the mysticism of Francisco de Osuna, a 16th-century Spanish mystical writer. His most important work is The Third Spiritual Alphabet. This lengthy, symbolic, and biblically rhetorical work was an original attempt to create a new method of mystical recogimiento, which can be translated as “gathering” or “concentration.” This paper attempts to organize the categories of mysticism and provide selected examples of the Spanish writer’s mystical method and metaphors used in the The Third Alphabet. The main goal of the author’s reflections was to achieve spiritual perfection, which was to be achieved through practice rather than theological speculation. Although Osuna’s mysticism was officially in line with the orthodoxy of the time, it was also accused of having links with the heretical alumbrados (enlightened ones) movement. This article argues that Osuna’s mysticism anticipated later mystical practices and metaphors in further Spanish mysticism, especially in the works of John of the Cross and Miguel de Molinos.