Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Influence Of The Vita Christi

The rare 1536 printing of the Ludolph of Saxony’s influential Vita Christi. Although virtually unknown to English speakers, 
Ludolph's Vita Christi was an extremely popular devotional work that was widely read during the fifteenth century, and was so influential upon The Imitation of Christ (now attributed to Thomas a Kempis) that authorship of that work has been attributed to Ludolph
It was likewise highly influential upon St. Ignatius of Loyola during his recuperation from injuries received at the battle of Pamplona during 1521-22, as he developed his Spiritual Exercises and the Jesuit Order, and the influence of the Vita Christi may be seen in the similar structure, imagery and themes of the Spiritual Exercises.
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Link (here) to the ebay auction of the 1536 edition of Vita Christi

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