Denis the Carthusian

Denis the Carthusian (1402–1471), also known as Denys van Leeuwen, Denis Ryckel, Dionysius van Rijkel, Denys le Chartreux (or other combinations of these terms), was a Roman Catholic theologian and mystic.

Portrait of a Carthusian by Petrus Christus; possibly represents Denis the Carthusian (1446)

Quotes

• As for the rational mind, it, too, should die to itself and live to God;
  Not looking for its own rights,
  Nor for promotion,
  Nor any of the prizes of this world.
  And let it not be turned back on itself,
  But totally turned to God.
  • Denis the Carthusian, Gifts of the Holy Spirit, trans. Ide M. Ni Riain (Dublin: The Columba Press, 2013), 61-62.

• God, who is the Prince of Wisdom,
  Is of himself ever ready
  To communicate to all created minds
  The overflowing rays of his supernal Wisdom.
  • Denis the Carthusian, Gifts of the Holy Spirit, trans. Ide M. Ni Riain (Dublin: The Columba Press, 2013), 62,63.

• No one, therefore, can love God too much,
  But on the contrary,
  the more fervently he loves him,
  The better and the holier he becomes.
  • Denis the Carthusian, Gifts of the Holy Spirit, trans. Ide M. Ni Riain (Dublin: The Columba Press, 2013), 71.

• Each one of us must seek God alone,
  Straining towards him both by reason
  And by renouncing our own will
  For the sake of the longed-for union with God.
  • Denis the Carthusian, Gifts of the Holy Spirit, trans. Ide M. Ni Riain (Dublin: The Columba Press, 2013), 110.

• Whoever resigns himself in love,
  Lives with greater freedom than anyone.
  Such a person lives without anxious care,
  For God cannot lose what is his own.
  • Denis the Carthusian, Gifts of the Holy Spirit, trans. Ide M. Ni Riain (Dublin: The Columba Press, 2013), 110.