The Vita Christi by Isabel de Villena through I dolori mentali di Gesù nella sua Passione by Camilla Battista da Varano

Abstract

This article analyzes and compares the static mysticism of Camilla Battista da Varano and the aesthetic mysticism of Isabel de Villena through their works I dolori mentali and Vita Christi, respectively. Camilla Battista da Varano, influenced by Franciscanism and devotio moderna, seeks to convey a mystical experience revealed by Christ regarding His internal sufferings during the Passion. Her goal is not aesthetic beauty but to communicate this intimacy. On the other hand, Isabel de Villena, in her Vita Christi, encourages meditation and contemplation through an affective style characteristic of devotio moderna. She selects scenes from the life of Christ, especially the Passion, to move the reader through affection and emotion. Her work shows influences from Ubertino da Casale and Francesc Eiximenis regarding the sufferings experienced by Christ. Camilla Battista da Varano represents static mysticism, while Isabel de Villena represents aesthetic mysticism. The former seeks to convey a revealed experience, while the latter uses words to incite meditation and contemplation. In Vita Christi, Isabel de Villena refers to three considerations or pains for which Christ lamented: the offenses committed during the Passion, His chosen ones, and His holy Mother. These pains correspond to the three pains of Camilla Battista da Varano in I dolori mentali. Isabel de Villena refers to the three pains as an internal struggle of Christ’s soul, demonstrating in her work the predominance of the aesthetics of the word, with resources such as the accumulation of prayers, paratactic binomials, and the repetition of rhetorical exclamations.