Recogimiento, or recollection prayer, was a school of Christian mystical prayer popular in the Spanish Golden Age. The practice involved private, mental prayer, working to consciously cultivate a habitual attention to God.123
The practice of recogimiento first sprang up around the turn of the 16th century,4 was popularized in the 1520s, and flourished through the middle of the seventeenth century.3 It likely first originated in Franciscan monasteries, possibly La Salceda or San Pedro de Arlanza.4 The practice spread rapidly through Europe and the Americas,1 influencing figures including Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila, and John of the Cross.5
Foundational texts of the movement included Bernardino de Laredo's Subida del Monte Sión3 and Francisco de Osuna's Third Alphabet.5
References
References
- Lehner, Ulrich L. (2022). The Inner Life of Catholic Reform: From the Council of Trent to the Enlightenment. Oxford University Press. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-19-762060-1.
- Giles, Mary E. (1 January 1990). The Book of Prayer of Sor María of Santo Domingo: A Study and Translation. SUNY Press. pp. 64–66. ISBN 978-0-7914-0235-1.
- Boon, Jessica A. (1 January 2012). The Mystical Science of the Soul: Medieval Cognition in Bernardino de Laredo's Recollection Method. University of Toronto Press. pp. 4, 6, 13, 38, 56, 58, 73. ISBN 978-1-4426-4428-1.
- Tyler, Peter (16 June 2011). The Return to the Mystical: Ludwig Wittgenstein, Teresa of Avila and the Christian Mystical Tradition. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 3. ISBN 978-1-4411-6151-2.
- T&T Clark Handbook of Christian Prayer. Bloomsbury Publishing. 16 December 2021. pp. 417–425. ISBN 978-0-567-66437-2.