Speculative Wisdom: The Sapiential Significance of Mirrors in St Bonaventure’s Itinerarium Mentis In Deum

Abstract

Following the traditional association of the mirror-image with Wisdom (Sapientia), the Itinerarium Mentis in Deum provides a framework of sapiential contemplation, which unlocks the key to the progressive perspectives on the mirror. As the soul moves from vision through the mirrors of perceptible things, the mind and the divine names to vision in them, it moves from an intellectual understanding of God as the first cause to an affective, experiential knowledge of God as relational. As a gift of the Spirit and present in the mediating Christ, Sapientia is what guides the pilgrim-reader through this journey by reflecting the divine light as a spotless mirror. With Christ Crucified as the hierarchical mirror, and St Francis of Assisi as an exemplary mirror, the journey through wisdom guides the one into a transformative contemplation, becoming oneself a mirror of the Crucified.