we will be starting our summer session of Global Catholic Literature on Poetry & Mysticism in Maritain, Mistral, and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz on Monday June 2. Thus far in Global Catholic Literature we have read two Catholic Nobel laureates (Sigrid Undset and Jon Fosse, both Norwegian converts to Catholicism). This June we will turn our attention to another Catholic Nobel laureate: Gabriela Mistral, the Chilean poet deemed "the spiritual queen of all Latin America" by the Nobel Committee. Bearing all the marks of a mystic, Mistral grew from a young girl "deep in conversation with the birds and flowers of the garden" to a disconsolate young woman who "like Job...cried aloud to the skies." Formed by these experiences, Mistral's poems strike mystic chords and mournful strains. 

These poems in turn caught the attention of Jacques and Raïssa Maritain, who formed a friendship with Mistral at the peak of her poetic powers. So deep was this friendship that Jacques Maritain came to Mistral's deathbed where the pair talked "like two Christian poets...about God, life, and death, all the religious questions that were so close to their hearts." In this summer season of Global Catholic Literature, we will read selections of Mistral's poems paired with Raïssa Maritain's thought-provoking essays in Poetry and Mysticism published by Wiseblood Books (founded by Joshua Hren). 

• June 2

• June 9

• June 16

• June 23

Registration:

• Early Bird Registration: $65 through May 9

• Regular Registration: $75 through May 26

To learn more and register, click the button below. Questions? Contact Joe Perez-Benzo (jperezbenzo@collegiuminstitute.org).

Collegium Institute will provide copies of the readings to all participants in the United States. International participants are welcome to join, but please note that we can't guarantee that we will be able to send you a copy of the texts if you live outside of the US.