En él fueron transformadas

Resumo

This paper focuses on the union and transformation of the soul in God, the spiritual zenith of mystical becoming, based on part of the Song of Solomon (or Song of Songs) and St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. Taking both biblical texts as hypotexts, or references, the hypertexts or derivations that were produced – in a chronological leap – in the Early Modern Period are here explored from an intertextual literary perspective. To this end, we establish a sequential thread through Francisco de Osuna (Franciscan friar) _ Saint Teresa of Avila (also known as Teresa de Jesús) _ Saint John of the Cross (Juan de la Cruz) _ Cecilia del Nacimiento (a Discalced Carmelite nun) _ Antonio Sobrino and Estefanía de la Encarnación. Even though the study focuses primarily on the female authors, this restricted set of Franciscans and Carmelites of both genders allows us to follow the ideological-doctrinal lines of thought produced inter-animas between Franciscans and Carmelites, as they follow their path of Seclusion, in a quest for
the most sublime state of love: to achieve that their souls be transformed in Him.