De Spiritualibus Ascensionibus (On the Spiritual Ascents)
Ascensiones in corde suo disposuit...
Our renderingHe has set ascents in his heart...
What it is
Gerard Zerbolt of Zutphen (1367–1398), librarian of the Deventer house of the Brethren of the Common Life, wrote this 70-chapter handbook of interior reform describing the soul's ascent from sin back toward paradisical innocence through methodical self-examination, affective meditation, and progressive virtue. Organized around the scriptural motto from Psalm 83:6 — 'He has set ascents in his heart' — it was the most widely circulated devotional work from Devotio Moderna scriptoria and was probably present in nearly every house of the movement. First printed by R. Pafraet in Deventer c. 1483–85 and reprinted into the sixteenth century, its method of structured imaginative meditation on Scripture anticipates the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises by more than a century.
Why it still matters
The Spiritual Ascents can be read as a complete introductory course in interior reform; chapters on combating vice and cultivating humility are direct and practical enough for any Christian engaged in serious personal transformation, even without specialist background.
Kept alongside
Soliloquium Animae (Soliloquy of the Soul)
One of Kempis's most characteristic minor works, the Soliloquium Animae is a sustained interior dialogue between the soul and God organized around themes of divine love, humility, and perseverance in the life of grace. Published as part of his Opera omnia, it was particularly prized in Windesheim houses as a companion to the Imitation of Christ, and an early English translation survives at the Folger Shakespeare Library. It shares with the Imitation the same intimate, second-person address to Christ but has a more lyrical, prayer-like structure that renders it immediately usable as vocal prayer.
Prayers and Meditations on the Life of Christ
A collection of meditations and prayers on the Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ, forming a practical companion to the Imitation of Christ and the wider Vita Christi tradition. Where the Imitation focuses on interior dispositions, this work provides concrete meditative content keyed to Gospel events, functioning as a guide for lectio divina-style prayer through the mysteries of the Lord's life. Circulated in Windesheim and Augustinian communities as a formation text for novices, it was first translated into English by Henry Lee in 1762 and remains available in digitized editions.
Conclusa et Proposita non Vota (Decisions and Intentions, not Vows)
Groote's personal document of interior reform, composed after his conversion and his time at the Carthusian monastery of Monnikhuizen near Arnhem. Not a monastic rule but a personal propositum — a structured list of resolutions and intentions by which he organized his entire life around God, renouncing temporal pursuits and dedicating himself to preaching and communal life. The text opens with the words 'In nomine Domini — haec sunt proposita et conclusa,' establishing the non-vow character of the commitments with deliberate canonical care. This document and Groote's eighty surviving letters form the foundational documentary core of the Devotio Moderna movement, and the propositum method it embodies was adopted as a standard formation practice in all subsequent Brethren houses.