L’initiation à la prière dans le "Chemin de la vie éternelle" du jésuite Antoine Sucquet (1623) : un parcours entre image et texte

Catellani, Andrea [UCL]

(eng) The article presents some observations and analyses on the theme of the initiation to prayer in the early Jesuit spiritual literature, and in particular in a spiritual manual of the seventeenth century, the "Chemin de la vie éternelle" (1623), written by Antoine Sucquet SJ. The analysis is based on a semiotic approach. The article is divided into two parts. The first part proposes a semiotic version of Van Gennep’s definition of rites of passage. The second part presents a close analysis of a specific image, included in the manual written by Sucquet. The objective of this analysis is the presentation of an analytical method able to define the journey of preparation to prayer. We focus in particular on enunciation strategies as the basis for a series of instructions. These instructions are proposed in the manual through a combination of visual and verbal texts, in which the visual dimension carries a meaning that is ‘directed’ by the verbal text. The analysis shows a specific type of what could be called ‘repeatable initiation’. The image is showed in its allegoric richness and in its capacity to integrate the teaching of verbal text and to propose ‘maps’ for interior life. In this way, the image is able to become a real support for the initiation to prayer and spiritual life.