Part of a series on
Christian mysticism
Theology and philosophy Apophatic Ascetical Cataphatic Catholic spirituality Hellenistic Mystical theology Neoplatonic Henosis
Practices Monasticism Monasticism New Silence Asceticism Mendicant Spiritual direction Meditation Meditation Lectio Divina Invoking of Mystic Saints Active asceticism Contemplation Hesychasm Jesus Prayer Quietism Stages of Christian perfection Hesychia Divinization Catharsis Theosis Kenosis Spiritual dryness Religious ecstasy Passive asceticism Abstinence Esoteric Charismatic Esoteric
People (by era or century) Antiquity Ancient African Origen Thomasines Gregory of Nyssa Pseudo-Dionysius Desert Fathers Paul of Thebes Anthony the Great Arsenius the Great Poemen Macarius of Egypt Moses the Black Syncletica Athanasius John Chrysostom Hilarion John Cassian 11th · 12th Bernard of Clairvaux Guigo II Hildegard of Bingen Symeon the New Theologian 13th · 14th Dominican Dominic de Guzmán Franciscan Francis of Assisi Anthony of Padua Bonaventure Jacopone da Todi Angela of Foligno English Richard Rolle Walter Hilton Julian of Norwich Margery Kempe Flemish Beatrice of Nazareth Lutgardis Hadewijch John van Ruysbroeck German Meister Eckhart Johannes Tauler Henry Suso Female Beatrice of Nazareth Bridget of Sweden Catherine of Siena Mechthild of Magdeburg Marguerite Porete 15th · 16th Spanish Ignatius of Loyola Francisco de Osuna John of Ávila Teresa of Ávila John of the Cross Others Catherine of Genoa 17th · 18th French Margaret Mary Alacoque Pierre de Bérulle Jean-Jacques Olier Louis de Montfort Charles de Condren John Eudes John of St. Samson Others Mary of Jesus of Ágreda Anne Catherine Emmerich Veronica Giuliani Francis de Sales 19th Dina Bélanger Catherine Labouré Mélanie Calvat Maximin Giraud Bernadette Soubirous Conchita de Armida Luisa Piccarreta Mary of the Divine Heart Thérèse of Lisieux Gemma Galgani 20th Padre Pio Therese Neumann Marthe Robin Alexandrina of Balazar Faustina Kowalska Sister Lúcia of Fátima Edgar Cayce Simone Weil Alfred Delp Thomas Merton Charles de Foucauld Edvige Carboni Elena Aiello Contemporary papal views Aspects of meditation (Orationis Formas, 1989) Reflection on the New Age (2003)
Literature and media Lingua ignota Ordo Virtutum Scivias Ascent of Mount Carmel Dark Night of the Soul Spiritual Canticle Way of Perfection Book of the First Monks The Interior Castle Abbey of the Holy Ghost A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart The Glories of Mary The Imitation of Christ The Ladder of Divine Ascent Philokalia Revelations of Divine Love The Story of a Soul Theologia Germanica Devotio Moderna Fatima in Lucia's Own Words Calls from the Message of Fatima The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima Sol de Fátima The Cloud of Unknowing On the Consolation of Philosophy The Mirror of Simple Souls Sister Catherine Treatise Tractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii The Vision of Adamnán Divine Comedy Inferno Purgatorio Paradiso Fatima

Heilwige Bloemardinne (1265? – 23 August 1335) was a Christian mystic who lived in Brussels and was loosely associated with the Brethren of the Free Spirit. She was also known as Heilwijch Blomart and Bloemardine.

She was the daughter of a wealthy merchant, Wilhelm Bloemart, one of the most consistently powerful figures in the municipal government of Brussels. She is differentiated from earlier teachers such as Aleydis (executed, Cambrai, 1236) or Marguerite Porete (executed, Paris, 1310) by the support she enjoyed from the secular authorities which made her untouchable by the Inquisition. Some idea of her prestige is given by the fact that, on her death, the silver chair upon which she sat when instructing disciples was given to the Duchess of Brabant. This chair was popularly believed to possess miraculous powers derived from its association with her. According to Professor Cohn she was popularly revered as a living saint.^[1]

She is known to have written a book because John of Ruysbroeck also known as John of Ruusbroec attacked it^{[clarification needed]} calling by it heretical, but no copy seems to have survived. Ruysbroeck does not bring himself to refer to her by name but calls her Pseudo-Hadewijch.^[2] One view is that John of Ruysbroeck's time as a priest in Brussels was brought to an end by being driven out by supporters of Bloemardinne.^[3] These grounds for personal animosity make it hard to know if the views he attributes to her are fairly stated.

The view that can most confidently be attributed to her is the doctrine of seraphic love - that melting into God is a possibility and that a blissful foretaste of paradise is available to the earth-bound. "At the head of the sect in Brussels was a certain woman, who excited such admiration among the people that they believed that two seraphim accompanied her when she approached the Holy Table."^[4] Accusations that this spilled over into incitement to sensual indulgence were levied at Bloemardinne or those who claimed to follow her.^[5]

Another view which Ruysbroeck attributes to her followers is that of complete passivity before God. "Thus they are poor in spirit for they are without will of any sort having forsaken everything and making no choices of their own."^[6] This has echoes of Marguerite Porete's annihilation of souls. Another similarity to Porete may be the method of disseminating her views among the population. If Ruysbroeck's attacks are accurate, Bloemardinne produced pamphlets which acted as teaching summaries from which travelling teachers could expound these lessons to the poor. Parts of the Mirror of Simple Souls read as if they began with this purpose in mind, particularly as the words 'reader' and 'hearer' are used indiscriminately.

Heilwige Bloemardinne seems to be developing a tradition started more conservatively by Beatrice of Nazareth of whom it was said, "in all her deeds and thoughts, she neither feared nor was in awe of men, nor devil, nor angel, nor even divine judgment."^[7]

The movement spread and seems to have inspired Jeanne Dabenton who led the "Society of the Poor" in Paris and was executed there around 1372.