Paysages naturels et manifestations spirituelles dans l’Occident médiéval
Natural Landscapes and Spiritual Phenomena in Medieval Europe

Summary/Abstract: Using examples drawn from hagiographic literature and iconography, including those of St. Francis of Assisi, we analyze the terms of the relationship between man seeking God and the landscape which surrounds him, between nature and the supernatural. On the one hand, the retreat to the desert is a key moment of contemplative life. On the other hand, as the elements are considered by spiritual writers as traces (vestigia) of the presence of God or of his action, their contemplation is recommended as a first step in the quest for knowledge of God. In this perspective, nature becomes the scene of a spiritual journey that includes trials and after which the elements of nature become mirrors of inner states experienced by the individual; virgin and wild nature tends to turn into a reality ordered for man. Man finds in himself a theophanic dimension; the image and likeness of God was lost long time ago, while nature displays a heavenly original status. The transfiguration of the landscape and of living beings then forms the outer projection of the spiritual state and a sign of holiness.

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