Jacomijne Costers (c. 1462 – 1503) was a

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

and author whose vision of the afterlife, shown during a near-death experience, was written down in ''Visioen en exempel'' ("Vision and Exemplum").

Biography

Costers lived in the Facons Monastery in Antwerp. Facons, originally called ''Valkenbroek'', was a convent belonging to the Augustinian

Congregation of Windesheim The Congregation of Windesheim ( la, Congregatio Vindesemensis) is a congregation of Augustinian canons regular (i.e., ecclesiastics living in community and bound by vows). It takes its name from its most important monastery, which was located at ...

, and at the end of the 15th century there were concerns about the apparent lax discipline in the convent. In 1489 the

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pe ...

struck the convent, and Jacomijne Costers was one of its victims. She survived, but was shown a vision in which devils took her to face Christ. These devils asserted a right to her sinful soul, and initially Christ seemed to agree with them; the intervention of Mary (besides her patron saint

John the Evangelist John the Evangelist ( grc-gre, Ἰωάννης, Iōánnēs; Aramaic: ܝܘܚܢܢ; Ge'ez: ዮሐንስ; ar, يوحنا الإنجيلي, la, Ioannes, he, יוחנן cop, ⲓⲱⲁⲛⲛⲏⲥ or ⲓⲱ̅ⲁ) is the name traditionally given ...

and

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North A ...

, patron saint of her order) saved her. She was sent through hell and purgatory, and given the assignment to recount her vision to help restore spiritual order to her house. She authored devotional texts afterwards, including some in rhyme. Costers lived a more withdrawn life after her illness, which had left a lasting wound on her chest above her heart. She died on 28 April 1503, most likely of the plague, which struck her convent again that year.

Works

Costers' work places her, like many of her fellow Augustinians, in the ''

devotio moderna Devotio Moderna (Latin; lit., Modern Devotion) was a movement for religious reform, calling for apostolic renewal through the rediscovery of genuine pious practices such as humility, obedience, and simplicity of life. It began in the late 14th-cen ...

'' ("modern devotion") movement, and she urges a "reformation of the spiritual life in her convent" and a stricter observance of the Augustinian rule. Her ''Visioen en exempel'' was written in the style of the ''

Visio Tnugdali The ''Visio Tnugdali'' ("Vision of Tnugdalus") is a 12th-century religious text reporting the otherworldly vision of the Irish knight Tnugdalus (later also called "Tundalus", "Tondolus" or in English translations, "Tundale", all deriving from the ...

'', a 12th-century religious text of otherworldly visions. Her patron saint was

, and her ''Previlesien van Sint Joannes Evangelist'' systematizes a set of devotions to him. Order and system were important to her, and she set up the devotions in a numerical structure similar to the ''Rosetum'' by

Jan Mombaer Jan Mombaer also known as Johannes Mauburnus and as Johannes von Brüssel (1460, Brussels – 1501 Paris) was a Christian monk who composed hymns and was part of the devotio moderna movement. He studied at the congregation of Augustinians in Utrech ...

, an Augustinian friar (1460–1501). She draws on the

Gospel of John The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...

, his Epistles and

Revelation In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities. Background Inspiration – such as that bestowed by God on the ...

, and possibly the ''

Golden Legend The ''Golden Legend'' (Latin: ''Legenda aurea'' or ''Legenda sanctorum'') is a collection of hagiographies by Jacobus de Voragine that was widely read in late medieval Europe. More than a thousand manuscripts of the text have survived.Hilary ...

''; Wybren Scheepsma sees her ''Previlesien'' as evidence of the importance of the ''Golden Legend'' in the Windesheim congregation. She was said to have had an encounter with Christ who explained the "purpose of suffering", and in a letter described a revelation in which Saint Anne appeared to her.Scheepsma, ''Medieval Religious Women'' 175.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Costers, Jacomijne 1503 deaths Augustinian nuns 16th-century writers 15th-century Christian nuns Women religious writers Year of birth uncertain People from Antwerp