The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University

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Author QuotedGiulio Basetti-Sani
Title QuotedMohammed et Saint-Francois
Date (Year/Month/Day)1960/08/10
ImprintOttawa : Commissariat de Terre Sainte. 1959
QuotationL. Massignon believes that the "nocturnal ascension" of Mohammed brought him to the threshold of mysticism but he would go no further, and that therefore mysticism was barred, under pain of death to all other Moslems. (Though some got away with it.) I think Fr. Giulio Basetti-Sani is a little romantic when he asserts that St. Francis, having offered himself for martyrdom at Damiette, became a substitute for Mohammed and went the whole way on Mount Alvernia. Isn't this a bit arbitrary?
Quotation SourceTurning Toward the World: The Pivotal Years. The Journals of Thomas Merton, Volume 4, 1960-1963.; Edited by Victor A. Kramer. / San Francisco : Harper Collins. 1996, p. 30
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