This event is VIRTUAL ONLY. All are welcome!

Join EVENT: https://mcgill.zoom.us/j/3701017103

Meeting ID: 370 101 7103

Summary:

Roman Triptych: Meditations is the last poetic work by Karol Wojtyła, John Paul II (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2003, transl. J. Peterkiewicz). I will argue that it is, essentially, a contemplative poem, comparable to the early mystical poetry written by Wojtyła during WWII and published anonymously. However, the poetic character has drastically changed, since the Roman Triptych is not a subjective, imaginatively rich description of the experience of the mystical prayer in the vein of John of the Cross, like Wojtyła's early Song of the Hidden God, but the Triptych, in its simplicity bordering on naivete, does not appear to concern the contemplative experience at all. I will show that not only is the Triptych deeply embedded in the tradition of contemplative poetry, but also that it is essentially a poem expressing the Platonic, philosophical model of contemplation and, in particular, the Augustinian meditative tradition.

The English translation of the poem is available here: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/roman-triptych-8369

Bio: Mateusz Stróżyński is a classical philologist, philosopher, psychologist and psychotherapist, currently working as an associate professor in the Institute of Classical Philology of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland. Since January I'm also the Director of the Institute. I'm interested primarily in the Platonic tradition (spiritual exercises, contemplation, mysticism, psychoanalysis, and myth).