JUAN EUSEBIO

NIEREMBERG (1595–1658)  , Spanish Jesuit and mystic, was born at Madrid in 1595, joined the Society of Jesus in 1614, and subsequently became lecturer on Scripture at the Jesuit seminary in Madrid, where he died on the 7th of April 1658 . He was highly esteemed in devout circles as the author of De la aficiOn y amor de Jesus (163o), and De la aficiOn y amor de Maria (163o), both of which were translated into Arabic, Flemish, French, German, Italian and Latin . These works, together with the Prodigios del amor divino (1641), are now forgotten, but Nieremberg's version (1656) of the Imitation is still a favourite, and his eloquent treatise, De la hermosura de Dios y su amabilidad (1649), is the last classical manifestation of mysticism in Spanish literature . Nieremberg has not the enraptured vision of St Theresa, nor the philosophic significance of Luis de Leon, and the unvarying sweetness of his style is cloying; but he has exaltation, unction, insight, and his book forms no unworthy close to a great literary tradition .