Representations of space interior and spiritual intimacy in Treatises of three Franciscanes collected (Fransico de Osuna, Bernabe de Palma and Bernardino de Laredo)

This article focuses on the spiritual aspect of Franciscan recollection (''recogimiento'') which developed in Andalusia and Castilla over the first half of the sixteenth century. As a specific method of spiritual introspection intending to establish a loving communication with God, the ``recogimiento'' opens up to the modern man a new path within the territory of intimacy - the mystical contemplation. Such contemplation operates in a double dynamic movement: a horizontal and reflexive journey, deep into the inner world of the soul, and a vertical experience of transcendence in which the soul reaches out to the transformative union of divine love. We shall intend to describe and define such spiritual intimacy, through the examination of the different representations of this inner space (words, images, symbols), basing ourselves on the works of three famous Franciscan teachers of the ``recogimiento'', composed in Castilian language: The Spiritual Alphabet by Francisco de Osuna (the Third Spiritual Alphabet, 1527, and the Law of Love, 1530), the Via Spiritus by Bernabe de Palma (1532) and The Ascent of Mount Sion by Bernardino de Laredo (1535).