The understanding of mysticism as an “awareness of the direct or immediate presence of God” (Bernard McGinn) will be used as the starting point for a study of Franciscan mystical texts. The course will include an historical overview of acknowledged Franciscan mystics (from Giles of Assisi to Veronica Guiliani), in order to appreciate the contours of what might be described as the particular Franciscan experience of mysticism. Hermeneutical, methodological, philosophical and theological issues emerging from mystical texts will be examined. The texts of at least one representative figure from the tradition will be studied in depth.