The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ is an adaptation/translation of Pseudo-Bonaventura

Pseudo-Bonaventura

The Pseudo-Bonaventura, or Pseudo-Bonaventure is the name given to the authors of a number of medieval devotional works which were believed at the time to be the work of Saint Bonaventure: "It would almost seem as if 'Bonaventura' came to be regarded as a convenient label for a certain type of...

's Meditationes Vitae Christi into English by Nicholas Love

Nicholas Love (monk)

Nicholas Love, also known as Nicholas Luff, was the first prior and fourth rector of the Carthusian house of Mount Grace Priory in Yorkshire . Love translated the "Meditationes Vitae Christi" Nicholas Love, also known as Nicholas Luff, (died c. 1424) was the first prior and fourth rector of the...

, OCart, the Carthusian

Carthusian

The Carthusian Order, also called the Order of St. Bruno, is a Roman Catholic religious order of enclosed monastics. The order was founded by Saint Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns...

 prior

Prior

Prior is an ecclesiastical title, derived from the Latin adjective for 'earlier, first', with several notable uses.-Monastic superiors:A Prior is a monastic superior, usually lower in rank than an Abbot. In the Rule of St...

 of Mount Grace Priory

Mount Grace Priory

Mount Grace Priory, in the parish of East Harlsey, North Yorkshire, England is today the best preserved and most accessible of the ten medieval Carthusian houses in England....

, written ca. 1400.

Not merely a translation of one of the most popular Latin works of Franciscan

Franciscan

Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....

 devotion on the life and passion of Christ, but an expanded version with polemic

Polemic

A polemic is a variety of arguments or controversies made against one opinion, doctrine, or person. Other variations of argument are debate and discussion...

al additions against the Wycliffite (Lollard) positions on the ecclesiastical hierarchy and the sacrament

Sacrament

A sacrament is a sacred rite recognized as of particular importance and significance. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites.-General definitions and terms:...

s of penance and the eucharist

Eucharist

The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...

, Love's "Mirror" was submitted to Thomas Arundel

Thomas Arundel

Thomas Arundel was Archbishop of Canterbury in 1397 and from 1399 until his death, an outspoken opponent of the Lollards.-Family background:...

, archbishop of Canterbury, around the year 1410 for approval in accordance with the strictures of the Oxford Constitutions forbidding any new biblical translations written since the time of John Wycliffe

John Wycliffe

John Wycliffe was an English Scholastic philosopher, theologian, lay preacher, translator, reformer and university teacher who was known as an early dissident in the Roman Catholic Church during the 14th century. His followers were known as Lollards, a somewhat rebellious movement, which preached...

, in any form whatsoever, unless the translation was submitted to the local bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

for approval.

Arundel not merely approved the Mirror, but commanded its propagation; it became one of the most widely circulated works in English, in manuscript and print, in the century and a half before the Reformation.