Fratres Communis Vitae
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Fratres Communis Vitae
The Brethren of the Common Life (Latin: Fratres Vitae Communis, FVC) was a Roman Catholic pietist religious community founded in the Netherlands in the 14th century by Gerard Groote, formerly a successful and worldly educator who had had a religious experience and preached a life of simple devotion to Jesus Christ. Without taking up irrevocable vows, the Brethren banded together in communities, giving up their worldly goods to live chaste and strictly regulated lives in common houses, devoting every waking hour to attending divine service, reading and preaching of sermons, labouring productively, and taking meals in common that were accompanied by the reading aloud of Scripture: "judged from the ascetic discipline and intention of this life, it had few features which distinguished it from life in a monastery", observes Hans Baron. Gerard Groote Of wealthy burgher stock, Groote was born in Deventer in the Oversticht possession of the bishopric Utrecht in 1340. Having read at Cologn ...
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Latin Language
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the Roman Republic it became the dominant language in the Italy (geographical region), Italian region and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire. Even after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, fall of Western Rome, Latin remained the common language of international communication, science, scholarship and academia in Europe until well into the 18th century, when other regional vernaculars (including its own descendants, the Romance languages) supplanted it in common academic and political usage, and it eventually became a dead language in the modern linguistic definition. Latin is a fusional language, highly inflected language, with three distinct grammatical gender, genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter), six or seven ...
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Catholic Encyclopedia
The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') is an English-language encyclopedia published in the United States and designed to serve the Catholic Church. The first volume appeared in March 1907 and the last three volumes appeared in 1912, followed by a master index volume in 1914 and later supplementary volumes. It was designed "to give its readers full and authoritative information on the entire cycle of Catholic interests, action and doctrine". The ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' was published by the Robert Appleton Company (RAC), a publishing company incorporated at New York in February 1905 for the express purpose of publishing the encyclopedia. The five members of the encyclopedia's Editorial Board also served as the directors of the company. In 1912 the company's name was changed to ...
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Priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities. Their office or position is the 'priesthood', a term which also may apply to such persons collectively. A priest may have the duty to hear confessions periodically, give marriage counseling, provide prenuptial counseling, give spiritual direction, teach catechism, or visit those confined indoors, such as the sick in hospitals and nursing homes. Description According to the trifunctional hypothesis of prehistoric Proto-Indo-European society, priests have existed since the earliest of times and in the simplest societies, most likely as a result of agricultural surplus and consequent social stratification. The necessity to read sacred texts and keep temple or church rec ...
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Beguine
The Beguines () and the Beghards () were Christian lay religious orders that were active in Western Europe, particularly in the Low Countries, in the 13th–16th centuries. Their members lived in semi-monastic communities but did not take formal religious vows; although they promised not to marry "as long as they lived as Beguines," to quote one of the early Rules, they were free to leave at any time. Beguines were part of a larger spiritual revival movement of the 13th century that stressed imitation of Jesus' life through voluntary poverty, care of the poor and sick, and religious devotion. Etymology The term "Beguine" ( la, beguinas; nl, begijn) is of uncertain origin and may have been pejorative. Scholars no longer credit the theory expounded in the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition (1911) that the name derived from Lambert le Bègue, a priest of Liège. Other theories, such as derivation from the name of St. Begga and from the purported, reconstructed Old Sa ...
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Beghard
The Beguines () and the Beghards () were Christian lay religious orders that were active in Western Europe, particularly in the Low Countries, in the 13th–16th centuries. Their members lived in semi-monastic communities but did not take formal religious vows; although they promised not to marry "as long as they lived as Beguines," to quote one of the early Rules, they were free to leave at any time. Beguines were part of a larger spiritual revival movement of the 13th century that stressed imitation of Jesus' life through voluntary poverty, care of the poor and sick, and religious devotion. Etymology The term "Beguine" ( la, beguinas; nl, begijn) is of uncertain origin and may have been pejorative. Scholars no longer credit the theory expounded in the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition (1911) that the name derived from Lambert le Bègue, a priest of Liège. Other theories, such as derivation from the name of St. Begga and from the purported, reconstructed Old S ...
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Zwolle
Zwolle () is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Overijssel and the province's second-largest municipality after Enschede with a population of 130,592 as of 1 December 2021. Zwolle is on the border with Gelderland, which follows the river IJssel, and is located about 50 km north east of Utrecht and 85 km south west of Groningen. The current Mayor of Zwolle is Lorenzo Brands. History Archaeological findings indicate that the area surrounding Zwolle has been inhabited for a long time. A woodhenge that was found in the Zwolle-Zuid suburb in 1993 was dated to the Bronze Age period. During the Roman era, the area was inhabited by Salian Franks. The modern city was founded around 800 CE by Frisian merchants and troops of Charlemagne. Previous spellings of its name include the identically pronounced ''Suolle'', which means "hill" (cf. the English cognate verb "to swell"). This refers to an incline in the landscape betwee ...
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Congregation Of Windesheim
The Congregation of Windesheim ( la, Congregatio Vindesemensis) is a congregation of Augustinian canons regular (i.e., ecclesiastics living in community and bound by vows). It takes its name from its most important monastery, which was located at Windesheim, about four miles south of Zwolle on the IJssel, in the Netherlands. This congregation of canons regular, of which this was the chief house, was an offshoot of the Brethren of the Common Life and played a considerable part in the reform movement within the Dutch and German Catholic Church in the century before the Protestant Reformation. History The Brethren of the Common Life, which did not strictly conform as an order or congregation, had become obnoxious to the mendicant friars and the object of their attacks. To remedy this, their founder, Gerard Groote, advised on his deathbed in 1384 that some of the brethren should adopt the rule of an approved Order. His successor, Florence Radewyns, carried this advice into effec ...
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Florens Radewyns
Floris Radewyns (or Latinized Florentius Radwyn) (c. 1350 – 24 March 1400) was the co-founder of the Brethren of the Common Life. Life Floris was born at Leerdam, near Utrecht, about 1350. He passed a brilliant university course and took his M.A. degree at Prague. Returning home, he was installed canon of St. Peter's, Utrecht. For some little time he led a life of pleasure, until converted by a sermon of Gerard Groote. Thereupon he resigned his canonry, placed himself unreservedly under Groote's direction, at his instance was ordained a priest, and accepted a poor benefice at Deventer, where Groote resided. There he powerfully seconded his friend's apostolate, especially among the poor clerical scholars of Deventer, and at his suggestion and in his house the first community of the Brethren of the Common Life was formed. They lived on the income of their book copying, permitting them to teach young men of humbler circumstances who demonstrated a potential for full-time religious ...
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Waghäusel Kloster Eingang
Waghäusel (, ; South Franconian: ''Woghaisl'') is a town located in the Rhine valley in the south-western state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Waghäusel consists of 3 townships which are the core town (1236 residents), Kirrlach (9347 residents), and Wiesental (9596 residents) s of March 31, 2006 Wiesental and Kirrlach are located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Among the 3 townships, Wiesental occupies the largest land area of 21.2 km² followed by Kirrlach with 19.4 km² and the core town with 0.22 km². Sights * Pilgrimage church of Mary with monastery * Baroque castle "Eremitage" * Daytaller House in Kirrlach * Gothic wood carved altar in the Catholic Church of Kirrlach * Old-German wine tavern in Kirrlach (liquor license since July 15, 1700) International relations Waghäusel is twinned with the following towns: * Caldicot, Wales * Flattach, Austria * Szigetújfalu, Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Eur ...
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Devotio Moderna
Devotio Moderna (Latin; lit., Modern Devotion) was a movement for religious reform, calling for apostolic renewal through the rediscovery of genuine pious practices such as humility, obedience, and simplicity of life. It began in the late 14th-century, largely through the work of Gerard Groote,''Devotio Moderna'' by John H. Van Engen 1988 pages 7-12''The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Spirituality'' by Gordon S. Wakefield 1983 ISBN pages 113-114 and flourished in the Low Countries and Germany in the 15th century, but came to an end with the Protestant Reformation. It is most known today through its influence on Thomas à Kempis, the author of ''The Imitation of Christ'', a book which has proved highly influential for centuries. The Devotio Moderna wrote in IJssellands, a written language which stood in between Middle Dutch and Middle Low German. Origins The origins of the movement likely stem from the Congregation of Windesheim, though it has so far proved elusive to locate ...
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Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' was a scholarly name meaning "from Rotterdam", though the Latin genitive would be . 28 October 1466 – 12 July 1536) was a Dutch philosopher and Catholic theologian who is considered one of the greatest scholars of the northern Renaissance.Gleason, John B. "The Birth Dates of John Colet and Erasmus of Rotterdam: Fresh Documentary Evidence", Renaissance Quarterly, The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Renaissance Society of America, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Spring, 1979), pp. 73–76www.jstor.org/ref> As a Catholic priest, he was an important figure in classical scholarship who wrote in a pure Latin style. Among humanists he was given the sobriquet "Prince of the Humanists", and has been called "the crowning glory of the Christian humanists ...
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Thomas à Kempis
Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380 – 25 July 1471; german: Thomas von Kempen; nl, Thomas van Kempen) was a German-Dutch canon regular of the late medieval period and the author of ''The Imitation of Christ'', published anonymously in Latin in the Netherlands c. 1418–1427, one of the most popular and best known Christian devotional books. His name means "Thomas of Kempen", Kempen being his home town. He was a member of the Modern Devotion, a spiritual movement during the late medieval period, and a follower of Geert Groote and Florens Radewyns, the founders of the Brethren of the Common Life. Life Thomas was born in Kempen in the Rhineland. His surname at birth was Hemerken (or Hammerlein), meaning the family's profession, "little hammer," Latinized into "Malleolus." His father, Johann, was a blacksmith and his mother, Gertrud, was a schoolmistress. Although almost universally known in English as Thomas à Kempis, the "a" represents the Latin "from" and is erroneously accented. ...
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