Devotio Moderna (

Latin 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 ...

; 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 Gerard Groote (October 1340 – 20 August 1384), otherwise ''Gerrit'' or ''Gerhard Groet'', in Latin ''Gerardus Magnus'', was a Dutch Catholic deacon, who was a popular preacher and the founder of the Brethren of the Common Life. He was a key figu ...

,''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 The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

and Germany in the 15th century, but came to an end with the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

. It is most known today through its influence on

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 ...

, the author of ''

The Imitation of Christ ''The Imitation of Christ'', by Thomas à Kempis, is a Christian devotional book first composed in Medieval Latin as ''De Imitatione Christi'' ( 1418–1427).''An introductory Dictionary of Theology and Religious studies'', by Orlando O. Esp� ...

'', 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 Middle Low German or Middle Saxon (autonym: ''Sassisch'', i.e. " Saxon", Standard High German: ', Modern Dutch: ') is a developmental stage of Low German. It developed from the Old Saxon language in the Middle Ages and has been documented i ...

Origins

The origins of the movement likely stem from the Congregation of Windesheim, though it has so far proved elusive to locate the precise origin of the movement. Broadly, it may be seen to rise out of widespread dissatisfaction with the Church (both in terms of the structure of the church and the personal lives of the clergy) in 14th-century Europe. Geert Groote (1340–1384) was among many in being highly dissatisfied with the state of the Church and what he perceived as the gradual loss of monastic traditions and the lack of moral values among the clergy. He sought to rediscover certain pious practices. Getijdenboek Geert Grote Kasteel Huis Bergh 's Heerenberg

Getijdenboek Geert Grote Kasteel Huis Bergh 's Heerenberg

Devotio Moderna began as a lay movement; around 1374, Groote turned his parental house in

Deventer Deventer (; Sallands: ) is a city and municipality in the Salland historical region of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands. In 2020, Deventer had a population of 100,913. The city is largely situated on the east bank of the river IJssel, ...

into a hostel for poor women who wished to serve God. Though similar to beguine houses, this hostel, and later communities of what came to be called the "Sisters of the Common Life", were freer in structure than the beguines and kept no private property. The women who lived in these houses remained, also, under the jurisdiction of city authorities and parish priests. Their way of life therefore sat somewhere between ordinary Christian existence 'in the world', and the formation of an ecclesiastically recognised religious order. From this point, several different loose forms of community emerged. On the one hand, various types of life for the female Devout were formed. Especially from the 1390s under the leadership of John Brinckerinck, one of Grote's early converts, the Sisters of the Common Life spread across the Netherlands and into Germany (with eventually about 25 houses in the former and about 60 houses in the latter). There were also many homes (mostly small and needy) inspired by the movement that were never formally attached to the Sisters of the Common Life, and may eventually have become Third Order Franciscans or Augustinian nuns. Among male followers, the movement was given impetus after Groote's death in 1384 by Florens Radewyns (who had become a priest based on Groote's advice). He gathered like-minded laity and clergy into houses of communal living, eventually known as the Brethren of the Common Life, which numbered 41 by the early 16th century. The majority of members in these communities were priests or candidates for the priesthood (clerics); the few lay brothers, the ''familiares'', usually carried out the menial tasks of cooking, cleaning and tailoring. These communities did not take vows, but led an austere life of penance, prayer, spiritual reading and work, most often the copying of manuscripts. In addition, the Brethren provided pastoral care and spiritual counsel to the sister houses, and at least some of the Brethren engaged in preaching. Groote's message of reform had also been aimed at clerics and priests, some of whom had joined the Brethren. In addition, though, under the leadership of Radewyns, in 1387 some members of the Deventer house set up a new community at Windesheim, near

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 ...

, and adopted the habit and rule of St Augustine. Although living a cloistered life under vows, the new community kept many of the practices and spiritual values of the teaching of Groote and Radewyns. From 1395, a monastic union was set up around Windesheim; this new confederation grew quickly, and was joined both by older Augustinian communities (including, famously, Groenendaal in 1413), as well as new foundations, and sometimes the conversion of some of the houses of Brothers to this new form of religious life. By the end of the 15th century, there were almost 100 houses (84 of them male) in the Chapter of Windesheim. The movement faced opposition from clergy and laity at times, both during its early years under Groote's leadership and under Radewyns' later expansion. Much of this suspicion was similar to that directed at other new forms of religious devotion developed in the period, such as beguine and

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 for ...

movements. Also, the strong resemblance to the monastic life of the daily routine among the Brethren provoked accusations from the mendicant orders that the Brethren and Sisters of the Common Life were starting a new mendicant order, in violation of the

Fourth Lateran Council The Fourth Council of the Lateran or Lateran IV was convoked by Pope Innocent III in April 1213 and opened at the Lateran Palace in Rome on 11 November 1215. Due to the great length of time between the Council's convocation and meeting, many ...

's prohibition of new orders in 1215, and without taking vows. The simplicity and devotion of the ''Devotio Moderna'', though, seems to have lessened the force of many of these criticisms. It was especially prominent in cities in the

during the 14th and 15th centuries. Alongside its immediate impact, however, it was the writings of authors associated with the movement (who were most commonly based in the monasteries associated with Windesheim), that gave the Devotio Moderna its wider European influence at the time, and its great subsequent influence.

Decline

In the wake of the Protestant Reformation, the institutions of the ''Devotio Moderna'' declined rapidly. In Protestant territories, both the brother houses and the monasteries were dissolved. Most of the houses of the Brethren, including the founding homes of Deventer and Zwolle, had disappeared by 1600. In Roman Catholic areas, some of the brother houses and houses of the Windesheim Congregation survived until they fell victim to the secularisations of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The most important members of the Windesheim Congregation in Germany, St. Marienwolde in Frenswegen, held out until 1809 when the state officially dissolved it. The last canon, Gerhard Tobbe, left Frenswegen in 1815.

''The Imitation of Christ''

'' (c. 1418), often attributed to

(d. 1471), a Brother of the Common Life, outlines the concepts of Modern Devotion, based on personal connection to God and the active showing of love towards Him (e.g., in the

Blessed Sacrament The Blessed Sacrament, also Most Blessed Sacrament, is a devotional name to refer to the body and blood of Christ in the form of consecrated sacramental bread and wine at a celebration of the Eucharist. The term is used in the Latin Church of th ...

of the altar or during

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different ele ...

). It influenced a number of Saints such as

Thérèse of Lisieux Thérèse of Lisieux (french: Thérèse de Lisieux ), born Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin (2 January 1873 – 30 September 1897), also known as Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face (), was a French Catholic Discalced Carmelite ...

and

Ignatius of Loyola Ignatius of Loyola, S.J. (born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; eu, Ignazio Loiolakoa; es, Ignacio de Loyola; la, Ignatius de Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Spanish Catholic priest and theologian ...

. By the late 15th century the advent of the

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...

increased the reach of the movement; ''The Imitation of Christ'' was printed in several languages by the end of the century.

Techniques for prayer

The spiritual life of the Devotio Moderna followers was marked by focus on inner devotions and frequent short periods of meditation, especially before each new activity. Ludolf von Sachsen, Vita Christi Vol

The writings of the Devotio Moderna followers such as Gerard of Zutphen and Jan Mombaer, as well as Groote introduced the tradition of "methodical prayer" which arranged exercises day by day and week by week. Groote's ''On four Kinds of Matter for Meditation'' included mental imagery, as well as methodical approaches as an element of meditation. Centuries earlier, Hugh of Saint Victor and

Guigo II Guigo II, sometimes referred to as Guy, or by the moniker "the Angelic", was a Carthusian monk and the 9th prior of Grande Chartreuse monastery, from 1174 to 1180. He died possibly in 1188 or 1193, and is distinct from both Guigo I, the 5th prior ...

had produced structured methods for Christian meditation, but their approaches were less systematic.''Christian Spirituality: Origins to the twelfth century, Vol 1'' by Bernard McGinn 1986 pages 415-424''Christian spirituality: themes from the tradition'' by Lawrence S. Cunningham, Keith J. Egan 1996 page 88-94 The methodical approach of Devotio Moderna towards prayer and meditation found significant following within the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

, as well as later Reformed communities.''Blessed are the peacemakers: a Christian spirituality of nonviolence'' by Michael Battle 2004 pages 67-71 The manuals for methodical prayer and meditation by Florens Radewyns and Zutphen had significant influence within Europe for over a century. The concept of immersing and ''projecting'' oneself into a Biblical scene about the life of Jesus was developed by Ludolph of Saxony in his ''Vita Christi'' in 1374 and became popular among the Devotio Moderna community.''Christian spirituality: an introduction'' by Alister E. McGrath 1999 pages 84-87 The methods of methodical prayer as taught by the Devotio Moderna entered Spain and were known in the early 16th century, and influenced the approaches to Christian meditation.''Teresa of Avila's autobiography'' by Elena Carrera 2004 page 28 Garcias de Cisneros the abbot of the

abbey of Montserrat Santa Maria de Montserrat () is an abbey of the Order of Saint Benedict located on the mountain of Montserrat in Monistrol de Montserrat, Catalonia, Spain. It is notable for enshrining the image of the Virgin of Montserrat. The monastery was f ...

was influenced by the Devotio Moderna and his book ''Ejercitatorio de la vida spiritual'', i.e. "exercises for the spiritual life" became one of the primary sources for the

Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola The ''Spiritual Exercises'' ( la, Exercitia spiritualia), composed 1522–1524, are a set of Christian meditations, contemplations, and prayers written by Ignatius of Loyola, a 16th-century Spanish priest, theologian, and founder of the Societ ...

. Ignatius used both of these techniques in his Spiritual exercises: a methodical format, as well as self-projection into a Biblical scene, e.g. starting a conversation with Christ in

Calvary Calvary ( la, Calvariae or ) or Golgotha ( grc-gre, Γολγοθᾶ, ''Golgothâ'') was a site immediately outside Jerusalem's walls where Jesus was said to have been crucified according to the canonical Gospels. Since at least the early medie ...

. Also influenced by the Devotio Moderna were

Ludovico Barbo Ludovico Barbo, O.S.B. (1381–1443), also referred to as Luigi Barbo, was a significant figure in the movement to reform monastic life in northern Italy during the 15th century. Originally a canon of the community which became the Canons Regul ...

Lawrence Giustiniani Lawrence Justinian ( it, Lorenzo Giustiniani, 1 July 1381 – 8 January 1456) was a Venetian Catholic priest and bishop who became the first Patriarch of Venice. He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church. Biography Lawrence Justinian wa ...

and the

Canons Regular of San Giorgio in Alga The Canons Regular of San Giorgio in Alga (''Congregatio Canonicorum Sancti Georgii in Alga Venetiarum'') were a congregation of canons regular which was influential in the reform movement of monastic life in northern Italy during the 15th and 16th ...

. However, the methods of "methodical prayer" taught by the Devotio Moderna and the techniques used for "self projection" into the imagery of a Biblical scene (to participate in the life of Jesus), significantly influenced the approaches to Christian meditation in the 16th century and thereafter. These methods persist in meditations such as the Spiritual Exercises, which the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

s continue to practice.

Influence

Devotio Moderna arose at the same time as Christian Humanism, a meshing of

Renaissance Humanism Renaissance humanism was a revival in the study of classical antiquity, at first in Italy and then spreading across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. During the period, the term ''humanist'' ( it, umanista) referred to teache ...

and

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

, and is related to German mysticism and other movements which promoted an intense personal relationship with God. Practitioners of the Devotio Moderna emphasized the individual's inner life and promoted

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...

according to certain strictures. With the ideals of Christian Humanism, Devotio Moderna recommended a more individual attitude towards belief and

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...

. It is regarded sometimes as a contributing factor for

Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

and

Calvinism Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John C ...

. It was also a significant influence upon

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'' w ...

, who was brought up in this tradition.

References

Sources

* Bernard McGinn, ''The Varieties of Vernacular Mysticism'', (New York: Herder & Herder, 2012)