Brethren of the Common Life facts for kids
The Brethren of the Common Life (which means "Brothers of the Common Life" in Latin) was a special religious group started in the Netherlands in the 1300s. It was founded by Gerard Groote, who used to be a successful teacher. He had a religious experience and started teaching about living a simple life dedicated to Jesus Christ.
The Brethren believed that being a Christian wasn't just for church services. They thought it should be part of everyday life. They wanted to encourage a practical way of living that focused on personal faith and devotion.
Members of the Brethren didn't take official vows like monks or nuns. Instead, they lived together in communities. They gave up their belongings and lived very organized lives in shared houses. They spent their time going to church services, reading and listening to sermons, working, and eating meals together. During meals, they would read from the Bible. Even though they didn't take vows, their way of life was very similar to that of a monastery.
The Brethren of the Common Life were an important religious group in the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Their focus on education, personal faith, and helping others had a big impact on Europe's religious and intellectual life.
Contents
What They Believed In
The Brethren lived by four main ideas:
- Thinking less about worldly things and themselves.
- Trying to live humbly, like Jesus Christ.
- Having good intentions and a good will.
- Feeling a deep sense of devotion and grace.
The Brethren were similar to other religious communities from earlier times, like the Beghards and Beguines. But unlike some groups, the Brethren didn't take vows and didn't ask for money. Their main goal was to grow spiritually, and they worked to earn their living.
They were different from begging friars because they insisted on working. Some church leaders at the Council of Constance even criticized them for not having formal vows. However, important thinkers like Pierre d'Ailly and Jean Gerson successfully defended them.
The Modern Devotion
The Brethren's community is the most famous example of the "Devotio Moderna" (which means "Modern Devotion"). This was a way of living and a form of faith that was less about strict rules and more about personal experience. Some historians believe it helped prepare the way for the Protestant Reformation.
In the 1400s, this movement spread to parts of Germany. Important Protestant reformers, like Martin Luther and John Calvin, were influenced by the ideas and practices of the Modern Devotion.
Who Was Gerard Groote?
Gerard Groote was born in Deventer, a town in the Netherlands, in 1340. His family was wealthy. He studied at universities in Cologne, Paris, and Prague. He became a church official, holding positions in Utrecht and Aachen.
After recovering from an illness in 1373, he decided to change his life. He gave away his wealth to a monastery and lived alone for seven years, focusing on his faith.
Groote felt called to preach. He traveled around, asking people to change their ways, speaking about God's love, and expressing sadness about problems within the church. Many people were deeply moved by his sermons.
A small group of followers joined Groote and worked with him. These were the first "Brethren of the Common Life." Some church leaders opposed Groote because he spoke out about moral problems. In 1383, his permission to preach was taken away. Still, his passion for improving the Catholic faith and the behavior of its followers gained him many supporters. Even some church officials joined his brotherhood, and it was eventually approved by the Pope.
The Windesheim Community
Gerard Groote died in 1384, before he could finish all his work. Florens Radewyns took over after him. Two years later, Radewyns helped restart a famous monastery of Augustinian canons at Windesheim, near Zwolle. This monastery became the new center for the Brethren's group.
Education and Their Work
Most of the Brethren were laymen, meaning they were not priests or monks. They did not take monastic vows. They focused on helping others, supporting schools, caring for the sick, studying and teaching the Bible, and copying religious books.
They started or supported many schools that became known for their excellent teaching. Many famous people went to their schools, including Nicholas of Cusa, Thomas à Kempis, and Erasmus. All of them studied at the Brethren's school in Deventer.
Books and libraries were very important to the Brethren. They carefully copied religious texts, which helped support their communities and made these spiritual writings available to many people. The houses of the brothers and sisters were busy with reading, writing, and teaching. Their priests also preached.
When Groote began his work, good education was not common in the Netherlands. There were few scholars, and even many higher church officials didn't know much about Latin. Most ordinary people were happy if their children could read and write in their local language.
Groote wanted to change this. The Brethren worked hard copying books by hand. Later, when the printing press was invented, they were able to print and share their spiritual writings widely. Some of the best writings from the 1400s in the Flemish language came from them.
The Brethren were especially involved in educating young people. They ran many schools and hostels for students. In the early 1500s, the Brethren in Zwolle built a large house that could hold 200 poor schoolboys.
The Brethren worked hard to find good teachers for their schools, even from other countries. Their schools became important centers for spiritual and intellectual life in the Catholic Church. Among those they taught or who were connected to them were people like Thomas à Kempis, Dierick Maertens, and even Pope Adrian VI.
Another famous student of the Brethren of the Common Life was Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam. He was a great scholar and writer. One of his most important contributions was a new Greek version of the New Testament (1514). This challenged earlier translations of the Bible. Erasmus accepted the church's structure but questioned some traditional ideas and the problems within the church at that time.
Martin Luther, a key figure in the Protestant Reformation, also studied under the Brethren of the Common Life in Magdeburg before going to university.
Through the trade routes of Dutch cities like Deventer and Zwolle, the ideas of the Modern Devotion spread across Europe. By the end of the 1400s, the Brethren of the Common Life had schools all over Germany and the Netherlands. They offered teaching "for the love of God alone," meaning it was often free or very affordable.
Over time, their schools, which started with basic education, began to teach humanities, philosophy, and theology. Some religious orders were not happy because the Brethren were not monks or friars. However, Popes Eugene IV, Pius II, and Sixtus IV protected them. Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa had been their student, so he became a strong supporter. He also supported Rudolph Agricola, who had studied with Thomas à Kempis in Zwolle. Through these connections, the Brethren influenced Erasmus and other scholars of the "New Learning" (a term for the Renaissance interest in classical studies).
More than half of their crowded schools were destroyed during the religious conflicts of the 1500s. Others slowly declined until the French Revolution. The rise of universities and new teaching groups also led to the gradual end of the schools that looked to Deventer and Windesheim as their founders.
Their Impact
A study in 2016 found that the Brethren of the Common Life "helped lead to high rates of literacy, a lot of book production, and city growth in the Netherlands." This means they played a big part in making more people able to read and in helping cities grow.
Lutheran Community in Herford
Out of about a hundred communities of Brethren, only one became Lutheran during the Reformation.
The Brethren community in Herford fully adopted Lutheranism. But the local city council still threatened to close their house. The Brethren wrote to Martin Luther in 1532, and he defended their community life by writing to the city council. He told them, "Your way of life, since you teach and live according to the Gospel, pleases me no end." He wished there were "more convents like yours!" He encouraged them to "Abide by your way of life and use it to spread the Gospel!" The house of the Brethren of the Common Life in Herford continued as a Lutheran brotherhood until 1841.
A Revived Group
Since 1975, there has been a revived group of the Brothers of the Common Life in Germany. They are called "Canonici Regulares Sancti Augustini Fratrum a Vita Communi" in Latin. They are part of a larger group called the Canons Regular of St Augustine. The head of this group lives in their main house in Maria Bronnen. Since 2000, this community has also helped care for the Marian shrine of Waghäusel.
See also
In Spanish: Hermanos de la Vida Común para niños
- Canons Regular
- Hendrik Mande
