Geert Groote

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Geert Groote , or Gerardus Magnus, (* 1340 in Deventer ; † August 20, 1384 ibid) was a Dutch theologian and penitential preacher .

Life

Geert Groote was born as the son of the wealthy businessman Werner Grote and his wife Heylwig van der Basselen. His father was elected mayor of Deventer in 1348. When Geert was ten years old, both parents died of the plague. He attended the chapter school of the collegiate chapter residing at the Lebuinus Church in Deventer of the Oberstift des Hochstift Utrecht . At the age of 15 he went to Paris and began studying at the Sorbonne . He devoted himself to studying law, philosophy, theology and medicine.

Groote had especially received writings by Augustine von Hippo (354–430) and Bernhard von Clairvaux (1090–1153); his teacher was Jan van Ruysbroek .

After he had lived rather extravagantly for a few years, he came to retreat in 1374 , possibly after meeting his friend Heinrich von Calcar , a Carthusian monk . After a few years in an Arnhem monastery (1374–1377), he decided to lead others back to correct teaching through penitential sermons (including against married or wealthy clergy). In order to be able to preach, he was ordained diaconal. He won many followers who formed the group of the Devotio moderna (modern piety). From this emerged the sisters and brothers from the common life as well as the Windesheim congregation , named after the Windesheim monastery near Zwolle .

His views, especially on the subject of marriage, and the relentless exposure of church grievances earned him the hostility of the bishop of Utrecht, among others, who withdrew his permission to preach. He then spread his views through personal conversations, pamphlets and small books. He translated the Latin missal into Low German and wrote a popular “Getijdenboeck”, a book of hours for laypeople.

Groote is considered the origin of a "new piety" ( devotio moderna ). This is characterized by “going into the interior in prayer and (methodical) meditation ... by practicing the virtues in everyday life and work”.

The most important writing of the Windesheim congregation , which was influenced by Groote and which was widely distributed, was the Imitation of Christ by Thomas von Kempen .

Geert Groote influenced Martin Luther , Johannes Calvin , Ignatius von Loyola and Copernicus .

Commemoration

His Protestant feast day is August 21 .

Works

  • MS-B-181 - Paulus Hungarus. Stella clericorum. Geert Groote. Liber paenitentiae. Hermannus de Schildis. Master Adamus. Commentum in Eclogam Theoduli et alia ( composite manuscript). Lower Rhine [around 1401] digitized

literature

in order of appearance

  • Jacob Cornelis van Slee :  Groote, Gerhard . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, pp. 730-733.
  • Jacobus van Ginneken: Geert Groote's levensbeeld naar de oudste Gegevens bewarked (= Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen. Affiliation Letterkunde: Negotiating, Nieuwe reeks, deel 47, No. 2). Noord-Hollandsche Uitgevers Maatschappij, Amsterdam / Harrassowitz, Leipzig 1942.
  • Theodore P. Van Zijl: Gerard Groote, ascetic and reformer (1340-1384) . Catholic University of America Press, Washington DC 1963.
  • Georgette Épiney-Burgard: Gérard Grote (1340–1384) et les débuts de la Dévotion Moderne (= publications of the Institute for European History Mainz, 54). Steiner, Wiesbaden 1970.
  • Hans Norbert Janowski (ed.): Geert Groote, Thomas von Kempen and the Devotio moderna . Walter, Olten 1978, ISBN 3-530-28790-3 .
  • Cornelis Los: Van Geert Groote dead Erasmus. De Broeders des gemenen levens en de navolging van Christ . Christofoor, Zeist 1984, ISBN 90-6238-231-2 .
  • Rijcklof Hofman: Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaeualis 235 . Brepols, Turnhout 2011.
  • Thomas von Kempen: The life of master Gerhard . Sabat publishing house, Kulmbach 2016, ISBN 978-3-943506-35-8 .

Footnotes

  1. ^ Wilken Engelbrecht: Was Geert Grote in Prague? On the question of the relation of the grotesque to pre-Hussitism - a problem sketch . In: Studia minora Facultatis Philosophicae Universitatis Brunensis, Series Archaeologica et Classica , Vol. 37 (1992), pp. 171-185.
  2. ^ A b Ruggiero Romano, Alberto Tenenti : The foundation of the modern world. Late Middle Ages, Renaissance, Reformation (= Fischer Weltgeschichte, Volume 12). Frankfurt am Main 1994, p. 108.
  3. ^ Josef Weismayer: Groote, Geert. In: Christian Schütz (Ed.): Practical Lexicon of Spirituality. Herder, Freiburg i.Br. u. a. 1992, ISBN 3-451-22614-6 , Sp. 571 (572)

Web links

Commons : Geert Groote  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Groote, Geert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gerardus Magnus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch theologian and penitential preacher
DATE OF BIRTH 1340
PLACE OF BIRTH Deventer
DATE OF DEATH August 20, 1384
Place of death Deventer