Sisters of life together
The sisters of common life emerged in connection with the Devotio moderna of the 14th century. They were the female counterpart to the brotherhoods . Since the beginning of the 15th century, the sisterhood spread from the Netherlands to what is now Germany.
History and characteristics
Gerhard Groote (1340–1384) is considered to be the founder of the Devotio Moderna piety movement . In 1379 he donated his parents' house in Deventer for the first sister house. The Meester-Geertshuis became the mother house of the sisters of life together. From the Netherlands, the movement spread to what is now Germany. The focus was on the Low German area. Heinrich von Ahaus , who also founded the Fraterhaus in Münster , also established sister houses in Borken , Coesfeld , Wesel , Dinslaken , Lippstadt , Schüttdorf and Münster . Further north there were communities in Lübeck , Plön , Neumünster and east in Neustadt .
The sisters' ideal was an inner piety and a gospel- oriented way of life. They were concerned with inner perfection as well as serving one's neighbor and community.
There was no religious rule. However, Groote drafted statutes for the parent company. These were adapted by the individual communities to local conditions. In contrast to the beguines , for example, it was a really communal life. There was a refectory and a dormitory . The sisters had joint property and income. They did not wear a habit or take any vows. The binding to the respective house statutes was voluntary. The sisters could leave the community. However, they then had to forego the property brought into the community. They mostly earned their living with manual labor. In many cases they devoted themselves to spinning and weaving. At the head was a master or mother and a confessor.
The mendicant orders were opposed to the brothers and sisters from the common life, because they refused begging and considered manual labor to be necessary for a virtuous life. The attempt of the mendicant orders to get the Council of Constance to ban the movement failed.
The sister houses in the Netherlands were loosely organized in the colloquium of Zwolle , in northern Germany in the colloquium of Münster and in southern Germany in the general chapter of Marienthal. A central association or a congregation did not arise.
The number of sister houses is not completely clear, as it is difficult to distinguish it from the Beguines and the monasteries with the Augustinian rule , i.e. the Augustinian choir women . In order to avoid resistance and criticism, most houses adopted this rule. Most of them also introduced the exam in a milder form . Overall, there was an adjustment to a monastic way of life. This applies, for example, to the houses in Münster and Coesfeld. Therefore the numbers for Germany vary between 33 and over 100. There were around 80 communities in the Netherlands. Some of these had over 100 members. Many branches went under during the Reformation .
literature
- Edeltraud Klueting : Monasteria semper reformanda: Monastery and order reforms in the Middle Ages . Münster, 2005 pp. 67-68
- Gerhard Rehm: The sisters from living together in north-western Germany. Berlin, 1985
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Wilhelm Kohl : The devotio moderna in Westphalia . In: Géza Jászai (Ed.): Monastic Westphalia. Monasteries and monasteries 800–1800 . Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe, Münster 1982, ISBN 3-88789-054-X , p. 205.