biography
| name: |
Groote, Geert
|
| |
Lat Gerardus Magnus
|
pronunciation:
[khrohtuh]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1340–84)
|
| biography:
| Scholar, priest, and reformer, born in Deventer, C Netherlands. He studied many subjects in Holland and abroad, and spent three years studying for the priesthood in Paris. led a life of excess until 1374 when, following a spiritual conversion, he became a Carthusian monk and began to preach against the affluent lifestyle practised by many clergy throughout Holland. A brilliant orator, he preached against any immorality he saw, whether it was within the church or outside, and c.1376 founded the movement of the Devotia Moderna (Dutch Moderne Devotie, ‘Brethren of Common Life’, a teaching order evolved from a centre established to copy manuscripts. He translated Ruusbroec's Brulocht into Latin, and translated parts of the Latin church service into Dutch. The Order had great influence on education in Europe until the advent of the printing press and newer teaching orders; the last house closed in 1811. |
|
|
