Geert Groote

Geert Groote (born October 1340, Deventer, Lordship of Overijssel [now in the Netherlands]—died August 20, 1384, Deventer) was a Dutch priest and educator whose establishment of a centre for manuscript copiers led to the formation of the Brethren of the Common Life, a teaching order that was a major influence in the development of German humanism. He is also considered the father of the devotio moderna movement, which stressed meditation and the inner life and criticized the highly speculative spirituality of the 13th and 14th centuries.

The son of wealthy parents, Groote studied for the priesthood at Paris. He later received a generous share of the revenues gathered by the cathedral at Cologne as a reward for his successful mission to the pope in residence at Avignon, France. On this income Groote lived a life of ease for a number of years.

In 1371 Groote gathered a number of impoverished scholars who wished to earn income by copying manuscripts and housed them together at the residence of his friend Florentius Radewyns in Deventer. Out of this grew the Brethren of the Common Life, an order approved by Pope Gregory XI. As Groote’s disciples, the Brethren practiced devotio moderna, which affirmed the sanctity of everyday life, and lived simply as charitable teachers and lay preachers. The Brethren’s houses spread rapidly throughout the Netherlands and Germany, and, as a teaching order, the Brethren influenced patterns of elementary and secondary education throughout Europe, stressing humanistic studies and Latin and establishing graded schooling and new textbooks. Erasmus was one of many northern European scholars who studied under the Brethren during the late Middle Ages. The Brethren of the Common Life declined after the invention of printing and the rise of new teaching orders and universities, their last house closing in 1811.

Groote also founded at Deventer the first house of Sisters of the Common Life. They were devoted to education, the copying of books, and weaving.

In 1374 Groote underwent a profound spiritual conversion. Groote renounced worldly goods, turned over his house as a haven for poor women who wished to serve God, and began a period of intense meditation. In 1380 he came out of isolation to preach and attack clerical excesses and abuses throughout Holland. He soon gained a large following, and he continued his efforts until he died of the plague.

After Groote’s death, Radewyns and several other Brethren became Augustinian Canons and established the Congregation of Windesheim. This community and the Brethren of the Common Life became the principal exponents of devotio moderna.