Gerhard groote biography

A Dutch Catholic deacon, who was a popular preacher and the founder of the Brethren of the Common Life.

Groote was the first successful practical mystic, who worked and prayed, and taught others to do the same.

Geert Groote (born October 1340, Deventer, Lordship of Overijssel [now in the Netherlands]—died August 20, 1384, Deventer) was a.

Geert Groote.

The Dutch evangelical preacher Gerard Groote (1340-1384) is considered the founder of the Brethren of the Common Life and of the Devotio Moderna.

Geert Groote (born October 1340, Deventer, Lordship of Overijssel [now in the Netherlands]—died August 20, 1384, Deventer) was a..

Geert Groote

Dutch Renaissance humanist and mystic

Gerard Groote (October 1340 – 20 August 1384), otherwise Gerrit or Gerhard Groet, in LatinGerardus Magnus, was a DutchCatholicdeacon, who was a popular preacher and the founder of the Brethren of the Common Life.

He was a key figure in the Devotio Moderna movement.

Biography

Birth and education

He was born in the Hanseatic city Deventer in the Bishopric of Utrecht, where his father held a good civic position.

He studied at Aachen, then went to the University of Paris when only fifteen.

Gerard Groote, otherwise Gerrit or Gerhard Groet, in Latin Gerardus Magnus, was a Dutch Catholic deacon, who was a popular preacher and the founder of the Brethren of the Common Life.

Here he studied scholasticphilosophy and theology at the Sorbonne under a pupil of William of Occam's, from whom he imbibed the nominalist conception of philosophy; in addition he studied Canon law,^[1]medicine, astronomy and even magic, and apparently some Hebrew.

After a brilliant course he graduated in 1358. In 1362 he was appointed teacher at the Deventer chapter school.

Religious life

Soon after, Groote settl