Congregation of Windesheim - History

History

The Brethren of the Common Life, who did not form an order or congregation strictly so called, had become obnoxious to the mendicant friars and the object of their attacks. To remedy this, their founder, Gerard Groote, advised on his deathbed in 1384 that some of the brethren should adopt the rule of an approved Order (Chron. Wind., 263). His successor, Florence Radewyns, carried this advice into effect. Six of the brethren, carefully chosen as specially fitted for the work, among them John, elder brother of Thomas a Kempis, were sent to the monastery of Eymsteyn (founded 1382) to learn the usages of the canons regular. In 1386, they erected huts for a temporary monastery at Windesheim, and in March of the following year commenced the building of a monastery and church, which were consecrated by Hubert Lebene, titular Bishop of Hippo and auxiliary bishop of Utrecht, on 17 October 1387. At the same time the six men took their vows.

The real founder of the greatness of Windesheim was Johann Vos, the second prior (1391–1424), under whom the number of canons was greatly increased and many foundations were made. The first of these were Marienborn near Arnheim and Niewlicht near Hoorn (1392). These two houses, Eymsteyn and the motherhouse, were the first members of the congregation--or Chapter (capitulum) as it was then called. The congregation was approved and received certain privileges from Pope Boniface IX in 1395. Their constitutions, added to the Rule of St. Augustine, were approved by Pope Martin V at the Council of Constance.

Unlike other congregations of canons regular, those of Windesheim followed a monastic life as if they were an enclosed religious order, but they were not. The life of the canons was strict, but not over-severe. A postulant was asked if he could sleep well, eat well, and obey well, since, "...these three points are the foundation of stability in the monastic life." Their constitutions exhibit in many points the influence of the Carthusian statutes. The canons wore a black or grey mozzetta and rochet over a grey tunic.

While other groups of canons regular followed the Benedictine practice of being totally autonomous communities, Windesheim followed the example of the newer Orders, such as the Carthusians and Dominicans, and adopted a more centralized form of government. Like the Carthusians, Windesheim broke from the standard practice in monastic life by having all members of the congregation subject to the Prior General, who could transfer them from one house to another as needed. An annual General Chapter was held at Windesheim "after the fashion of the brethren of the Carthusian Order," at which all the priors would offer their resignation. The prior of Windesheim was the Prior General, or head of the congregation, with considerable powers. After 1573 the Prior General was elected from among the priors of the various monasteries.

The Divine Office at first followed in general the Ordinarium of Utrecht (for the reform of the Windesheim liturgical books by Radulfus de Rivo, Dean of Tongeren, see Mohlbeg, op. cit. infra). The Windesheim Breviary was printed at Louvain in 1546.

By 1407, the congregation numbered twelve monasteries. In 1413, it was joined by the seven Brabant houses of the Groenendaal congregation, of which the famous mystic John of Ruysbroeck had been a member, and in 1430, by the twelve houses of the Congregation of Neuss, in the Archdiocese of Cologne. When the Windesheim Congregation reached the height of its prosperity towards the end of the fifteenth century, it numbered eighty-six houses of canons and sixteen of nuns, mostly situated in what is the Netherlands, and in the ecclesiastical province of Cologne. Those that survived the Reformation (they still numbered 32 in 1728) were suppressed at the end of the eighteenth or beginning of the nineteenth century. Uden in Holland was the only survivor at the early 20th century (Heimbucher, 11, 43).

The destruction of Windesheim itself began in 1572, when the altars in the church were destroyed by the people of Zwolle; the suppression of that priory came in 1581. There are practically no remains of the buildings. The last prior of Windesheim, Marcellus Lentius (d. 1603), never obtained possession of this monastery.