Brethren of The Common Life - The Brethren and The Devotio Moderna

The Brethren and The Devotio Moderna

The Brethren's confraternity is the best known fruits of the Devotio Moderna, the Modern Devotion. A small band of followers attached themselves to Groote and became his fellow-workers, thus becoming the first "Brethren of the Common Life" (Dutch: Broeders des gemeenen levens). The reformer was opposed by the clergy, whose lax lives he denounced in his preaching as decadent and evil, but his zeal for purifying the Catholic faith and the morality of its followers won many to his cause. The best of the secular clergy even enrolled themselves in his brotherhood, which in due course was approved by the Pope.