THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Vijftig jaar in de Theologie, ib. 1872; G. J. Vos Azn, Groen ran Prinsterer en zijn lijd, i. 67-85, passim, Dort, 1SS6; J. H. Gunning, Het protestantsche Nederland onzer dagen, pp. 25-30, Groningen, 1889. The teachings of the school were embodied in Series compendiorum theologicorum in usum scholarum academicarum, 7 vols., 1835-61, embracing treatises on theological encyclopedia, hermeneutics, church history, Christian ethics, practical theology and dogmatics, and apologetics.
GROOTE (Groot, Groet, Groete, de Groete), GEERT (Gerrit, Gerhard) : Founder of the Brethren
of the Common Life (see Common Life, Brethren of the); b. at Deventer (8 m. n. of Zutphen), Holland, Oct., 1340; d. there Aug. 20, 1384. He was educated at the cathedral school of his native place, after which he studied theology, philosophy, medicine, canon law, astronomy, magic, and Hebrew at the University of Paris. He Life. then went to Cologne, and even to Prague (1360), and visited the papal court of Urban V. at Avignon in 1366. Two canonries and his private fortune enabled him to lead a gay and luxurious life, but while seriously ill in 1374 his early friend, Henry of Kalkar (q.v.), became the agent of his sincere and deep conversion. Groote now resigned his income, retaining only as much as wTas necessary for a modest living; in shabby attire he wandered about as a preacher of repentance, but he kept his books, and spent much of his time in study and prayer, associating only with his friends of like sentiments, Jan Coele, Henry of Kalkar, and Jan van Ruysbroeck, whom he had visited as early as 1377. For a time he retired to the monastery of Monnikhuizen, but after three years he came forward as public preacher of repentance. He declined ordination, and wished only to labor as a missionary preacher with episcopal permission. Before entering upon his work, he devoted the last part of his possessions to a dwelling for virgins and widows without monastic profession.
From place to place Groote went, preaching in the vernacular at Deventer, Zwolle, Kampen, Amersfoort, Amsterdam, Haarlem, Gouda, Leyden, Delft, and Zutphen. The churches were too His small to hold his hearers, on whom he
Preaching, impressed the vital question of the salvation of the soul. He revealed the iniquities of clergy and laity, preaching against avarice, simony, and unchastity, while his fiercest invectives were launched against "focaristse" (priests living in concubinage) and against heretics (the Brethren of the Free Spirit, q.v.). His influence upon the laity and clergy was profound and lasting, his followers including Florentius Radewyns, Johannes Voss, Johannes a Kempis (brother of Thomas), Heinrich Wilde, Berthold ten Have, Johannes Waater, and the priests Johannes Scutken, Johannes Klingerbiel, Werner Keyenkamp, as well as Hendrik van Wilsen, burgomaster of Kampen, and the physician Everhard of Almelo or Eza. Groote's life and words influenced his auditors deeply. His bishop often invited him to preach, once before the General Synoil, and urged him especially to inveigh against concubinage (1383). The secular clergy, on the other hand, attacked him for his castigation of their luxury, simony, and usury, while the monks assailed
him on account of his diatribes against their idleness and assumed poverty. The magistrates and laymen sided with them, even accusing him of heresy, and the bishop was induced to forbid preaching by those who had not been ordained, this prohibition naturally including Groote with the rest. In refutation of the charge of heresy he wrote his Publico, protestatio, while to offset the prohibition of preaching he referred unsuccessfully to the canon law. His influence was not diminished by these attacks, however, but showed itself especially in the school through which he wished to educate a better and wiser clergy, while his prestige was still more evident at Deventer and Zwolle, where the houses of the Brethren and Sisters of the Common Life and the congregation of Windesheim were founded.
In his teaching, Groote was in full accord with his Church, though his mode of life showed a certain legalistic trait. His day's work was strictly regulated. He slept seven hours, ate only once, and declined every invitation from outside. Prayer, meditation, and reading of the Bible and the Church Fathers filled the day. He heard mass each day, and also ministered constantly to his fellow men, besides conducting an extensive correspondence. His control of the school was exercised chiefly through his devoted teachers, although he aided the pupils, whom he employed to copy manuscripts, and influenced them profoundly. He had preached but three years and a half when he died of the plague.
Groote's literary activity was essentially practical and pastoral. The most complete lists of his writings, some of which are still unpublished, are given by Bonet-Maury (pp. 91 sqq.) His and Anger (p. 272). Among his ser-
Sermons. mons special mention may be made of the following: De focaristis (reprinted in the Ar chief voor kerkelijke geschiedenis, i., Leyden, 1829, pp. 365-379); Sermo in festo palmarum de paupertate (ed. W. Moll, in Stvdien en bijdragen op 't gebied der historische theologie, ii., Amsterdam, 1872, pp. 432-469); an informal sermon (ed. J. Van Vloten, in his Versameling van nederland prozastukken, Leyden, 1851, and again in the Nieuw archief voor kerkelijke geschiedenis insonderheid van Nederland, ii., Leyden, 1854, pp. 299 sqq.); De vijfpoente, die Meester G. de Groot in den volke t' Utrecht predide, discovered in a Vienna manuscript of the year 1393 by F. Hellwald (ed. W Moll in Studien en bijdragen, i., Amsterdam, 1870, pp. 404-411); Sermo de septem verbis Domini pendentis in cruce (not yet published); Sermo de nativitate Christi, mentioned by J. Foppens; Publica protestatio de veridica evangelii prcedicatione, written before he was forbidden to preach (ed. J. Clarisse from a Utrecht manuscript in Archief voor kerkelijke geschiedenis, i., Leyden, 1829, p. 359); Conclusa et proposita, non vota in nomine Domini a Mag. Gerardo edita, in the Vita by Thomas a Kempis, comprising rules of life and admonitions, often with slight relevance; Consilium cuidam juveni datum, cui collata fuit ecclesia qua dam, curata ad instantiam sororis sum (ed. J. Clarisse, in Archief, iii., Leyden, 1831, supplement 3, pp. 13 sqq.); Tractatus de matrimonio (ed.