The Modern Devotion

Confrontation with Reformation and Humanism

T. The moral Address. Translations

The last work of Groote to be dealt with here is small in size, but not in significance. The publisher called the work The Moral Address.¹ This seems indeed to have been an address which was not elaborated into a thesis. In other words, it was delivered as it stands, which cannot be said for any of the other sermons which have survived. It is a welcome exception, written as it is in the vernacular. Although Groote preached a great many sermons and delivered many addresses most of them probably in the vernacular, everything else that has come down to us is in Latin. The content too differs from his other writings in that the author compares the outward devotional practices and acts of penitence and mortification with inward devotion (innigheid), not so much in order to reject all the externals as to propose certain conditions for their performance.

Taking as his theme Paul's words: Justice, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (that is in the Kingdom of God), he urges his audience to strive to attain these three; this is after all, the same as to cultivate inward devotion. All outward practices such as fasts, scourging, vigils, singing many psalms or saying several Pater Nosters, mortifications such as lying on a hair bed or wearing a hair shirt; all these are good enough, but lose their value if they do not bring forth the three already mentioned: justice, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The work which is otherwise good but which would hinder one of these three, must no longer be considered as a good work. It may still appear good, but it has become bad. Without inner justice a great number of prayers or a life of mortification or penance are meaningless.

1 Ed. J. van Vloten, Nieuw archief voor kerkelijke geschiedenis inzonderheid van Nederland II (1854) 295 (in. 1) 299-307. In the manuscript it is attributed to Geert Groote.

[p. 166]

Groote then explains further the meaning and connection of the three requirements for the inner life: justice, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. One may not have what belongs to another; according to Thomas this is true even in very small matters. Every infringement of justice deprives people of joy and peace. This also follows from the text: Peace to men of good will. He alone is of good will who conforms his will entirely to the divine will. This is to strive after justice and to preserve purity of heart, this now gives peace of heart, a fervent or inner joy.¹ The just man bears every injustice for God. And yet, how many work themselves into a temper on account of a small slight. Groote gives the example of the man and woman who fly out at each other like beasts. This is wrong in general but particularly for married couples where the one must be subject to the other according to the ordinance of God. As the child must be subject to the parents, so the wife must be subject to the husband.²

He expresses this very plainly when he addresses the wife herself: ‘You have not power over your body.’³ But still his attitude to the relationship between man and wife is rather different from De Matrimonio. Love exists. ‘The husband must love his wife,’ says Paul, ‘even as Christ loves the Holy Church.’⁴ The husband must love her and protect her with his power and the wife will be subject to the husband.⁵ The woman, however, is subject to sterner duties than the man. She may not go out secretly, sojourn in strange company and in taverns, as the men do now. She may not eat outside her own house. Mulders, however has rightly observed that love between man and woman is viewed on such a spiritual plane, or at least so recommended that ‘Groote wishes to avoid promoting conjugal love through physical union: he even expressly exhorts to abstinence.’⁶

Since we are not concerned here with giving a complete list of Groote's works, we might be tempted to pass over the translations in silence. And yet there is usually a principle involved in the choice of the book to be translated. The translator considers it beautiful, or useful and wishes by his translation to render it accessible to a large circle of readers. The same motives can be said to have inspired Groote. While

1 van Vloten 303 and 304.

2 Ibid., 305.

3 Ibid., 305 ‘Die en heeft dyns lijfs gheen macht.’

4 Ibid., 307.

5 Ibid., 306.

6 M. Mulders, Geert Groote en het huwelijk, Nijmegen, diss. 1941, 106.

[p. 167]

he considered the second volume of Ruusbroec's book De XII Baguttis completely unsuitable for publishing in the vernacular, and only thought the Boec van de XII trappen fit after various corrections suggested by himself, he had no hesitation in translating Ruusbroec's Chierheit der gheestelyker Brulocht into Latin. He evidently valued the content of this book so highly that he took it upon himself to disseminate the work in much wider circles in a Latin translation.¹ He was entirely successful. To judge from the manuscripts of the Latin text which have been preserved, the book must have had a very wide distribution. This fact is not without significance. Groote showed himself here to be a supporter of Ruusbroec's mysticism. He esteemed it highly and considered it a religious privilege, which he himself had not been granted. This higher mysticism, which we shall meet in a few of the Windesheimers, is not found among the Brethren, who content themselves with a stern asceticism on a religious basis, as they had learned from Groote. I have been able to find no evidence of whether they shared his esteem for the higher election.

In translating a group of hours (of Mary, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Cross, eternal wisdom, for the dead) Groote naturally intended to render these liturgical or semi-liturgical texts understandable for those who had little book learning, some of the Brothers for instance but chiefly many of the sisters. Similar translations existed before him² but these were evidently susceptible of improvement. There must, moreover, have been a considerable demand for such translations owing to the enormous expansion of the monasteries and of quasi monastic institutions. In this connection there are two other things to be borne in mind. Firstly, that Groote's biographers do not agree on which hours Groote translated from Latin into Dutch. Secondly, that it is very difficult to establish if a particular text is indeed Groote's own work. We have to leave this to the experts to decide. Here the important thing is to establish that Gerard Groote felt it necessary to provide the many sisters, usually not entirely to be reckoned as nuns, with a Dutch text of the prayers of the Church. These texts could probably also be used in the choir. This is one of the expressions of his concern for pastoral matters.

1 R. Post, Heeft Geert Groote een of twee boeken van Ruusbroec vertaald? Studia Catholica 25 (1950) 102-104.

2 Tiecke o.c. 179 based on a statement by P. Horn; Ed. of J. Ruusbroec's werken door L. Reypens S.J., Tielt 1948.