In fact, widespread as was the influence of Blessed John Ruysbroeck on
his contemporaries and incalculable as was the fruit of his writings in
the many cloisters, through which they were rapidly diffused, the means
by which Divine Providence chose chiefly to preserve and propagate his
power was precisely this friendship with Gerard Groote. Gerard
continually strove to imbue his own disciples with the spirit which he
had imbibed from the Prior of Groenendael. For himself and for his
followers he took as a rule of life the motto of Ruysbroeck, _to make it
a chief study to meditate upon the life of Jesus Christ_. "Let the
fountain-head of thy study and thy mirror of life be first the Gospel of
Christ, for there is the life of Christ." The Scriptures should be read
rather than the Fathers, and the New Testament more than the Old, _for
there is the life of Christ_. And herein again what is profitable for a
devout and spiritual life is to be sought rather than the subtleties of
theology and the schools.
When a friend of Gerard's, Reinalt Minnenvosch, projected the founding of
a monastery, Groote advised him to establish a Priory of Canons Regular
on the model of Groenendael. The Canonry of St. Saviour's at Emstein was
the result. At Groote's request, a professed priest came from Groenendael
to initiate the new Religious into the Canonical Life; and later it was
at Emstein that the first members of Gerard's own Congregation of
Windesheim made their noviciate preparatory to Profession.
This was after Gerard Groote's death, but it was in accord with his
express desire. Wishful to establish a Religious Institute in connection
with his _Devout Brothers and Sisters of the Common Life_, who, whether
lay or cleric, were dwelling together without the binding force of the
vows, Gerard fixed upon the Order of Canons Regular for this purpose,
principally, so Thomas a Kempis assures us, because of his profound
veneration for the Prior and Brethren of Groenendael. "He was moved to
institute this Order of Regulars chiefly by his singular reverence and
love for the venerable Dom John Ruysbroeck, the first Prior of
Groenendael, and of the other most exemplary Brethren living there
religiously in the Regular Order."
For further information concerning the _Devout Brothers_ and the
Windesheim Canons the reader is referred to the various works which have
been published of late years on the Venerable a Kempis.[5] Both Brothers
and Canons were living examples of the mystic teachings of Ruysbroeck put
to the test of daily practice. Flight from the pleasures and vanities of
the world, unbounded humility, constant meditation on the life and
especially the Passion of Jesus Christ, the most complete and absolute
abandonment to the Divine Will, an intense devotion full of the personal
love of God--these were the salient points of Blessed John's example and
doctrine, perpetuated and propagated by the works, words, and writings of
the Windesheim Canons Regular and their secular associates, the _Brothers
of the Common Life_. It is scarcely needful to remark also that these are
the chief features of the teaching of the _Imitation of Christ_, that
golden little treatise, which, embodying the whole spirit of the School
of Windesheim and Groenendael, has carried and still carries light,
healing, and consolation to thousands upon thousands who have never so
much as heard of either Windesheim or John Ruysbroeck.[6]
It may be mentioned here that in 1409 the Priory of Groenendael was
instituted the Mother-house of a congregation of that name. But a few
years later this congregation, with its dependent Priories, was
affiliated to the more numerous Windesheim Canons. Thus the twin
institutes were merged into one, and the Windesheim Congregation became
the direct heir of the virtues and teaching of Blessed John Ruysbroeck.
But finally Windesheim was aggregated to the Lateran Congregation of
Canons Regular; and thus it is that to-day the Canons Regular of the
Lateran are privileged, with the clergy of Mechlin, to keep with proper
Office and Mass the Feast of Blessed John Ruysbroeck.
Connected thus intimately with Gerard Groote and Tauler, it is not
surprising that Ruysbroeck shares with these, as with a Kempis, Suso, and
others, the doubtful honour of being proclaimed in certain quarters as a
precursor of the sixteenth-century "Reformation." In support of this
position it is easy enough to gather together expressions of the most
poignant sorrow and of the most bitter invective for the lax morality of
clergy and laity, mendicant friars, and highly placed prelates. But the
same argument would convict several Popes of being heralds of Luther! Not
to labour the point at unnecessary length in a non-controversial work of
this kind, let it suffice to mention the touchstone which never fails to
distinguish the genuine reformer from the mere sectarian: while boldly
attacking the vices of those in office, Blessed John Ruysbroeck never
assails the office itself. He always speaks in the most submissive and
reverent terms of the authority of the Church and of the dignity of the
priesthood. His writings without exception treat in the orthodox sense on
the subject of grace, the sacraments, etc. We have already remarked his
ardent devotion towards the Blessed Eucharist. To this may be added a
most tender love for the Virgin Mother of God. Note, finally, his
frequent and fervent exhortations to the perfect observance of the three
vows of religion, and one can imagine how comfortable he would feel in
the company, say, of Luther and his renegade nun!