ILLGEN, CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH: German theologian; b. at Chemnitz (20 m. e.n.e. of Zwickau), Sept. 16, 1786; d. at Leipsic Aug. 4, 1844. He studied in the University of Leipsic, where he was appointed associate professor of philosophy in 1818, and of theology in 1823, becoming full professor in 1825. He was later appointed canon. He was the author of a number of programs, of which the most important were the following: Vita Laelii Socini (Leipsic, 1814-26); Memoria utriusque catechismi Lutheri (1829-30); and Historia collegii philobiblici (1836-40). He likewise wrote Ueber den Werth der christlichen Dogmengeschichte (Leipsic, 1817), a work of little value, and Die Verklärung des irdischen Lebens durch das Evangelium (1823), a volume of sermons. In 1814 he founded the Leipziger historisch-theologische Gesellschaft, and in 1832 established the Zeitschrift für historische Theologie (Leipsic and Gotha, 1832-75), which he edited from 1832 until his death, when the editorship devolved on C. W. Niedner and later on K. F. G. Kahnis.

Bibliography: B. Lindner, in ZHT, 1845, p. 3.

ILLUMINATI: A name given by the Church Fathers to the baptized, and at a later time borne by several societies. It was given to a mystical sect that appeared in Spain in 1524 under the name of Alumbrados or Alombrados (q.v.). This society was abolished by the Inquisition, but reappeared in 1623 in France under the name of Guerinets, to perish there in 1635. A similar sect, originating about 1722 in southern France, existed until the Revolution, (1794). In more recent times the name "Illuminati" refers principally to the members of a secret society founded on May 1, 1776, by Adam Weishaupt (b. at Ingolstadt Feb. 6, 1748; d. at Gotha Nov. 18, 1830), professor of canon law at Ingolstadt, and patterned after the model of the Jesuit order. Aside from gratifying his ambition, Weishaupt's object was to combat religion and further rationalism. From Ingolstadt he spread his propaganda to Eichstadt, Freising, Munich, and other places. Every candidate had to give a written promise to tell nobody of this society. He learned nothing of his superiors and of the origin of the society, but was confirmed in the belief that the order could be traced back to antiquity, and that its members included even popes and cardinals. The candidate was bound by an oath to seize every opportunity to serve humanity and to better knowledge; he further vowed eternal silence and strict obedience. Every month he had to send a report to his superior, whom he did not know. Each member received a name usually borrowed from classical literature, such as Socrates, Alcibiades, Cato, Marius; Weishaupt called himself Spartacus. Weishaupt had at heart the collection of a large library, for the purpose of establishing an academy of scholars. In order to obtain books, his associates were not to shrink from the theft of manuscripts; for Weishaupt taught them "sin is only that which is hurtful, and if the profit is greater than the damage, it becomes a virtue."

The fantastic work of Weishaupt would have fallen to pieces if Baron von Zwack (Cato) had not secured for the society a firmer hold by con-

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necting it with freemasonry. Lodges already in existence were quietly brought under the rule of. the Illuminati, and new lodges were established in which the degrees of the Illuminati were treated as higher grades of masonry. By identifying itself with freemasonry, the order was largely increased, freed from financial difficulties, and protected from persecution. In 1780 the Marquis Von Constanzo (Diomedes) succeeded in winning at Frankfort Baron Adolf von Knigge, to whom the Illuminati owed the complete structure of their system as well as the larger part of their adherents in Middle and North Germany. Three classes of Illuminati were now formed, one of novices and "minervals," one of freemasons, and one of the students of the mysteries.

The most successful apostle of the order besides Knigge was Bode, a councilor of Duke Ernst of Gotha, who, in Thuringia and Saxony, as well as on the Rhine, secured numerous men of high rank - scholars, poets, and even princes. The movement soon extended from Italy to Denmark, from Warsaw to Paris; the number of members is estimated at 2,000. Goethe, Herder, Ernst II, of Gotha, Karl August of Weimar, Ferdinand of Brunswick, the Prince of Wied, and other secular and spiritual lords were at some time either actual members of the order or counted on its list. But it was inevitable that the morally offensive character of the order and its danger to the state should be detected. In Aug., 1784, a decree was issued in Bavaria prohibiting all secret societies. Embittered by the ungratefulness and arrogance of Weishaupt, Knigge had retired from the order in 1784. Weishaupt now lost his position at the university and went to Regensburg, then to Gotha, where Duke Ernst granted him the salary of a privy councilor. In 1785, after the discovery of the moral baseness of the order from secret correspondence of Weishaupt, a sharp persecution began which soon brought the whole institution to collapse.

Paul Tschackert.

Bibliography: For a list of literature on the subject consult G. Kloss, Bibliographie der Freimaurerei, nos. 3211-3275, Frankfort, 1844. The sources are the works of Weishaupt, of which the principal ones are Vollständige Geschichte der Verfolgung der llluminaten, Frankfort, 1786; Apologia der Illuminaten, ib., 1787; Das verbesserte System, ib., 1787; Kurze Rechtfertigung meiner Absichten, with Nachtrag, ib., 1787; Einige Originalschriften des Illuminatenordens, Munich, 1786; System und Folgen des Illuminatenordens, ib., 1787; Die neuesten Arbeiten des Spartacus und Philo, ib., 1794. Consult also: J. P. L. de la Roche du Maine, Essai sur la secte des Illuminées, Paris, 1792; J. A. Stark, Triumph der Philosophie, ii. 259 sqq., Regensburg, 1847; H. Brück, Die rationalistischen Bestrebungen im katholischen Deutschland, Mainz, 1865.