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RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Helyot, Ordres monastiquea, v. $92 eqq.; Heimbueher, Orden and %onpreoationen, i. 267-288.

FLORENTIUS RADEWYNS, r8'dt-wins: One of the founders of the Brethren of the Common Life (q.v.); b. at Leerdam (13 m. a. of Utrecht), Holland, in 1350; d. at Deventer March 24, 1400. The son of educated, wealthy parents, he studied at the University of Prague from 1375 to 1378, when he received the degree of licentiate. On his return to Leerdam he heard Geert Groote (q.v.) preach, and the two became friends about 1380. He then exchanged his canonry at Utrecht for a vicarage at Deventer that he might be able to accompany Groote in his travels, and was ordained priest. A band of earnest thinkers gathered around the pair, and Florentius's vicarage became their home. After Groote's death in 1384, Florentius became the head of this community. In 1391 the brethren moved into their own house and their number increased, although the plague of 1398 deprived them of many members. They accordingly moved to Amersfoort, only to return after a year. The community controlled by Florentius was, as Thomas b, Kempis says in his Vita, a mirror of holiness and an ornament of morals, a refuge of the poor, a convent of the clergy, a school of life for the worldly, and a helper of poor scholars. The directions of Florentius became authoritative for all later foundations. After his conversion he was a harmonious picture of modern piety, which, rooted in humility, did not withdraw from the world, but by self-denial sought to win all men for the higher life. At 3 A.m. he began to prepare the work of the brethren and during the day the needy sought his help. No work of charity was too great or too small for him. He bathed the sick himself, and whoever met him once never forgot the deep impression of his personality. He encouraged severe self-examination, and gave prudent advice: " First think, and then act, but do not atop; never work mechanically; never seek thyself." The literary activity of Florentius was scanty, and he restricted himself to matters concerning humility and the fear of God. His principal works are as follows: a letter written at the request of Henricus de Balueren, included' by Jan Busch (q.v.) in his Chronicon Windeshemense, and appended in complete form to the life of Florentius by Thomas i; Kempis; Tradatulus devotus de exstirpatione vitiorum et passionum et acquisitions verarum virtutum et maxims caritatis Dei et proximi et verm unionis cum Deo et proximo, aeu traetatulus de apirilualibus exercitiis (ed. H. Nolte, Freiburg, 1862); Puncta quodam seaundum quee actus suns volebat moderari, quo: quis tegens poterit diqualiter cognoscere interiors ipsius, appended to the life by Thomas h Kempis, and commonly called bona puncta. Tklia latter work reflects the ideal of a man of benevolence and contains the conclusa et proposita prepared by Groote, but collected and enlarged by Florentius. It agrees, for the most part, with the Tractatulus. and is extant in many manuscripts and recensions of his pupils, but the most original form is given by J. B. Malon, in his Recherches historiques et critiques sur le veritable auteur du Livre de p1mitation de Jesus-Christ (3d ed., Paris, 1858). Meditation

Fliesteden Florian upon the principles of Florentius inspired the writings of his pupils, Thomas i! Kempis, Theodore of Herzen, and Zerbold of Zutphen. A work of this character, reflecting the spirit of Florentius, was discovered by J. M. Wiistenhoff in a Berlin manuscript and reprinted by him under the title Parvum et simplex ezercitium ex consualudine humilis patria domini Florentii et aliorum denotontm (Archief tbor nederlandaoAe Kerkgeschiedenis. The Hague, 1894, 80 aqq.). L. SenuLzz.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Chief sources for a life are the Vita by Thomas h Kempis in the latter's Opera, ad. Sommaliue, Antwerp, 1600, Eng. travel. in The FoaHdsrs cif the New Devotion, pp. 81-164, London, 1905; R,. Dier, 8eriptura,

. G. Grote . . . et multis alas fratribua, in G. Dumbar, Arwlecta, 3 vols., Deventer, 1719-22. and Dumbar's Hot kerkelyke en werentlyke Deventer. 2 vole., ib. 1732-38. Consult: K. Grubs. Gerhard Groot and seine Stiftunpen, pp. 66 sqq., Cologne, 1883; BL, ix. 728-729; ADB, vii. 130; and literature under C010IOH LIPS, BBBT88EH or Tea.

FLOREZ, HENRIQUE: Spanish priest; b. at Valladolid Feb. 14, 1701 (P); d. at Madrid May 5, 1773. He was an Augustinian friar, and became teacher of theology at the University of Alcala, rector of the royal college at the same place, theolog ical adviser for the supreme council of Castile and finally general assistant of his order for the Spanish provinces. He wrote a number of works, of which the most important is the Espaaa Sagrada, theairo geogra fco-historico de la igleaia de Espafia; the first volume appeared at Madrid in 1747, and the work was carried on by Floret to the end of vol. xxix (1775); a continuation, vols. xxx: xlviii (1775 1862), was made by his fellow Augustinians, Manuel Risco, Antonio Merino, Jose de la Canal, and the town librarian, P. S. de Baranda. The work contains a historical and statistical presentation of the Spanish bishoprics, with their respective chap ters and monasteries, and a catalogue of their bishops, martyrs, famous men, etc.

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BIBLInaaAPH;: H. Hurter, Nomenelatar Uterarius, vot. iii., Innsbruck, 1895. A list of his works is given in HL, ire

1578-79.

FLORMN, SAINT: The patron saint of Upper Aus. tria, said to have suffered martyrdom by drowning in the Enna at Laureacum (Loreh or St. Lorenz, near Enna, 10 m. s.e. of Linz) during the Diocletian persecution. His Passio, however (ed. B. Krusch, MGR, Script. rer. Merov., iii., 1896, 65-71), is a last of the Passio Irenmi Sirmii and of no value. The saint is first mentioned in the eighth century, when his relics are said to have been worshiped ad puoche ( = Buche, " the beech-tree," the site of the present abbey of St. Florian, 5 m. w.s.w. of Enna). There was probably a monastic settlement there as early as the eighth century under Otkar, an itinerant bishop. Charlemagne gave the cloister to Passau. In the beginning of the tenth century it is mentioned as a congregatio clericoram. Then it was destroyed by the Hungarians, but in the last quarter of the tenth century it was rebuilt,. without, however, regaining its former flourishing condition until Bishop Altmann of Passau made it a foundation of regular canons ire 1071, under an able leader, Hartmann. Since then its existence has never been shaken, but the relics of Florian are lost.

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