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ILLUMINATI (Lat. illuminare)
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See also:ILLUMINATI (See also:Lat. illuminare) , a designation in use from the 15th See also:century, and applied to, or assumed by, enthusiasts of types distinct from each other, according as the " See also:light " claimed was viewed as directly communicated from a higher source, or as due to a clarified and exalted See also:condition of the human intelligence. To the former class belong the alumbrados of See also:Spain. Menendez Pelayo first finds the name about 1492 (in the See also:form alumirados, 1498), but traces them back t:o a Gnostic origin, and thinks their views were promoted in Spain through influences from See also:Italy. One of their earliest leaders, See also:born in See also:Salamanca, a labourer's (See also:laughter, known as La Beata de Piedrahita, came under the See also:notice of the See also:Inquisition in 1511, as claiming to hold colloquies with our See also:Lord and the Virgin; having high patrons, no decision was taken against her (Los Heterodoxos Espanoles, 1881, See also:lib. v.). See also:Ignatius See also:Loyola, while studying at Salamanca (1527) was brought before an ecclesiastical See also:commission on a See also:charge of sympathy with the alumbrados, but escaped with an admonition. Others were not so fortunate. In 1529 a See also:congregation of unlettered adherents at See also:Toledo was visited with scourging and imprisonment. Greater rigours followed, and for about a century the alumbrados afforded many victims to the Inquisition, especially at See also:Cordova. The See also:movement (under the name of Illumines) seems to have reached See also:France from See also:Seville in 1623, and attained some proportions in See also:Picardy when joined (1634) by See also:Pierre See also:Guerin, cure of See also:Saint-Georges de Roye, whose followers, known as Guerinets, were suppressed in 1635 (Hermant, Hist. See also:des heresies, 1717). Another and obscure See also:body of Illumines came to light in the See also:south of France in 1722, and appears to have lingered till 1i94, having See also:affinities with those known contemporaneously in this See also:country as " See also:French Prophets," an offshoot of the See also:Camisards. Of different class were the so-called Illuminati, better known as Rosicrucians, who claimed to originate in 1422, but See also:rose into notice in 1J37; a See also:secret society, combining with the mysteries of See also:alchemy the See also:possession of See also:esoteric principles of See also:religion. Their positions are embodied in three See also:anonymous See also:treatises of 1614 (See also:Richard et See also:Giraud, Dict. de la theol. cath.). A See also:short-lived movement of republican freethought, to whose adherents the name Illuminati was given, was founded on May-See also:day 1776 by See also:Adam Weishaupt (d. 1830), See also:professor of See also:Canon See also:Law at See also:Ingolstadt, an ex-Jesuit. The chosen See also:title of this See also:Order or Society was Perfectibilists (Pcrfektibilisten). Its members, pledged to obedience to their superiors, were divided into three See also:main classes; the first including " novices," " minervals " and " lesser illuminati "; the second consisting of freemasons, " See also:ordinary," " Scottish " and " Scottish knights "; the third or " See also:mystery " class comprising two grades of " See also:priest " and " See also:regent " and of " magus " and " See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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