Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

PREMONSTRATENSIANS

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 279 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

PREMONSTRATENSIANS , also called Norbertines, and in See also:

England See also:White Canons, from the See also:colour of the See also:habit: an orderof Augustinian Canons founded in 1120 by St Norbert, after-wards See also:archbishop of See also:Magdeburg. He had made various efforts to introduce a strict See also:form of canonical See also:life in various communities of canons in See also:Germany; in 1120 he was working in the See also:diocese of See also:Laon, and there in a See also:desert See also:place, called Premontre, in See also:Aisne, he and thirteen companions established a monastery to be the See also:cradle of a new See also:order. They were canons See also:regular and followed the so-called See also:Rule of St See also:Augustine (see See also:AUGUSTINIANS), but with supplementary statutes that made the life one of See also:great austerity. St Norbert was a friend of St See also:Bernard of See also:Clairvaux—and he was largely influenced by the Cistercian ideals as to both the manner of life and the See also:government of his order. But as the Premonstratensians were not monks but canons regular, their See also:work was See also:preaching and the exercise of the See also:pastoral See also:office, and they served a large number of parishes incorporated in their monasteries. The order was founded in 1120; in 1126, when it received papal approbation, there were nine houses; and others were established in See also:quick See also:succession throtthout western See also:Europe, so that at the See also:middle of the 14th See also:century there are said to have been over 1300 monasteries of men and 400 of See also:women. The Premonstratensians played a predominant See also:part in the See also:conversion of the See also:Wends and the Christianizing and civilizing of the territories about the See also:Elbe and the See also:Oder. In See also:time mitigations and relaxations crept in, and these gave rise to reforms and semi-See also:independent congregations within the order. The Premonstratensians came into England (c. 1143) first at Newhouse in See also:Lincoln, and before the See also:dissolution under See also:Henry VIII. there were 35 houses. At the beginning of the 19th century the order had been almost exterminated, only eight houses surviving, all in the See also:Austrian dominions. There are now some 20 monasteries and See also:I000 canons, who serve numerous parishes; and there are two or three small houses in England.

The strength of the order now lies in See also:

Belgium, where at Tongerloo is a great Premonstratensian See also:abbey that still maintains a semblance of its See also:medieval See also:state. See also:Helyot, Histoire See also:des ordres relsgieux (1714), ii. chs. 23—26; Max Heimbucher, Orden u. Kongregationen (1907), ii. § 56; articles in Wetzer u. Welte Kirchenlexicon (2nd ed.) and See also:Herzog Realencyklopadie (3rd ed.). The best See also:special study is F. See also:Winter, See also:Die Pramonstratenser des 12. Jahrh. and ihre Bedeutung See also:fur das nordostliche Deutschland (1865). (E. C.

End of Article: PREMONSTRATENSIANS

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
PREMONITION (from Lat. prae, before, monere, to adv...
[next]
PRENZLAU, or PRENZLOW