Premonstratensian

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The Norbertines, also known as the Premonstratensians and in England, as the White Canons (from the color of their habit), are a Christian religious order of Augustinian canons founded at Prémontré near Laon in 1120 by Saint Norbert, afterwards archbishop of Magdeburg. Norbertine priests are designated by O Praem following their name.

St. Norbert had made various efforts to introduce a strict form of canonical life in various communities of canons in Germany; in 1120 he was working in the diocese of Laon, and there in a desert place, called Prémontré, in Aisne, he and thirteen companions established a monastery to be the cradle of a new order. They were canons regular and followed the so-called Rule of St. Augustine, but with supplementary statutes that made the life one of great austerity. Norbert was a friend of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux and he was largely influenced by the Cistercian ideals as to both the manner of life and the government of his order. But as the Premonstratensians were not monks but canons regular, their work was preaching and the exercise of the pastoral office, and they served a large number of parishes incorporated in their monasteries.

1 History
2 Famous Premonstratensians
3 Abbeys founded by the Premonstratensians
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

The order was founded in 1120. In 1126, when it received papal approbation, there were nine houses; and others were established in quick succession throughout western Europe, so that at the middle of the 14th century there are said to have been over 1,300 monasteries of men and 400 of women. The Norbertines played a predominant part in the conversion of the Wends and the Christianizing of the territories around the Elbe and the Oder. In time mitigations and relaxations crept in, and these gave rise to reforms and semi-independent congregations within the order. The Norbertines came into England about 1143, first at Newhouse in Lincoln, and before the dissolution under Henry VIII there were 35 houses.

By the beginning of the 19th century the order had been almost exterminated, only eight houses surviving, all in Austria. At the start of the 20th century there were 20 monasteries and 1,000 priests. As of 2005, the number of monasteries had increased to nearly 100 and spread to every continent. In the 21st century, because they follow the Augustinian Rule, this group is regarded as one of the Independent Augustinian Communities.

In the 1990s, Norbertines in Ireland came under fire for their complicity in covering up the crimes of Fr. Brendan Smyth, a member of the order who was convicted of child molestation.

[edit] Famous Premonstratensians

Robert J. Cornell (1919-), Democratic U.S. Congressman from Wisconsin from 1975-1979 and professor of political science at St. Norbert College.
Astrik L. Gabriel (1907-2005), director of the Medieval Institute at the University of Notre Dame from 1952 to 1975.
Johann Zahn (1631-1707), German canon who wrote on the camera obscura and who invented an early camera.

[edit] Abbeys founded by the Premonstratensians

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

[edit] References

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
Helyot, Histoire des ordres réligieux (1714).
Max Heimbucher, Orden u. Kongregationen (1907), ii. 56.
Premonstratensian Canons from the Catholic Encyclopedia.