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Chapter Xx ―Christian Rosencreuz‖

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Chapter Xx ―Christian Rosencreuz‖ CHAPTER XX ―CHRISTIAN ROSENCREUZ‖ It was during the Rosicrucian Enlightenment of the 17th century that the Rosicrucian Manifestos were published anonymously. These mysterious publications heralded a future ―reformation of the whole wide world‖ to be inaugurated by the Fraternity of the Rosy Cross. First there appeared the Fama Fraternitatis of the Meritorious Order of the Rosy Cross (1614), followed by the Confession of the Rosicrucian Fraternity (1615) and, lastly, The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz (1616). The first two manifestos were published anonymously. There is speculation that Francis Bacon was the author, however, the manifestos have historically been attributed to Johann Valentin Andreae who was a German theologian, Lutheran minister and Grand Master of the Prieuré de Sion from 1637-1654. According to three Rosicrucian Manifestos published early in the 17th century, ―Christian Rosenkreuz‖ was the founder of the Rosicrucian Order or the Order of the Rose Cross. The first of these manifestos, the Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis published in 1614 in Kassel, Germany, introduced the founder of the Rosicrucian Order only as ―Frater C.R.C.‖ The Fama was followed the next year by the Confessio Fraternitatis and, the following year, The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, published in Strasbourg, disclosed the founder‘s name as Christian Rosenkreuz. The ―legend‖ of Christian Rosenkreuz is summarized in the Rose Croix Journal: ―The main part of the Fama related the life and death of Christian Rosenkreuz (‗Rosy Cross‘), a mythical figure described as the founder of the Order. According to the Confessio, Rosenkreuz was born in 1378 of a noble family in poor circumstances. At the age of four he was placed in a monastery. When still ‗in his growing years‘ the young man set out, accompanied by a monk, on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. But the monk died in Cyprus, and Rosenkreuz studied in Damascus, where he became well known for his medical skill. Then he traveled to ‗Damkar‘ in Arabia, where he studied under a group of wise men ‗to whom Nature was discovered.‘ These wise men had been expecting Rosenkreuz. They taught him Arabic, physics, and mathematics, and introduced him to the Book M, which contained the secrets of the universe, and which he translated into Latin. ―Later, after studying botany and zoology in Egypt, and magic and the Cabala at Fez, Rosenkreuz was equipped to teach the learned of Europe how to ‗order all their studies on those sure and sound foundations.‘ He eventually returned to Germany, where he assembled seven disciples, and the group of eight founded the Fraternity of the Rosy Cross. It was determined that they would live in separate countries where they might influence learned people. ‗Before dispersing, they agreed to profess nothing but to cure the sick, without payment; not to distinguish themselves by any particular costume; to meet annually in Germany; to nominate their successors before dying; to adopt the initials R.C. as their seal; and to keep their fraternity secret for one hundred years.‘ ―The Fama also declared that Rosenkreuz died at the age of 106 [1484] and was buried in a hidden tomb. This tomb was later discovered in 1604 by the authors of the Fama. The tomb or vault lay behind a concealed door bearing the words ‗I shall open after 120 years.‘ Inside was a seven-sided vault lit by a mysterious luminary set in the roof. In the center stood an altar, beneath which they found the body of Rosenkreuz, ‗whole and unconsumed.‘ The tomb also contained a chest of mirrors and a copy of the Book T, ―our greatest treasure next to the Bible.‖ (Rosicrucian Digest) 279 ―Christian Rosenkreuz‖ was born in 1378, the year in which the Great Schism began. It was also the year John Wycliffe stood trial before the Catholic bishops at Lambeth, only to be acquitted of heresy courtesy of the Queen Mother, Joan of Kent, who intervened in the proceedings. An account of that trial is recorded in David Fowler‘s book on The Life and Times of John Trevisa, Medieval Scholar: ―…Courtenay, as bishop of London procured the citation of Wyclif to appear before Archbishop Sudbury at St. Paul‘s in 1377… Later that same year, the lobbying of Benedictines in the papal court resulted in the promulgation of bulls by Gregory XI citing eighteen errors attributed to Wyclif, and requiring his arrest and examination. ―At the very time all this was going on, the government was seeking Wyclif‘s opinion on the legality of preventing its wealth from going abroad, even if the pope demanded it—and indeed he was doing so at that moment. Wyclif of course affirmed the legality of such a procedure in very strong language. Meanwhile, ecclesiastical efforts to have him arrested continued, and he finally appeared before Sudbury in 1378, protected by a prohibition by the king’s mother against any final judgment in the case [birth of Christian Rosenkreutz?], with the result that he was simply told not to express any opinions that might scandalize the laity. This year also marked the death of Gregory XI and the beginning of the beginning of the great schism, an event which no doubt further weakened the efforts of any pope to make his voice heard in national affairs. ―England itself was at this time experiencing a certain turbulence as a result of the collection of two burdensome subsidies inflicted on the disgruntled population by a Parliament controlled by John of Gaunt [Plantagenet]. The unpopularity of the poll taxes was destined to erupt in the riots of June 1381 in London and elsewhere, which were to shake the confidence of the entire nation (Covella, 1992, pp. 34-35). But whatever the forces that were at work nationally, Wyclif himself was now embarked on a course from which there was no turning back. By the time his De Eucharistica appeared in 1379, his few supporters that remained among the friars were alienated, and even his colleagues on the secular faculty were alarmed. The following year his old friend from Merton, William de Barton, now chancellor of the University, appointed a committee…to report on his teaching on the Eucharist. The adverse judgment of this group, by a vote of seven to five, we have already observed. Wyclif‘s reply to this judgment, The Confessio, was issued on 10 May 1381, but in its wake came accusations of complicity, the seculars accusing the regulars, in particular the friars, of causing the uprising, and the latter pointing an accusing finger at the heretical teachings of Wyclif condoned by the secular faculty. Considering that Wyclif‘s protection from prosecution was attributable to the power of John of Gaunt, the friars went so far as to address a letter to he duke [Gaunt], calling attention to the dangers represented by Wyclif and his followers at Oxford. This letter was dated 18 February 1382 and was delivered to Lancaster personally by the Carmelite Stephen Patrington. The friars were particularly anxious to do something about Nicholas Hereford, named in an early manuscript as a translator of the Bible, and a committed disciple of Wyclif‘s. The duke ignored the appeal of the friars, and on 23 February Hereford announced in a sermon that the religious should hereafter be barred from receiving degrees in the University. In March Wyclif himself published De Blasphemia, in which the denunciation of ecclesiastical abuses became even stronger, and in May he submitted a sharply worded petition to Parliament urging the rejection of any and all papal assessments, and the taxing of possessioners in England. Meanwhile, in Oxford on Ascension Day (15 May 1382), Hereford delivered a sermon in English designed to alienate nearly everyone except the most fanatical of Wyclif‘s followers.‖ (The Life and Times of John Trevisa, Medieval Scholar, David C. Fowler, University of Washington Press, 1995, pp. 76-78) 280 Clearly John Wycliffe‘s acquittal was the initial triumph of the Merovingian dynasty and the English nation over the previously impregnable citadel of the Roman Catholic Church. Which may explain why Wycliffe is honored as the ―Morning Star of the Reformation.‖ However, another event occurred in 1378 which sealed the fate of the Roman Catholic Church. The Great Schism began on September 20, 1378 (Wikipedia). ―There were, however, two events that sowed the seeds of his discontent with the papacy. The first was the total submission of the pope to the demands of the French, historically loathed by the English. The second was the spectacle of rival popes excommunicating each other during the Great Schism. These two episodes seemed to call into question both the pope's political authority and his infallibility.‖ (―John Wycliffe, Father of American Dissent‖) A little more than a century later, the Protestant Reformation would divide Christendom. Rosicrucian Jeff Nesbitt put it this way in ―Rosslyn Chapel Revisited‖: ―In one fell swoop, the Christian world was cleft in twain. No longer would Rome be able to raise great armies from its subject nations to crush heresies wherever the Papal finger pointed. There was no longer just one big boy on the block. Another had moved in. The mightiest church the world had ever known had been ‗divided‘ and ‗conquered‘.‖ Martin Luther‘s personal seal appeared on the third Rosicrucian Manifesto, The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, which was authored by Johann Andrea who was Grand Master of the Prieuré de Sion from 1637-1654. ―Luther‘s crest with a black cross on a red heart upon a white rose…set beside an expansion on the letters, F. R. C., Futurae Reformatio Catholicae, signifying a hope for a future Universal Reformation, similar to that heralded by the first Rosicrucian texts from Tübingen.‖ (Da Vinci Code Rosicrucians) ―F.R.C.
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