AHAUS (AHUIS), HEINRICH VON

AHAUS (AHUIS), HEINRICH von. - Founder of the Brothers of the Common Life in Germany, b. in 1371, d. at Münster on 14 Feb. 1439. He was the son of Ludolfo, lord of Ahaus (near Münster in Westphalia). Immediately after being ordained priest at Münster, he went to Deventer (Holland), where he came into contact with the movement of Modern Devotion (v.) and with the congregation of the Brothers of the Common Life. On returning to Münster (c. 1400), he introduced this congregation into Germany and founded various convents: for the Brothers at Münster (1406), Colonia (1416), Wesel (1435), and for the sisters at Emmerich (1419), Herford (1426), Borken, Coesfeld, and Lippenstadt. At the Council of Constance, together with the prior of Windesheim, Jan Vos, he successfully defended the Brothers of the Common Life against the false accusations of the Dominican Matteo Grabow. In 1428, at the so-called “Colloquy of Münster,” he obtained a closer union and collaboration among the various convents he had founded. He is rightly regarded as one of the leading figures in the religious revival in north-western Germany in the fifteenth century.