AHAUS (AHUIS), HEINRICH VON

AHAUS (AHUIS), HEINRICH von. — Founder of the Brethren of the Common Life in Germany, b. in 1371, d. at Münster on 14 Feb. 1439. He was the son of Ludolf, lord of Ahaus (near Münster in Westphalia). Soon after his ordination as priest at Münster, he went to Deventer (Holland), where he came into contact with the movement of the Devotio Moderna (q.v.) and with the congregation of the Brethren of the Common Life. Returning to Münster (c. 1400), he introduced this congregation into Germany and founded several convents: for the Brothers at Münster (1406), Cologne (1416), Wesel (1435), and for the Sisters at Emmerich (1419), Herford (1426), Borken, Coesfeld, and Lippspringe. At the Council of Constance, together with the prior of Windesheim, Jan Vos, he successfully defended the Brethren of the Common Life against the false accusations of the Dominican Matteo Grabow. In 1428, at the so-called “Colloquy of Münster,” he secured a closer union and collaboration among the various convents of his foundation. He is rightly regarded as one of the leading figures in the religious revival in north-western Germany in the fifteenth century.