AMANA (SOCIETÀ O COMUNITÀ DELLA VERA ISPIRAZIONE). — This sect arose in Germany during the Pietist movement, among those who maintained that direct inspiration from God had not yet ceased in the Church. In 1714 a small group of such believers, led by Giovanni Federico Rock and E. Lodovico Gruber, organized itself at Himbach in Hesse. With Rock’s death in 1749, they say, the gift of divine inspiration temporarily ceased, and the small group called the «Community of True Inspiration» remained united, though small in number, until 1817. In that year it received new impetus from Michele Kraussert and from an Alsatian girl, Barbara Heinemann, in whom the elders recognized the gift of inspiration. A little later Carlo Metz joined them. The members of the Community were persecuted by the various governments of Germany for refusing to take the oath of allegiance, since they said that their promise sufficed; Metz then received divine inspiration to move to America, where he arrived with several companions in 1842, followed later by others. They first settled in the state of Nuova York near Buffalo, and then in 1855 all emigrated to the state of Iowa, founding there several villages, all bearing the name A. (from the Hebrew word in the Canticle of Canticles, understood in the sense of «to believe faithfully»), from which the Community acquired its name.
Their confession of faith is based on Sacred Scripture and on the words of those who have received «true inspira-
zione», which, however, again ceased for some time after the death of Metz in 1867 and of Heinemann in 1883. It is interesting to read the 23 reasons with which Gruber explains why divine inspiration is now so rare, the 21 rules for the daily examination of conscience, and the 24 rules for true piety. The A. society has barely 2,000 members; it is governed by a council of 13 members, elected annually by the Board of Elders. All property is held in common, and for this reason it is also called a «communist society». The members devote themselves to agriculture, industry, and commerce; the proceeds are used to pay common expenses, while the surplus is devoted to works of public utility, such as schools, hospitals, etc.