FAMILISTS. – A Protestant sect that existed in Holland and England between the 16th and 17th centuries. It was founded between 1539 and 1540 by one Hendrik Niclaes, a native of Münster, and spread to England during the reign of Elizabeth.
In 1575 Niclaes published his profession of faith, in which he declared that with Moses there had reigned Hope, with Christ Faith, which was now to give way
FAMILISTS – FANATICISM
to the reign of Charity. The followers of Niclaes, who formed the Familia charitatis (whence their name of Familists), believed that the practice of Charity would make them partakers of the divine nature itself. The Familist preaching died out after a few years, for by the mid-17th century no trace of it remained. The most illustrious disciple of Niclaes was the famous printer of Antwerp, Christophe Plantin.