FLORENTIUS, RADEWIJS. - Dutch mystic, born in 1350 at Lederam, died on 24 March 1400 at Deventer. After completing his studies in 1378 at the University of Prague, he returned to Holland. He was, with G. Groote, one of the founders of the Devotio moderna, of the Fraterherren also called Fratres vitae communis, and of the monastery of Windesheim.
For him, contemplation is the royal road that leads to the reform of men, who, once their vices have been uprooted, become effective instruments of religious reform. His *Tractatus devotus de exstirpatione vitiorum* therefore resembles the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius.
Bibl.: I. G. R. Acquoy, *Het Klooster van Windesheim en zijn invloed*, 3 vols., Utrecht 1875–80; V. indices; R. Rütten, s. V. in LTHK, VIII, col. 606; T. Brandisana, *Twee berijnde Levens van Geert Groot*, in *Ons geestelijk Erf*, 16 (1942), pp. 27 ff. Stumpf Miroslav