The 14th century was a time of turmoil and division within the Church and society. It was during this period that Geert Groote (1340–1384) came to the fore. Born in Deventer in the Netherlands, he was an outstanding student, first in Paris and later in Cologne. A man of the world who was converted by the vision of a friend.
He was clearly aware of the fact that any renewal must begin with a personal inner life centred on Christ.
Thus he set out to spread an ideal: a return to the Vita Apostolica, of which the Gospel is the foundation and the rule – a spiritual movement known as Modern Devotion.
Modern Devotion simply means ‘contemporary spirituality’. In the late fourteenth century, there was a sense that the Christian way of life of that time was no longer sufficient. A deeper, personal encounter with Christ was needed to breathe new life into the lives of laypeople, priests and monastics in the Church of that era. Outward rituals alone were not enough. That is why Geert Grote began to emphasise turning inward into the silence of the heart, where Christ dwells.