Terminology Tuesday: Humiliati
Since everyone is talking conspiracy theories these days…
Humiliati – An Italian penitential and apostolic movement, which later developed into a recognized institution in the Church. Its origins are obscure. Its adherents adopted a simple lifestyle, refused to take *oaths, and insisted on preaching without authorization. In 1184, along with the *Waldenses and *Cathari, they were condemned for their disobedience to the hierarchy. Most of them, however, were reconciled to the Church and reorganized by *Innocent III in 1201 in the form of three orders, governed by a common general chapter: the first order consisted of double monasteries of canons and nuns, the second of houses of celibate lay men and women, the third of married people living at home. The first two orders shared a single rule and were progressively assimilated to the *mendicant orders, while the third came to be closer to the Order of Penance (see THIRD ORDERS). From c. 1272 the third order detached itself from the other two and in 1291 held its own general chapter; it disappeared in the course of the 14th cent. The male order was suppressed in 1571, after St *Charles Borromeo’s endeavours to reform it led to an attempt on his life. The female order gradually died out later.
The principal authority is H. Tiraboschius, SJ, Vetera Humiliatorum Monumenta (3 vols., Milan, 1766–8). L. Zanoni, Gli Umiliati nei loro rapporti con l’eresia, l’industria della lana ed i comuni nei secoli XII e XIII (Milan, 1911). V. d’Alessandro (ed.), Le Pergamene degli Umiliati di Cremona (Università degli Studi di Palermo, Istituto di Storia, Testi e Documenti, 2; 1966). M. P. Alberzoni and others (eds.), Sulle tracce degli Umiliati (Bibliotheca Erudita, 13; 1997). F. Andrews, The Early Humiliati (Cambridge, 1999). A. Mens in Dict. Sp. 7 (pt. 1; 1969), cols. 1129–36, s.v. ‘Humiliés’; A. Ambrosioni in DIP 9 (1997), cols. 1489–507, s.v. ‘Umiliate/Umiliati’.
Cross, F. L., & Livingstone, E. A. (Eds.). (2005). In The Oxford dictionary of the Christian Church (3rd ed. rev., p. 809). Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.
