Peter BlomevennaCart.Dutch:Pieter Blommeveen; 29 March 1466 inLeiden – 14 August 1536 inCologne) was aCarthusian author and prior ofCologne Charterhouse from 1507 to 1536.
He was a translator ofDenis the Carthusian, among many other works, and an active opponent of earlyProtestantism. He was a close friend ofWerner Rolewinck (died 1502).[1]
Because of the avarice of his parents, although they belonged to a wealthy background, he spent his first years in poverty and difficulties. He studied at the Faculty of Arts in Cologne from 1483, then entered the Carthusian monks in 1489 where he professed his vows on 7 March 1490. He is distinguished by his piety and his intellectual capacities. He was a close friend of the Carthusian Werner Rolevinck.
In 1506, he was elected prior of the Charterhouse of Cologne, a position he assumed until his death. During troubled times, he emphasized a more personal mystique and the demands of the rule of his order. The Charterhouse flourished under his priorate, with between 16 and 25 professed monks and 16 to 17 lay brothers, and quickly became an intellectual and mystical center of its day. Taking advantage of the progress of the printing press, it published authors including Harphius,Johannes Tauler,Henry Suso,Lanspergius (disciple of Peter Blomevenna),Ruysbroeck, Denis the Carthusian (1424–1471).
In 1520–1530, Peter had an extension built outside the monastery cloister in order to receive visitors wishing to follow the spiritual direction of the Carthusians. The anonymous editor ofLa Perle évangélique was among these, as were the first Jesuits (Peter Faber andPeter Canisius); pious beguines like Marie Van Houte d'Oisterwijk likely attended as well.
Gérard Kalkbrenner (1494–1566) succeeded him as prior.
He composed treatises, some of which were controversial (against the Anabaptists for example, who had seized Münster in February 1534). In hisEnchiridion sacerdotum (1532), he clarified the mystery of theHoly Eucharist. HisDe Bonitate divina inspired many preachers. In 1509, he publishedLe Miroir de perfection by the Flemish FranciscanHarphius (1410–1477) and also translated his treatiseDirectorium Aureum Contemplativorum into Latin which he supplemented with explanatory notes. He edited many texts by Denis the Carthusian and opposed the growing Reformation inAssertio Purgatorii (1534) about Purgatory and the Anabaptists, inDe Auctoriate Ecclesiaein (1535) on the teaching authority of the Church, inDe Vario Modo adorandi Deum, Sanctos et eorum Imagines (1535) about images and the worship of God in beauty, andCandela Evangelica (1536).
He wrote an introduction toD. Dionysii Carthusiani Contra Alchoranum and sectam Machometicam libri quinque against the “Mohammedan sect”.
The writings of Peter Blomevenna were printed in 1538 by Dietrich Loher.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Peter Blomevenna".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
