THE LIFE OF TRITHEMIUS

He Referring to John of Reinhausen, the first reformer of Bursfelde. came on foot to John Rode, the Abbot of St. Matthias near Trier, who had most excellently reformed his own monastery and established the necessary constitutions for preserving that reform. Because Rode was a learned and mature man, and uniquely zealous for the observance of the religious rule, John visited him, saw the praiseworthy institution, learned by experience of the holy life of the monks, and praised the constitutions Rode had published as most holy. Thus, one Abbot asked the other to grant him some of his brothers, by whose counsel and help he might complete the desired reform in Saxony. Abbot John Rode, consenting to this pious desire, provided certain monks of proven conduct from his own community and sent them back to Bursfelde with joy. And from that time—which was around the year of our Lord 1429—the holy reform of the monasteries of the Order of St. Benedict, originally poured from the men of Trier into Bursfelde, began to flourish again and was increased within a few years. Therefore, from the monastery of Bursfelde, certain monasteries in Saxony and beyond began gradually to be reformed, and from those, others still. Their Abbots, forming a union and confederation among themselves, met once every year, celebrating a Synod A formal assembly for church administration. (which we call by the customary, though foreign and improper name, a "Chapter"), in which they held discussions on those things pertaining to the utility of the reform.

Pope Pius II confirmed this union of reformed Abbots under the name of the Bursfelde Congregation, along with the annual chapter, in the first year of his pontificate, the year of our Lord 1458. Along with many privileges which he gave, he also extended to this union the privileges of the Congregation of St. Justina of Padua A highly influential Italian monastic reform movement known for its strict discipline and centralized structure., which are many and great. Later, in the year 1468, Adolph, the Archbishop of Mainz, by his own ordinary authority The formal power held by a bishop to govern his own diocese., graciously admitted the observance, the union, and the annual chapter of the Fathers of the Bursfelde reform (because Bursfelde is in the Diocese of Mainz), as well as the privileges of the union and chapter as heard from the Apostolic See. Over time, the number of monasteries subject to this union grew so much that by the year of our Lord 1502, seventy-five had been reformed.

original: "Itaque Treviris plantavit, Bursfeldia rigavit, DEUS autem incrementum dedit"; a paraphrase of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:6.

CHAPTER V.

THE ELECTION OF TRITHEMIUS AS ABBOT OF SPONHEIM.

In the year of the Lord’s Nativity 1483, on the 17th day of the month of July, after the death of Reinhard, Abbot of the Monastery of Saints Marcellinus and Peter in Seligenstadt; Lord John of Kolenhausen, the Abbot of this monastery The monastery of Sponheim., was transferred to the said Abbey of Seligenstadt with the consent and will of Lord Albert, Administrator of the See of Mainz—though this monastery Sponheim protested and opposed the move with all its strength. He resigned this Abbey into the hands of the Convent on the 27th day of the same month. After this transfer and resignation, Henry, the Presiding Officer, and the brothers of the Chapter [set] a day for the election of a new Pastor...