The A to Z of Utopianism by James M. Morris & Andrea L. Kross

Author:James M. Morris & Andrea L. Kross
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: 2004-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

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LABADIE, JEAN de (1610–1674). Jean de Labadie was educated by the Jesuits from an early age and entered the order as a novice in 1625. In 1628 he was ordained a subdeacon. For the next three years, he studied at the Jesuit College at Bordeaux. Then in 1630 he left the Jesuits and became a wandering preacher, traveling all over France. In 1650 he joined the Reformed Church and continued to proselytize throughout Europe, especially in Holland, and settled in Herford, Westphalia, Germany, with 55 disciples. Accused by the Catholic Church of heresy, he converted to Calvinism and preached his controversial gospel throughout Europe. He died in Germany in 1674. See also LABADISTS.

LABADISTS. These followers of Jean de Labadie (1610–1674) reformed their community in Holland in 1675, the year following their leader’s death. This first Labadist community, Wieuwerd, was modeled after the church in Jerusalem after the time of Pentecost. Membership was divided into three classes: visitors, who were welcomed; probationers, who lived in austerity; and the elite, numbering 250, who lived in comfort. The Labadists believed that only those who were inspired by the Holy Spirit could understand the Bible, a Pietist view. The Eucharist was only occasionally celebrated, and marriage to an outsider was not considered binding. Those who wished to join the Labadists were required to divest themselves of all property and special affections in order to do the will of the Lord. Members wore simple clothing with no jewelry. Women attired themselves in habits of coarse wool, their hair pulled back and covered like that of a nun. Men wore rough smocks and were allowed to worship only in dark clothing. All worked communally at Wieuwerd, their cloth-processing cottage industry becoming very successful. They also farmed and ran a bakery, a brewery, a tannery, a printing press, and a soap manufactory, as well as a successful manufactory of pills to counteract fever (Labadie Pills). Wieuwerd was dissolved in 1732 when their last spiritual leader died.

Meanwhile, the Labadists established a 3,750-acre community under the leadership of Peter Sluyter (1645–1722) called Bohemia Manor at the head of Chesapeake Bay in 1683 in what is now Cecil County, Maryland. The members, totaling 125 men, women, and children, donated their personal wealth and possessions to a central fund knowing that if they left the colony they would leave their wealth behind. In their pursuit of the coming millennium, they denied themselves physical comforts such as adequate heating and appetizing food. Marriage was allowed if both partners belonged to the community, but it was considered less pure than the celibate life. Both sexes shared equally in all work and spiritual activities, spending most of their days in the fields tending to crops of corn, hemp, and tobacco and producing linen from the flax purchased from nearby plantations. Despite the fact that smoking was forbidden in the colony, Sluyter instigated the growing of tobacco. The colony also owned slaves, whom Sluyter treated savagely. Beginning in 1690, their finances and spiritual

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