Hendrik Herp[1] (died 22 February 1477), known in Latin as Henricus Harphius,[2] was a Dutch or Flemish Franciscan of the Strict Observance, and a writer on mysticism.
[9] He later served in several posts for the Franciscan Cologne Province, which covered much of the Northern Netherlands, including as Provincial superior (1470–73).
Much of this diffusion was due to the Latin translation prepared by the Cologne Carthusian Peter Blomeveen, published in 1509 under the title Aureum directorum contemplativorum (The Golden Directory of Contemplatives).
[13] In 1538, the Cologne Carthusians, led by Dietrich Loher, also published an anthology of Herp’s writings under the title De mystica theologica (On Mystical Theology), with a dedication to George Skotborg, Bishop of Lund.
[13] However, Herp’s work was not always received positively – in 1559, the 1556 edition of De mystica theologica, dedicated to Ignatius Loyola by Loher, was placed on the Index of Forbidden Books for a number of theological errors (though not heresies).
Of his works, only one was printed during his lifetime, Speculum aureum decem præceptorum Dei (Mainz, 1474); it is a collection of 213 sermons on the Commandments for the use of preachers and confessors.
Both frequently quote the Doctors of the Middle Ages, especially Thomas Aquinas, Alexander of Hales, Bernard of Clairvaux, etc., and were often reprinted.