[2] Having obtained canonries in the collegiate churches of Saint Suitbert in Kaiserswerth and St. George in Cologne in 1362, he returned to his native land.
Soon after, however, disgusted with the world, he resigned his benefices and retired in 1365 to the Cologne Charterhouse, where, owing to his talents and virtues, he was rapidly raised to the most important offices.
[2] Successively prior of the charterhouses of Arnhem (1368–72), of Roermond (1372–77), newly founded, of Cologne (1377–84) and of Strasbourg (1384–96), which he restored, and from 1375 provincial visitor for the space of 20 years, he was thus called upon to play, under the circumstances produced by the Great Schism, a considerable role in the Netherlands and German-speaking countries.
During his priorate at Arnhem he had the happiness and honour of "converting" one of his friends and fellow-students at Paris, Gerard Groote (the future founder of the Brothers of the Common Life), whom he attracted into his charterhouse and directed for three years.
He was to this extent the organizer of the great movement of the Catholic Renaissance, which, initiated at Windesheim and in the convents of the Low Countries, went on developing throughout the 15th century, finding its definite expression in the Council of Trent.
xxi) of Denis the Carthusian, and, after having inspired Thomas à Kempis and Garcias de Cisneros, it furnished Saint Ignatius himself with some ideas for his Exercises.