John Brugman

He became a lector of theology, Vicar Provincial and one of the founders of the Cologne Province of the Observants, a reformed branch of the Friars Minor.

A friend of Denis the Carthusian, it was at his suggestion that the latter wrote his work: De doctrinâ et regulis vitae Christianæ, dedicating it to Brugman.

Brugman also supported the foundation of the Brothers of the Common Life, a congregation, devoted to the interests of education, established by two priests, Gerhard Groote and Florentius Radewiyns.

Brugman wrote two lives of Lidwina, the first of which, printed at Cologne in 1433, was reprinted anonymously at Louvain in 1448.

His biography was written by Willem Moll under the title "Joannes Brugman en het Godsdienstegen Leven Onzer Vaderen in de Vijftiende eeuw", and published at Amsterdam in 1854.

Brugman preaching. Engraving from Hermanus Schouten's Het Vaderlandse Geschiedenis Boek , 1788
Excerpt from the manuscript "Devote tractaten in het Middelnederlands" of Johannes Brugman. Manufactured in Maaseik, 1476. Preserved in the University Library of Ghent . [ 1 ]