Priestly Brothers of the Teutonic Order
The priestly brothers (Priesterbrüder) were the second estate of the Teutonic Order, ranking immediately below the knight-brothers in the Order’s constitutional hierarchy. The priestly brothers were ordained priests of the Latin Church, and they were bound, like the knight-brothers and the serving brothers, by the three monastic vows. The priestly brothers performed a wide range of religious, intellectual, and administrative functions, and the priestly estate was, by the late medieval period, numerically the largest of the three estates.
The priestly brothers were an essential element of the Order’s constitutional structure, and the priestly estate was, the religious backbone of the Order. For the broader context of the three estates of brethren, see the article on the brothers and sisters of the Order. For the process by which a young man was admitted as a knight-brother, see the article on becoming a Teutonic knight.
The Ordination of the Priestly Brothers
The priestly brothers were ordained priests of the Latin Church, and the priestly brothers were bound, in addition to the three monastic vows, by the canonical obligations of the priesthood. The priestly brothers were required to be of legitimate birth, of unimpeachable moral character, of sound physical and mental health, and of a minimum age prescribed by the canon law of the period. The priestly brothers were required to have completed a substantial course of theological and ecclesiastical training, and to have been admitted to the minor orders, the subdiaconate, the diaconate, and the priesthood in the customary canonical form.
The theological training of the priestly brothers was, in many cases, provided by the Order itself. The Order maintained a network of convent schools, attached to the principal convent castles, in which the prospective priestly brothers were instructed in the customary theological curriculum: the Bible, the Sentences of Peter Lombard, the Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas, the canonical writings of the fathers of the Church, and the customary liturgical and pastoral subjects. The schools supplied a substantial fraction of the Order’s priestly brothers. In the early period the priestly brothers were drawn from the same aristocratic and ministerial classes as the knight-brothers; in the later years the recruitment base was broader, and the priestly brothers were often burgher or peasant by origin.
The Liturgical and Pastoral Duties
The principal duty of the priestly brothers was the celebration of the liturgy in the chapel of the convent castle. The priestly brothers celebrated the daily Mass, sang the parts of the office that were reserved to the ordained clergy, administered the sacraments to the brethren and to the lay population, and performed the various other liturgical functions of the parish priest. The priestly brothers were required to be present at the principal liturgical ceremonies of the convent castle, and to be available, at all hours, for the celebration of the sacraments.
The priestly brothers were, responsible for the celebration of the conventual Mass, which was the principal liturgical act of the convent, and for the administration of the sacrament of penance. Outside the convent, the priestly brothers preached to the lay population of the surrounding district, administered the sacraments, instructed the children in the customary catechism, and performed the various other pastoral functions of the parish priest. The priestly brothers learned the Lithuanian, Prussian, Curonian, Livonian, Estonian, and other local languages, and were, in many cases, the principal agents of the Christianisation of the Baltic.
The Administrative Duties
The priestly brothers were also substantial participants in the administrative life of the Order. The priestly brothers served as chancellors, secretaries, notaries, archivists, treasurers, and other officials of the Order’s central and regional administrations. The principal office held by the priestly brothers was the office of Grand Chancellor, the fifth of the five Grossgebietiger, the only one of the five drawn from the priestly estate in customary practice, and responsible for the Order’s diplomatic correspondence, the custody of the Order’s archives, the secretariat of the chapter general, and the administration of the Order’s legal affairs. The priestly brothers also held a substantial fraction of the Order’s regional administrative positions, serving as chancellors and secretaries of the principal Komtureien, of the Livonian branch, of the German bailiwicks, and of the principal convent castles.
The Bishops of the Order
The priestly brothers of the Teutonic Order supplied a substantial number of the bishops of the Latin Church in the regions where the Order held a territorial presence. The principal dioceses in which the Order was influential included the dioceses of Kulm, of Pomesania, of Ermland, of Samland, of Courland, of Riga, of Dorpat, of Ösel-Wiek, and of Reval. The bishops of these dioceses were, in many cases, drawn from the priestly estate.
The bishops were, in the strict canonical sense, independent of the Order, and owed their primary obedience to the pope. The bishops were, however, in many cases closely associated with the Order, and the tension between the bishops and the Order was, in many cases, a central element of the constitutional life of the Baltic region. The bishops of the Prussian and Livonian dioceses , were the principal ecclesiastical figures of the Order.
The Constitutional Position of the Priestly Brothers
The priestly brothers were, by the constitutions of the Order, eligible to hold any office of the Order except the supreme magistracy. The constitutions of the Order did not, exclude the priestly brothers from the office of Grand Master, but the customary practice, from the early thirteenth century, restricted the office to the knight-brothers. The last priestly brother to hold the office was Heinrich von Hohenlohe, who served from 1240 to 1243, and the office was thereafter reserved, in practice, to the knight-brothers.
The exclusion of the priestly brothers from the supreme magistracy was, however, balanced by the substantial constitutional position of the priestly brothers in other respects. The priestly brothers held, between them, the office of Grand Chancellor, a substantial fraction of the regional Komture, a substantial fraction of the Order’s bishops, and a substantial fraction of the Order’s other senior offices. The priestly brothers were, by the late medieval period, an increasingly important element of the Order’s government, and , were the principal agents of the Order’s intellectual and administrative continuity.
Sources
- Boockmann, Hartmut. Der Deutsche Orden: Zwölf Kapitel aus seiner Geschichte. Munich: Beck, 1981.
- Favreau-Lilie, Marie-Luise. Die Ritterbrüder im livländischen Zweig des Deutschen Ordens. Cologne: Böhlau, 2003.
- Strehlke, Ernst, ed. Tabulae ordinis Theutonici. Berlin: Weidmann, 1869.
Related Reading
For the broader context of the three estates of brethren, see the article on the brothers and sisters of the Order and the article on the hierarchy of the Order. For the supreme magistrate, see the article on the election of the Grand Master. For the five principal officers, see the article on the five Grossgebietiger. For the daily life of the priestly brothers, see the article on meals and prayers in the convent. For the rule followed by the priestly brothers, see the article on the Rule of St Augustine and the article on the three monastic vows.