Apostolic Brethren

Apostolic Brethren, the name given in Italy, towards the end of the 13th century, to a sect which opposed the worldly tendencies of the church. Its founder was Segarelli, a weaver in Parma, who went about Italy preaching repentance and the need of a return to the mode of life of the apostles, including the primitive community of goods. After twenty years of undisturbed activity and growing influence, the movement was condemned by popes Honorius IV. and Nicholas IV., and, in 1300, Segarelli perished at the stake, with many others, both men and women. Dolcino, a more energetic and cultivated man, now headed the orphan sect, and fortified a mountain near Vercelli; but after a gallant defence, compelled by famine to submit, he was tortured, and burned at the stake (1307).—A Gnostic sect of the 3d century took the same name; as also a body of persons near Cologne in the 12th century.