Christian Rosenkreuz – Wikipedia

Christian Rosenkreutz (in Italian Cristiano Rosacroce ) (1378 – 1484) was a German esotericist. ^[3]

Considered the founder of the Order of Rosicrucians (or Rosa+Croce as is reported in many texts), it is thought that he lived in Germany between 1378 and 1484. ^[first]

He made trips to the Middle East, undertaken to be able to deepen his knowledge on the world of the occult, highlighting a strong mystical but also gnoseological motivation, aimed at the study of nature as an alchemical practice. ^[4]

It was precisely on the return from these travels that Christian Rosenkreutz (or Cristiano Rosacroce), who returned to Germany, which is considered his homeland of origin, founded the secret order of the Rosicrucians. According to what is reported in some documents, he lived until the age of 106. ^[first]

His body would have been found, perfectly intact, 120 years later, when some confreres found and opened his tomb, which made several mottos enrolled. ^[first]

Among his teachings there would have been the acronym vitriol Che meaning: “Visit the interiors of the earth, you will find a hidden stone,” il whose sealing apparve però nel 1613, nel trattato Azoth by Basilio Valentino, one year before the publication of the Rosacocian posters, and will be attributed to him in Musaeum hermeticum by Lucas Jennis in 1635. ^[5]

Its story is narrated in three fundamental documents: Freedom of fraternity (1614), Confession of fraternity (1615) and The chemical wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz (1616, the latter generally attributed to Johann Valentin Andreae).

From what emerges from the documents, his death (it would be better to say the discovery of his still intact body) should be datable around the year 1603 (1604 according to other sources). ^[first] It would have been the discovery of the master’s body the detonating event that led to the revelation of the Order of Rosicrucians in the eyes of the world.

A widespread thesis is that the figure of Christian Rosenkreutz is completely legendary; Even many of the current movements that continue to share the Rosacocian ideals give a figurative, allegorical interpretation. A hypothesis is that he represents the personification of some ideals (heroic, gnoseological, religious, social, etc.), that different thinkers and mystical circles of the time wanted to spread.

However, some occultists and esoterists of the last century, such as Rudolf Steiner, Max Heindel and Jan Van Rijkenborgh, while insisting on the high allegorical value of the figure of Cristiano Rosacroce, intended to represent the prototype of the man who is reborn according to his divine essence They also trace, in their writings, the contours of some enigmatic followers and initiated high -ranking, who would have given shape through the centuries to the “schools of the western mysteries”, presenting themselves in the world also under this symbolic name.

• Frances A. Yates, The Enlightenment of the rose-croce , Turin Giulio Einaudi Editore, 1976
• Angela Cerinotti (edited by), Atlas of the mystery – The rose+cross from silence, the light , Colognola Ai Colli (VR) (Demetra ed.), 1998
• Cristopher McIntosh, History of the Rosicrucians , Casale Monferrato (AL) (Piemme Edizioni), 2001
• Max Heindel, The cosmogonia of the rose+cross , Genoa, I Dioscuri, 1987
• Paul Cedar, Rosa+Cross enlightened and mystical , Genoa, I Dioscuri, 1988
• Paul Cedar, History and doctrine of the rose+cross , Genoa, I Dioscuri, 1988
• Harald Lamprecht, New rose cruisers. A manual , Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, 2004