Solemn Historical Dissertation on the Rosicrucians

...in his book whose inscription is Summum Bonum, quod est uerum uerae Magiae, Cabbalae, Alchymiae, Fratrum R. C. uerorum subiectum The Highest Good, which is the true subject of true Magic, Kabbalah, Alchemy, of the true Brethren of the R.C., which book M. Lipenius in his Philosophical Library wrongly ascribes to an author of a different name, when nevertheless it is found in the Fluddian works themselves under the name of Fludd, and is held by all others to be a Fluddian writing, just as it could be proved by sufficient reasons if it were my intent. In that book, therefore, he thinks the Brethren are so called because they were among themselves sons, prophets, brothers, and friends of God, perhaps in imitation of the older Church, in which that custom prevailed that Christians should greet each other as Brethren. They are called Brethren of the Cross because, without an internal and mystical cross, neither illumination nor self-abnegation can have a place, nor can anyone follow Christ; or, as the author of the book entitled Conspicilium notitiae Spectacles of Knowledge wishes, because by the cross, as a seal and symbol, true Christians want to testify that they are soldiers under the banner of Christ. Furthermore, Fludd asserts that the word rosea rosy is added because the cross is always sprinkled with the rosy blood of Christ. Arnold agrees with this manner of naming, while, according to his custom, he contemptuously attacks the others, since this one seems to provide for the praise of this Fraternity—unless you say that the appellation is not so bad, but the reason for the appellation, which was boasting and arrogance, displeases you. Hence, I am wonderfully pleased with the opinion of Georg Rost, a sacred orator for the Dowager Duchess of Mecklenburg, in his Helden-Buch vom Rosen-Garten Hero-Book of the Rose-Garden, p. 14, who thinks that they named themselves Rosicrucians not only because, according to the custom and habit of other Congregations and Orders, they use a Cross in place of a token, [with] roses (according to other writers, three in number), as is evident from the Fama & Confessio, but also because, by this peculiar name, they thought to make the Fraternity more illustrious, to disseminate it through all the shores of the world, or to commend their own names to immortality with great praise, or perhaps because they dream of and expect a universal terrestrial paradise in this life, and a garden full of roses. They also want to be called the Fraternity of the Holy Spirit, since they pretend that they must meet every year, as the laws require, on the day of C. Pentecost/Whitsunday, which is perhaps of Concord, or of the Cross, The Exaltation of the Cross, in a place which is dedicated to the Holy Spirit. But where this place is, it is not clear to us, nor to them, whence they themselves call it invisible. At other times they are also called Immortals, because they commonly promise that they will extend the life of man to 140 years. Illuminati the enlightened, because they boast of such sublime things. Invisibles, because for some time, after so many frauds were detected, they do not appear in public. See Hofmann's Universal Lexicon, the entry "Rosa", and Morery's Great Critical Dictionary, under "Rose-Croix". There is no doubt that some names were also imposed on this Society out of contempt, but let it suffice to have said this about the names.