PREMONSTRATEN'SIAN (called also NORBERTYNE) ORDER, a religious order, which at one time was among the most numerous and powerful of the monastic bodies of Ger many, in which country its most important houses were established. It was founded in the early part of the 12th c. by St. Norbert, a native of XaDICC, in the diocese of Cleves, of which church he was a canon. Struck by the prevailing irregularities and careless• ness, not only of secular, but also of conventual life among the clergy and the monks, he resolved on attempting a reform of both, and obtained permission, in 1120, to found a cloister in the diocese of Leon, in France. The place selected by him was a spot in the forest of Colley, pointed out, as he believed, in a vision, and thence called Pre ilontre, or in Latin, Pratum Monstration, " the indicated meadow," from which the name of the order was taken. Iu accordance with the double object which lie sought to attain, Nor bert organized his new order, which was substantially that of the canons regular of St. Augustine, as well with a view to the sanctification of the members, as to their useful ness in effecting the reformation of the age. Himself a man of remarkable piety and austerity of life, his rule is a return to the primitive fervor of the monastic institute; and the great work which he proposed for his brotherhood, in addition to the daily choral services of the church, was the practical instruction of the people, and the direction of Consciences in the confessional. It was taken up with ardor, and spread rapidly in
France and the Low Countries, and afterward—on Norbert's being chosen, in 1127, arch bishop of Magdeburg—in Germany; the abbot of the mother-house at Couey, however, retaining the rank of general and of superior of the entire order. It does not seem at any time to have made much progress, or at least to have established many houses, in Italy or Spain. In the same spirit of reformation, Norbert established an order of nuns, which attained to equal success. In the end of the 15th c., the Premonstratensian Order had no fewer than_1500 convents of men, and 500 of women, nearly all in France, Germany, and the northern kingdoms. A relaxation of the institute having taken place, in the prog ress of time there was a movement in the order, toward the close of the 16th c. (1573), similar to that which, in the Franciscan order (q.v.), led t3 the reform of the so-called conventual Franciscans; but the reformed communities in the Premoustratensian institute remained united with the older body; and in 1630 the reformed rule was accepted by all in com mon. The order, however, has gradually fallen in popularity. In France. is numbers had declined very much even before the revolution. Since that event, it may be said to have disappeared, except in Germany, where (in Austria) some magnificent, though thinly peopled houses of the order are still maintained,