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Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—I

Illuminati

The baptised were at one time so called, because a lighted candle was given them to hold as a symbol that they were illuminated by the Holy Ghost.

Four religious societies
have been so called, viz.:

(1) The Hesychasts in the fourteenth century.

(2) The Alombrados of Spain in the sixteenth century.

(3) The Guerinets of France in the seventeenth century.

(4) The Mystics of Belgium in the eighteenth century.

Add to these the Rosicrucians (q.v.).

The Order of the Illuminati.
A republican society, founded at Ingoldstadt in Bavaria, 1776; having for its object the establishment of a religion consistent with “sound reason.”

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Illuminations
Illuminated Doctor
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