Fama Fraternitatis and Confession of the Rosicrucian Fraternity

Translated by Arthur Edward Waite
Published in 2009
Hardcover


This book is a collection of two noteworthy Rosicrucian documents. The first, Fama Fraternitatis, which translates to "The Story of the Brotherhood", is an anonymous work which dates to 1614 and which entreats the educated men of Europe to work towards the reformation of current knowledge in a more spiritual vein. In it, the author speaks of the brotherhood of the Rosicrucians. This is the first known historical reference to this organization. The document also tells the story of Christian Rosencreutz, the founder of the order. The second document, Confession of the Rosicrucian Fraternity, was published in 1615 and is a completion of Fama Fraternitatis.

From the back cover:

THE FAMA FRATERNITATIS OF THE MERITORIOUS ORDER OF
THE ROSY CROSS, ADDRESSED TO THE LEARNED IN GENERAL
AND THE GOVERNORS OF EUROPE

To the Wise and Understanding Reader

Wisdom, says Solomon, is a treasure unto men that never fails, for she is the breath of the power of God and an inherence flowing from the glory of the Almighty; she is the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of His goodness. She teaches civility with righteousness and strength, she knows things of old, and conjectures aright what is to come; she knows the subtleties of speeches and can expound dark sentences; she foresees signs and wonders, with the advent of seasons and times. With this treasure was our first father Adam before his fall fully endued; hence it doth appear that after God had brought before him all the creatures of the field and the fowls under the heavens, he gave to everyone of them their proper name, according to their Nature.