Familia Caritatis

The Familia Caritatis, also known as the Familists, was a mystic religious sect founded in the sixteenth century by Henry Nicholis, also known as Niclaes. Familia Caritatis translates from Latin into "Family of Love", and in other languages, "Hus der Lieften", "Huis der Liefde" and "Haus der Liebe".

The outward trappings of Nicholis's system were Anabaptist. His followers were said to assert that all things were ruled by nature and not directly by God, of denying the dogma of the Trinity, and repudiating infant baptism. They held that no man should be put to death for his opinions, and apparently, like the later Quakers, they objected to the carrying of arms and to anything like an oath; and they were quite impartial in their repudiation of all other churches and sects, including Brownists and Barrowists.

Nicholis's message is said to have appealed to the well educated and creative elite, artists, musicians and scholars. They felt no need to spread the message and risk heresy; members were usually a part of an otherwise established church, quietly remaining in the background, confident in their elite status as part of the Godhead. As the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition says:

Nicholis's followers escaped the gallows and the stake, for they combined with some success the wisdom of the serpent and the harmlessness of the dove. They would only discuss their doctrines with sympathizers; they showed every respect for authority, and considered outward conformity a duty. This quietist attitude, while it saved them from molestation, hampered propaganda.

Members of the Familists included cartographer Abraham Ortel (aka Ortelius) and publisher Christopher Plantin. Plantin worked by day as Philip II of Spain's printer of Catholic documents for the Counter Reformation, and otherwise surreptitiously printed Familist literature.

...
Wikipedia