Rosicrucianism was the practice of the secret Christian Rosicrucian Order, which was dedicated to helping mankind develop spiritually. The practices of the Rosicrucians were not published or otherwise known to the general public, but they were believed to involve ancient Neoplatonic knowledge, alchemy, and ways to cure the sick. Some believe it began after Dante degli Alighieri (c. 1265–1321) wrote The Divine Comedy in the early 1300s. Others locate its beginnings within a group of German Protestants in the early 1600s. Three documents circulated throughout Europe in the fifteenth century to promote what the Rosicrucians called “The Universal Reformation of Mankind”: Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis, Confessio Fraternitatis, and Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz anno 1459.