Brecht Abbey

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Brecht Abbey or Abbey of Our Lady of Nazareth which belongs to the Trappistines, is located in Brecht, in the Campine region of the province of Antwerp (Flanders, Belgium). Life in the abbey is characterised by prayer, reading and manual work, the three basic elements of Trappist life.

1 History
- 1.1 Early history
- 1.2 Modern history
2 References
3 Source
4 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

The history of the Abbey of Our Lady of Nazareth dates back to 1236 when the Our Lady of Nazareth abbey of Lier (Duchy of Brabant) was accepted by Cîteaux Abbey into the order of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance. Saint Beatrice of Nazareth (1200-1268) was the first prioress of the convent. For five centuries the abbey flourished until she was closed in 1797 in the aftermath of the French Revolution when France occupied the Austrian Netherlands. The abbey would not recover from the closure even after the Belgian Revolution when Belgium gained independence from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1830.

[edit] Modern history

In the early twentieth century several attempts were made to re-establish the abbey at different locations. During World War II in 1943, Henri van Ostayen, the burgomaster of Brecht, was in favor of locating a new abbey in Brecht. He died in Antwerp due to a V-1 flying bomb before the end of the war, but Robertus (Edward Jozef Modest) Eyckmans abbot of Westmalle Abbey in neighbouring Westmalle continued the effort. He asked the abbey of Soleilmont if they would establish a new abbey, which they did. On 12 October 1945 the organization for founding an new abbey was established, and in 1946 about 16 hectare of land were acquired in Brecht to build a new abbey. The old site in Lier was no longer available for several reasons. The monks of Westmalle Abbey prepared the site of the abbey, which was ready by the end of 1949.

Thirteen nuns left Soleimont and headed for Brecht on 23 June 1950: Agnes Swevers (Abbess), Lucia Delaere, Heleen Steylaers, Humbelina Roelandts, Idesbalda van Soest, Lutgard Smeets, Maria Marlier, Petra Belet, Juliana Rutten, Harlindis Gerits, Roberta Koeken, Alberica Hauchecorne, and novice Roza van den Bosch. They entered the convent on 25 June 1950. On 3 February 1951 the convent became an abbey and on 22 October 1954 the church was inaugurated.

The abbey founded the Our Lady of the Redwoods Abbey in 1962 in Whitethorn California (USA)^[1] and in 1970 they founded the Priory of Our Lady of Klaarland in Bocholt (Belgium).