Canonesses Regular of the Holy Sepulchre

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre
)
Canonesses Regular of the Holy Sepulchre
Websitewww.canonesses.co.uk

The

Rule of St. Augustine
.

A canoness regular of the Holy Sepulcher

The traditional habit was black and, when in church, over the

lay sisters; the later category, however, was abolished among religious orders by order of the Holy See
in the 20th century.

History

Concerning the foundation, there is a tradition connecting the way of life of the canonesses with

Empress in her search for the True Cross.[1] The Order of the Holy Sepulchre adopted the rule of St Augustine in 1114.[2]

Spain

The earliest historical date on record is 1300, the year in which the monastery was founded in the

Spanish canonesses still live in their ancient monastery in Zaragoza, built in the Mudéjar style when they moved there later in the 14th century.[3]

France

The foundation of a house at

prioress.[1] All the monasteries of the Order in that country were swept away by the French Revolution
, and the canonesses have not returned.

Belgium

Priory of Sion, Bilzen

The Priory of Sion in

archives
, which remains a priceless source for the history of the Order and pre-Revolutionary Catholic life in Belgium.

In 1972, the canonesses acquired the grounds of the former Cistercian Abbey of Herkenrode, also in Belgium and also closed by French forces in 1798. They have built a new monastery and a retreat center there and are slowly renovating the surviving abbey buildings. The Church of the Risen Lord was built in 1982, and now serves the canonesses and their guests.[5]

Jerusalem Priory, Turnhout

Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre of Hasselt, who were sent to devote themselves to religious education and teaching of girls in schools and later on also in boarding schools in Turnhout, founded the Jerusalem Priory in 1662. Closed during the French Revolution in 1798, the Priory opened again in 1826 and was established in Patersstraat in Turnhout. Daughter houses were founded and in 1928 sisters left Belgium for the Congo as missionaries. They assisted in the development of the African Community of Bukavu which was included in the Association as an independent Priory in 1984.[6]

St. Trudo Abbey, Male

St. Trudo Abbey was originally established as a 'double' convent (men/women) of the Ten Eeckhoute abbey in Bruges. In 1248 the Community of sisters became independent and later joined the Congregation of Saint-Victor, living for more than 400 years within the tradition of Windesheim. The abbey was affiliated with the

Canons of the Lateran from 1796 until 1952 when they were admitted into the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. Since 1954 they have resided in the former castle of the counts of Flanders in Male.[7]

England

In 1480 Jan van Abroek, himself a Canon of the Holy Sepulchre, established a convent at Kinrooi, near Maaseik on the Meuse for his sister Meyntz, and two Augustinian nuns from Roermond. There they started a school for girls. Later, the canonesses established the Convent des Bons Enfans, one of four such convents at Liège, Belgium. The convent of St. Walburge's at Liège established a convent at Tongeren in the early half of the seventeenth century.[4]

Dame

New Brentford, Middlesex, 1622; died at Liège, 1706), having been professed at Tongeren. In 1642 she left with four other women for Liège, to establish a monastery there for English women.[4] By 1656 there was a sufficient number of professed canonesses that a canonical election could be held, in which she was elected prioress; she ruled with rare prudence until her resignation in 1697. The community was able to provide an education for the daughters of Catholic families under the Penal Laws.[2]

The school, opened under Dame Mary Christina Dennett who was prioress from 1770 to 1781, proved so successful that, during the occupation of the Lowlands by the French, the English canonesses had great difficulty in securing permission to leave the city.[1]

After three months at their monastery in Maastricht, they passed down the Meuse on a coal barge and made their way to England (August, 1794),[2] where they were sheltered by Lord Stourton (a member of an old Catholic aristocratic family) in Holme Hall, on Spaulding Moor, moved thence to Dean House (Wilts), and in 1798 finally took possession of New Hall, near Chelmsford (Essex). They opened a free school for the poor children of the neighborhood and it is now a private boarding school.[8] The community resided at New Hall until 2005, when it moved to an estate in Chelmsford. New Hall remains home to a Catholic boarding school.

University of Maastricht

Today

As of A.D. 2011, there were monasteries of the Order in Belgium, Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, England, the Netherlands and Spain. The majority of the communities have ceased to wear a traditional religious habit, but their identifying insignia remains the double-barred Cross of the Order.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Canonesses Regular of the Holy Sepulchre". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
  2. ^ a b c "Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre". www.canonesses.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
  3. ^ ""Monastery of the Resurrection", Zaragosa, Association of the Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre". Archived from the original on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2011-10-10.
  4. ^ a b c Canonesses regular of the Holy Sepulchre (1899). History of the New Hall community. Kelly - University of Toronto. [S.l.] : Printed for private circulation.
  5. ^ ""The Priory of Sion", Bilzen, Association of the Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre". Archived from the original on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2011-10-10.
  6. ^ ""The Jerusalem Priory", Turnhout, Association of the Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre". Archived from the original on 2014-10-16. Retrieved 2014-10-12.
  7. ^ "St. Trudo Abbey, Male, Association of the Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre". Archived from the original on 2014-10-16. Retrieved 2014-10-12.
  8. ^ "New Hall School - About New Hall". Archived from the original on 2008-05-11. Retrieved 2008-04-30.

Sources

  • Max Heimbucher, Orden und Kongregationen (Paderborn, 1908)
  • Francesca M. Steele, Convents of Great Britain (St. Louis, 1902)
  • Hippolyte Hélyot, Dict. des ordres relig. (Paris, 1859)
  • Joseph Gillow, Bibl. Dict. Eng. Cath., s. v. Hawley, Susan.

External links