Keizersberg Abbey

Coordinates: 50°53′19″N 4°41′48″E / 50.8885°N 4.6966°E / 50.8885; 4.6966
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Keizersberg Abbey, also known as Mont César Abbey (

Benedictine monastery on the hill Keizersberg or Mont César in the north of the university town of Leuven, Belgium
.

Front view of the abbey
Statue of Virgin Mary and child

History

The site

The Keizersberg ("Caesar's" or "Emperor's hill") was the site of the castle around which the city of Leuven grew up, and which local legend connected with

Knights Hospitallers in 1312. This was secularised by the French in 1798, when the church and larger buildings were demolished.[1]

Beuron Congregation

A Benedictine house of studies was established in Leuven in 1888 by Dom Gerard van Caloen, rector of the abbey school of

Beuron Congregation,[2] under the first abbot,[3]
Dom Robertus de Kerchove.

Columba Marmion (declared Blessed in 2000), abbot of Maredsous, was also appointed prior of Mont César in 1906, which he remained until his death in 1923.

The foundation is perhaps best known in the English-speaking world under its French name, Mont César Abbey, for its connection both with Blessed Columba and with the reformer and ecumenist

Amay Priory, established from Mont César, from where he later founded the famous Chevetogne Abbey
.

In 1914 the buildings were severely damaged by fire, and the monks took refuge in another Beuronese house, Maria Laach Abbey in the Rhineland, until after the end of the war, when reconstruction was possible.

Belgian Congregation

In 1921 the abbey moved from the Beuron Congregation to become part of the new Belgian Congregation of Our Lady (Belgische Congregatie van Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Boodschap), under the presidency of Abbot Robertus. In 1929 publication began of the theological journal "Recherches de Théologie Ancienne et Médiévale".[4]

Dom Bruno (

Nazis during World War II, was a monk of Mont César from 1922 until 1968. A fellow monk at the abbey provided him with several skillfully forged identification cards.[5]

The abbey again suffered damage in World War II with the bombing of the buildings during air raids on Leuven in 1944, which among other things destroyed the last remains of the older buildings from the time of the Hospitallers, and the monastery was temporarily uninhabitable.

By 1948 it was sufficiently restored to be able to set up a small community at Wavreumont in Stavelot, which was formally established as St. Remaclus' Priory on 21 June 1952.

Subiaco Congregation

When the French section of the

Subiaco Congregation
. The abbot and prior resigned in the same year, and a temporary administrator was appointed.

In 1969 part of the renovated abbey was converted for use as student accommodation, and is still used for that purpose.

In 2020, a part of the Medieval wall collapsed.[6]

As of 2022, there were five monks in residence at Keizersberg.

Beer

The abbey's name is used commercially by a brewer under license, but the monastery has never itself been involved in brewing.

Abbots

  • Dom Robertus de Kerchove 1899-1928
  • Dom Bernard Capelle 1928-1952
  • Dom Rombout Van Doren 1952-1968
Dom Filips De Cloedt (acting abbot-administrator) 1968-1970
  • Dom Ambroos Verheul 1970-1991
Dom Livien Bauwens (acting prior-administrator) 1991-1993
  • Dom Kris Op de Beeck 1993-2017

Dom Dirk Hanssens was appointed as prior-administrator in 2018

References

  1. ^ "History of the Abbey", Abdij Keizersberg
  2. ISBN 9780567665775
  3. ^ prior from April to August 1899
  4. ISBN 9781136787164
  5. ^ Rivera, Rosetti. "World Humanitarian Day: 7 distinguished humanitarians who came from Belgium", Brussels Express, August 19, 2018
  6. ^ "Medieval wall collapses at Leuven’s Keizersberg Abbey", VRT News, July 6, 2020

External links

50°53′19″N 4°41′48″E / 50.8885°N 4.6966°E / 50.8885; 4.6966

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