Susteren Abbey

Susteren Abbey (

Benedictine abbey at Susteren near Roermond, in the Dutch province of Limburg

, founded in the 8th century. The former abbey church is now St. Amelberga's Basilica.

History

The abbey is first recorded in 711, in a letter from one of the monks, Ansbald, to Willibrord, bishop of Utrecht.^[1]

Early in 714

Saint Willibrord letters of conveyance and protection for the monastery, permitting free election of abbots. The Benedictine foundation served as a refuge for the missionaries working in Frisia

and the Netherlands.

It was destroyed by the Vikings in 882 and refounded as a house of secular canonesses, whose first abbess was Saint Amelberga of Susteren, who died about 900.

The Lotharingian King Zwentibold, a benefactor of the abbey and either the father or the brother of the abbesses Benedicta and Cecilia, was buried (according to a later tradition) in Susteren Abbey in about 900.

Also buried there are Saint

Utrecht

.

The abbey was suppressed at the end of the 18th century when the French Revolution spilled over into the Low Countries. The church alone remains.

St. Amelberga Basilica

The abbey church, one of the major examples of

basilica minor

.

References

^ Baron Sloet, L. A. J. W. (1872). Oorkondenboek der Graafschappen Gelre en Zutfen tot op den Slag van Woeringen, 5 Juni 1288. s'Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff. pp. 4 (no. 3).

Sources

Habets, J.J., 1869: Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van de voormalige stad Susteren en van de adellijke vrouwenabdij Sint-Salvator aldaar, Publications de la Société Historique et Archéologique dans le Limbourg 6 (1869), 441-567.
Koldeweij, A.M., and van Vlijmen, P.M.L. (eds.), 1985: Schatkamers uit het Zuiden. Tentoonstellingscatalogus Rijksmuseum het Catharijneconvent (pp. 83-92, 97-104, 165-167). Utrecht
Roozen, N., 1960: Uit de schatkamer van de oude abdijkerk van Susteren. Harreveld
Sangers, W., and Simonis, A.H., 1958: De kerk van Susteren. Karolingische familieabdij. Adellijk vrouwenstift. Parochie. Susteren

External links

Susteren Abbey Church (private interest site)
Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland: Life of Saint Amelberga of Susteren (in Dutch)

51°3′40″N 5°51′3″E / 51.06111°N 5.85083°E / 51.06111; 5.85083

[1] Baron Sloet, L. A. J. W. (1872). Oorkondenboek der Graafschappen Gelre en Zutfen tot op den Slag van Woeringen, 5 Juni 1288. s'Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff. pp. 4 (no. 3).

[1]

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