Forest Abbey () or Vorst Abbey () was a

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

located in the

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

, Belgium. It was founded in 1105 and existed for nearly 700 years, until its partial destruction by fire in 1764. It was abolished in 1796. Only the abbey's 18th-century outbuildings have been preserved. They are now owned by the municipality and serve as a cultural centre.

History

The abbots of

Affligem Abbey Affligem Abbey (, ) is a Benedictine order, Benedictine abbey in the historic village of Hekelgem, now in the municipality of Affligem, Flemish Brabant, Belgium, to the north-west of Brussels. Dedicated in 1086, it was the most important monas ...

, which had been the ecclesiastical owners of the parish since the

Bishop of Cambrai This is a List of bishops and archbishops of Cambrai, that is, of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cambrai. Bishops For the first bishops of Arras and Cambrai, who resided at the former place, see Roman Catholic Diocese of Arras. On the death ...

ceded it to them in 1105, decided to build a

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. They were created by the Catholic Church. Priories may be monastic houses of monks or nuns (such as the Benedictines, the Cistercians, or t ...

for women in Forest, which would eventually become Forest Abbey. The first prioress was named in 1239. Also in the 13th century, the Romanesque Church of St. Denis was rebuilt in the newer Gothic style. The neighbouring abbey church was rebuilt in the 15th century. Relics of Saint

Alena Alena is a feminine given name. It may be either derived from the name Helene or as a diminutive form of ' Magdalena'. In the Balkans, this particular spelling of the name is predominantly found among the peoples of the former Yugoslav nat ...

, whose cult was popular in the region, were formerly kept both in the parish church and in the abbey church, but since 1796 only in the parish church. Much of the abbey was destroyed by fire on 26 March 1764. The abbey was suppressed on 8 October 1796 and sold the following year. The buildings that survived the dismantling are now owned by the Brussels municipality of

, and are used as a cultural centre for seminars, banquets and exhibitions. The abbey and the site were classified as a

historic monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

in 1994.

Abbesses

* Petronella, daughter of Zeger, castellan of Ghent, installed 9 May 1239"Liste des Abbesses de la noble Abbaye de Forest", in ''La vie et les miracles de Ste. Alene, vierge et martyre'' (Brussels, 1783), p. 75–82 * Heylwide de Bouterstin, abbess 1260–1294 * Marie de Clebben * Machtild van Asse * Aleydis van Pollar * Clarisse van Cattendyck * Catherine de Beaufort * Catherine van Keisterbeke * Marguerite van Bouynes * Yolenta van Ysche, died 2 February 1341 * Jeanne van Huesdem, elected 14 March 1341 * Isabelle de Massemyn, died 6 December 1384 * Aleyde de Goer, elected 6 December 1385, died 29 December 1385 * Marie de Trazegnies, elected 27 November 1386, died 14 October 1388 * Marie Sconinckx, elected 14 October 1388, died 6 September 1418 * Catherine van Magdeghem, elected 7 September 1418, died 10 September 1430 * Elizabeth Sconinckx, elected 19 February 1430, died 19 August 1457 * Marguerite van Schoers, elected 20 July 1458, died 1489 * Catherine van Bouchout, died at Utrecht on 6 October 1498 * Barbe van Leaucourt, resigned, died at Anderlecht in 1516 * Margareta van Liedekerke, transferred from the Abbey of Ghislenghien to reform Forest Abbey; arrived 24 July 1500; re-established discipline and good order, died 25 September 1541 * Marguerite van Liedekerke, niece of previous, died 19 May 1560 * Françoise de la Douve, died 3 April 1583, during disruptions of the

Dutch Revolt The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (; 1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Reformation, centralisation, exc ...

: community lived as refugees in

Dendermonde Dendermonde (; , ) is a city in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of East Flanders in Belgium. The Municipalities of Belgium, municipality comprises the city of Dendermonde and the towns of Appels, Baasrode, Grembergen, M ...

and Brussels from 1578; abbey burnt down by rebels in 1582 * Adrienne du Petit-Cambrai, appointed by royal letters patent, installed 27 September 1587, rebuilt the monastery, died 6 November 1608 * Maria de Taye, 25th abbess, installed 29 January 1609; died 29 July 1637 *

Françoise de Bette Françoise Bette (1593–1666) was, from 1637 to 1666, the 26th abbess of Forest Abbey. She was born in Lede, in the county of Flanders, the daughter of Adrian Bette, knight, and Agnes de Merode de Rummen. Her cousin, Guillaume de Bette, 1st Ma ...

, 26th abbess, installed 25 July 1638; died 29 August 1666 * Catherine Quarré, installed 12 September 1667; died 1 September 1668 * Dorothée Christine d'Yves, installed 12 January 1670, died 15 October 1692 * Agnes Scholastica de Riviere d'Arschot, great niece of Françoise de Bette, elected 18 January 1693; died 19 February 1712 * During a five-year vacancy the abbey was governed by the prioress, Florence van Eyck * Marie-Josephe d'Espinosa, installed 22 December 1716; died 8 January 1743 * Jeanne-Thérèse de Roissin, consecrated 9 June 1743; died 27 December 1756 * Françoise de Landas, installed 26 April 1757, died 27 July 1760 * Marie-Josephe de Bouzies, 33rd abbess, installed 19 October 1760 * Juana Francisca de Rueda de Conteras, last abbess 1785–1796

References

External links

* {{Commons category-inline, Abbaye de Forest, Forest Abbey Christian monasteries in Brussels Benedictine monasteries in Belgium 1100s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1105 establishments in Europe 12th-century establishments in Belgium 1796 disestablishments in Europe 18th-century disestablishments in the Southern Netherlands Forest, Belgium

History

Abbesses

See also

References

External links