Motherhouse Ieper

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The Zwartsters van Ieper are a Roman Catholic religious order based in Belgium .

history

First mentioned in 1402, the Black Beguines united with them in 1416 , probably trying to avoid a merger with the Sint-Christinabegijnhof .

16./17. century

Living in what is now Janseniusstraat, they repeatedly came into conflict with the city magistrate until the second half of the 16th century . The point of contention here was the duty of the sisters to visit the sick, which the city fathers probably interpreted more narrowly than the sisters themselves.

Nevertheless, in 1558 they received a commendation for their devoted care of those suffering from the plague, and there will be no more complaints in this regard in the future either.

But new hardships should break in soon. After their chapel was devastated by the iconoclasts and set on fire on August 16, 1566 , around ten years later, on September 20, 1578, the Geusen broke into the monastery at midnight and smashed everything to pieces.

The order soon recovered from this, so that in 1586 a sister could be sent to Veurne , where she became superior and was able to ensure the survival of the monastery.

Since the monastery grew to 28 sisters by 1621, they were able to offer their help to the Secret Raad four years later in Breda , which was devastated by Ambrosio Spinola . But what has become of it cannot be said, just as it became quiet about the community in the following years.

18th century

Only when the superior turned to Emperor Josef II in 1784 and, referring to the lack of space and the fire that broke out that year, applied to move to the Carmelite monastery , which was closed in 1783 , they reappear historically.

After the matron's request was granted in 1786, the move took place on May 16, 1787.

But times would soon change. After the Austrians gave way to the troops of the French Revolution in 1793, the monastery was given high payments. After the superior was killed in the second city siege, they numbered 16 sisters in August of the following year, who were informed on November 11, 1796 that the monastery had been abolished.

They seem to have resisted the repeal, because they actually did not have to leave it until March 7, 1798.

19th century

After living separately from each other, they managed to move into a joint house on Wenninckstraat in 1801, which they then bought in 1805.

Here they went about their business as usual and also took some pensioners into their house. After receiving the royal confirmation on November 9, 1821, expansion took place, so that on November 7, 1865 they rented a house in Moeskroen and set up their first branch here with four sisters.

Two years and one day later, they even managed to cross the French border, where they opened another branch in Tourcoing .

20th century

After years of calm and prosperity, the horrors of the First World War came, which destroyed the motherhouse on October 7, 1914 with a bomb hit. Most of the sisters left town in December, only a few stayed to care for the wounded.

The reconstruction should take until 1924. In the previous year the Congregation of Episcopal Law, which grew to 46 professed in three houses by 1928, was organized in a VZW called Soeurs Noires Gardes-Malades .

In 1959, Sister Florence Lamreant was elected Superior. In the course of her term of office, she filled the presidium of the VZW with her acquaintances, so that it increasingly outgrew the congregation.

The community of 26 sisters in 1970 split into two groups three years later. When the Bishop of Brugge pronounced the exclusion of the former superior and a fellow sister, however, everything was already too late.

Moeder Florence remained at the head of the VZW and the congregation came away empty-handed. The four sisters who had gathered around the new superior left the convent and continued the congregation in a rented apartment. The circle around Moeder Florence, as she continued to call, was repeatedly involved in scandals.

In 1984 three sisters lived in Ieper and four in Moeskroen. Moeder Florence died in the early 1990s . In 1998 one sister lived in Moeskron and four sisters in Ieper.