Black sisters of Dendermonde

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Black Sisters of Dendermonde ( Dutch. Zwarte Zusters van Dendermonde ) are a Roman Catholic women religious from the religious family of Zwartzusters , the Belgian branch of Cellitinnen . They live according to the rules of St. Augustine in Dendermonde in what is now East Flanders, Belgium . The congregation was founded in 1491 by some sisters from Pamele . The main focus of the Black Sisters is on nursing and , since 1958, on missionary work in Africa .

founding

In 1491 some of the sisters from Pamele moved to Dendermonde, where they bought a house in the cemetery of the collegiate church on December 1st of the same year, with which they soon signed a contract for the construction of a chapel.

The approval of the monastery by Jean II. D'Antoing , Bishop of Cambrai took place on January 11, 1494. In the same year they moved to a house on Kromme Ellboog , which they owned on June 30 of that year. His name was "Huyze Nazareth" ( House of Nazareth ).

Even at that time there was an agreement with the city council, which the sisters for their services with a subsidy as well (= subsidies) from the city treasury with kind paid and additionally gave them exemption from all taxes.

The plague house was built in 1554

Since the city did not have a plague house , the community decided to build one at the back of their garden, for which the city gave them stones and lime between 1544 and 1546. The "hospital" was completed in 1554. In order to be able to settle the debts taken on for the construction, the community submitted an application to increase its subsidies to the city magistrate, which granted this to a lesser extent and for a limited period.

The rule of the Geusen and the re-establishment of the community (1576–1611)

When the Geusen took over the government of the city in 1579, the sisters had to flee after all religious had been expelled from the city on March 12th. When the city came back into Catholic hands in 1584 and the religious were allowed to return to their monasteries, the community was almost extinct. The only member was Margarita de Wint, who was already 70 years old.

When the plague broke out, on November 2, 1588, a negotiation took place between the monastery dean and the city magistrate, in which the possibility of re-establishing the monastery was discussed. The magistrate then turned to the Archbishop of Mechelen with the aforementioned request, which he complied and sent two sisters. The revival could not be denied a certain success, especially since ten new professed sisters were added between 1599 and 1611, so that the monastery grew to thirteen members. The 92-year-old sister Margaretha de Wint was elderly.

The time up to the War of the Spanish Succession

Because of problems within the community, the responsible bishop was forced to remove the then superior after a visitation held in 1641 . But the monastery continued to flourish, so that in 1664, with fifteen sisters, it exceeded the number of sisters, which was limited to twelve. So on June 16, 1664, a new monastery was founded in Rupelmonde with three sisters .

At the same time, the activities of the Black Sisters in the surrounding communities and places further away are documented. However, the plague decimated their community from thirteen to six sisters between 1668 and 1671. It was not until 1682 that the monastery had recovered enough that it had twelve members again. The admissions were always stable, so that there was no need to fear for continued existence due to a lack of vocations. Between 1668 and 1671 there were no fewer than seven admissions, of which at least four took their vows. Between 1671 and 1700 there were 23, of which 21 were professed.

Since there were six new professed between 1700 and 1706, the community could look back on 21 members in the last year mentioned and in the years 1702 to 1704 enlarged its hospital.

From the War of the Spanish Succession to the French Revolution (1706–1804)

In 1706 the city was damaged during the War of the Spanish Succession , with the convent of the sisters being badly damaged. The damage amounted to around 16,000 guilders , so that the restoration of the buildings could only be achieved through donations and loans. This reconstruction culminated in 1725 with the construction of a new chapel for the 22-member community.

However, the community had not yet been able to get rid of its debts when it was called upon to make new payments as a result of the French Revolution . In the end they saw no other option than to melt down and hand over all of their metal valuables, from candlesticks to altar crosses.

After they had in the meantime already accommodated the military in their house, the 21 professed sisters were informed on September 1, 1796 that their monastery would be abolished. They seem to have refused with a certain persistence, because they were forced to leave it only on February 27, 1797. After they were able to move into their monastery again in March of that year, they were informed again on September 29, 1798, that they had two days to leave the monastery again.

In a hurry they brought everything they could to the neighboring neighbors. Shortly afterwards they managed to rent a house, which the superior now lived in with three other sisters, while nine other sisters found accommodation in the beguinage , which had become a refuge for religious from dissolved monasteries.

The 19th century and the period up to the First World War

After 1804 they were allowed to live in a monastic community again, for which they rented two houses, which formerly belonged to their property, and bought them on July 21, 1809. Since the Convention but rapidly grew, the Mother Superior took on 12 July 1828, the opportunity to purchase the on the Vlasmarkt located Prinsenhof true that one then moved on 3 November. 1828

On May 14, 1829, the congregation received royal license, but it was limited to a size of 20 members. This did not pose a problem for the monastery community in the next few years, since in 1815 they had ten sisters, until 1830 it only grew to seventeen, and thus had not reached its maximum.

Thanks to their favorable development, they exceeded this maximum number in 1850, so that three years later they established their first branch monastery with two sisters in Hamme, Belgium , which, however, developed into an independent congregation by March 26, 1858. The foundations made in Edingen in 1857 and Delft in 1886 also quickly developed into independent congregations. But there were also numerous other foundations, which remained dependent on their parent company.

From the First World War until today

Only the First World War brought a temporary stagnation. Changes came, and not just because numerous branches had been destroyed or damaged and there was a decline in appointments. On April 19, 1922, they founded a non-profit association called "Zwarte Befers, Ziekendiensters te Dendermonde" , to which all of the Congregation's possessions were transferred on May 5 of the same year . On March 27, 1928, they merged with the Augustinian order .

All in all, life in the years between the wars seems to have passed smoothly and the number of sisters has leveled off at around 80, so that the first major events did not begin until the two youngest sisters of the Congregation of Oudenaarde transferred in 1949 rails. The members of the small community in Oudenaarde soon seem to have sought a merger, which was then carried out by decree on May 3, 1954 and confirmed by the bishop on the 17th of the same month. This increased the number of sisters in Dendermonde from 84 to 95 in one fell swoop. In 1968 there were 110 sisters.

This growth also enabled a regional expansion of the field of activity. From 1958 the Black Sisters were also active in missionary work in the Congo , where they founded a branch in 1960 in Doruma , which lies in the north on the border with Sudan . They also opened a novitiate here in 1962 , so that by 1968 they already had eight Belgian and seven local sisters in the mission. Since the development was so favorable, the formation of these sisters into an independent congregation began to take increasingly concrete forms since 1980 and led to the establishment of their own constitutions in 1988 and the final solution in 1991.

The 45 sisters living in Belgium now maintained six convents, but they gave up two of them by 1997.

Web links