Zwartstaers (Rupelmonde)

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The Augustinesses Zwartsters , based in Rupelmonde (Flanders), are a congregation from the Zwartstersters family .

In 1662 Maria Magdalena van Baerlant bought a house in the Sint-Jansgasthuis and shortly afterwards got in touch with the Zwarte Befers van Dendermonde . After the sisters had received permission to set up a branch in Rupelmonde, the sisters Josyne Clinckaert, Anna Wuyts and Elisabeth Bonte settled here on June 16, 1664. Joanna Tamin entered the monastery for the first time in July and in 1665 already had six members, one of whom, Elisabeth Bonte, returned to Dendermonde . The episcopal approbation , through which the monastery gained its independence, was granted in the same year. Looking after the enclosed Sint-Janshospital , her chapel was opened on October 9, 1668 in honor of St. Consecrated to Elisabeth . Generally looking after the Sint-Janshospital, when the plague raged in 1669/70 , they not only cared for the sick within the city, but also in Bazel , Kruibeek , Beveren and Melsele . When the Bishop of Ghent , the monastery in 1680 visitierte , it was one of eight sisters, one novice and one postulant . The result of the visit was to find out that there were complaints about the novice as well as about the poor performance of the work in the hospital. Funds that were given to some of the sisters were not given to the monastery, but were viewed by them as private property. Due to deaths and a shortage of offspring, the still young monastery was in dire straits in 1687, as it only had five sisters, two of whom were already old. Outpatient care was out of the question, the hospital was struggling enough to maintain. In order to maintain the monastery, the bishop called two sisters from Pamele , who should also fill the leadership positions of the monastery. The personal crisis seemed to have been overcome, as new sisters had entered the monastery every year since 1690 and the feast of St. Elisabeth became the annual day of profession. After the two sisters returned to Pamele in 1697, the convent had 11 members.

In the course of the French Revolution, the 16 sisters were evicted from their home on January 31, 1796, after which they were able to find shelter with friends and relatives. But soon, on April 16, 1797, they were returned to their possession. The joy did not last long, however, because a short time later she would meet the same fate again. After they protested against the judgment of the annulment, the police expelled them from their house on October 14, 1798, from which they were not allowed to take anything with them. Although they were forbidden to wear the religious costume or even to live under one roof, they soon found a large house on the Bazelstraat. Only with the concordat between the Pope and Napoleon did the situation return to normal, so that they could wear their habit again and accept postulants from 1806.

After the congregation had received royal license to practice medicine in 1829 and the sisters had taken over care in the city hospital in 1837 at the request of the city administration, the motherhouse finally got its own chapel in 1850. In 1872, at the request of the city of Puurs , they took over care of the local Sint-Pietersgasthuis, where they also set up a branch convent. While the entire congregation already had 41 professed sisters in 1841, 30 sisters lived in the mother house in 1931, six in the municipal hospital in Rupelmonde and seven in Puurs.

Since the Second World War , the congregation has had no new entries, so that in 1964 it only had three sisters in the motherhouse and 14 sisters in its two branch convents. In 1962 the sisters were able to prevent the diocese's attempt to unite them with the Zwartsters of Dendermonde. But when the decision was made in 1969 to close the branch in Puurs and to move the seven sisters stationed there back to Rupelmonde, six of the sisters resigned from the congregation. Before 1985, the parent company at Bazelstraat 13 was given up and relocated to Kruibeke , which in 1985/86 is still occupied by the Puurs branch convent. In 1997 the last two sisters left the monastery and went to a nursing home , where a third sister was also employed.