Zwartsters Mechelen

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The Augustinies Zwartsters van Mechelen were a Roman Catholic community of sisters in Belgium who were active in nursing and belonged to the Cellite family.

Possibly the sisters came in 1305. In any case, we can locate them for the year 1367, in which a lay judge's letter describes them as resident at the Schermelbloc. After accepting the Rule of St. Augustine in 1462, the 14 sisters of the convent, which was named Galilee, made their vows in the hands of the Prior of the Carmelites the following year . In the next few years the visitors were to always come from the Carmelite order until they were replaced by the oratorians in 1647 at the behest of the archbishop and in 1720 came under the supervision of a secular clergyman.

After they had built a chapel in 1477, their services were carried out by the Carmelites. However, since we only found out about the inauguration of a chapel in 1510, we do not know whether it is the one mentioned or whether it is a successor. Not much is known to us from these years, but the sisters cared for those suffering from the plague, whose hospital was transferred to them by the city magistrate, and many died in their service. But they had scarcely been able to recover from this when the explosion of the Zandpoort in 1546 affected their monastery and could only be repaired by diligent collection. But as early as 1580 the city should fall into the hands of the Calvinists . A horde of these besiegers invaded the monastery and seized everything they could grasp. In order to elicit gold from the sisters who were supposedly hidden, they tied the 73-year-old superior, Johanna Screvens, to a horse and dragged her through the city to the fortress. To save their superior from death, the community paid a sum of 2,800 guilders.

During the 17th century , the city magistrate granted them various gifts and privileges so that they could expand their monastery over the years. In this context, the archbishop, Mathias Hovius , also consecrated the new altar of the chapel on April 18, 1618 in honor of Mary, St. John and St. Augustine. After the boom in the second half of the 18th century, the city magistrate asked them to list all their goods and income on September 18, 1773. If they were spared from the secularization of Emperor Joseph II , the French occupation that began shortly afterwards should give them plenty of trouble. No sooner had they taken the city than on August 2, 1793, they demanded a sum of 2,000 livres from the sisters. But in July they were asked to pay again with 1,000 guilders, which they had to pay within 24 hours. However, since the monastery could not raise such a sum, the sisters had no choice but to even melt down the silver work of their chapel. But no sooner had they paid at great sacrifice than the next harassment came on January 1, 1795 , in which they were supposed to prove that their monastery was not generating any surpluses, for which they had to disclose their bookkeeping to the occupation authorities. After they were able to prevent repeal the following year, they were informed at the beginning of 1798 that they, like all other monasteries, had been repealed and their property would fall to the state. When the sisters were expelled on February 20 with a bare saber, there were only four in the house, while the rest were with the sick.

While they were moving into a house on Hairgracht, the monastery buildings were sold and torn down in 1801. After spending six years here, they succeeded in acquiring a house on the Vooghtstraat in 1804, where the four-person community was able to accept a profession for the first time on September 19, 1805. On August 31, 1819, they finally succeeded in gaining state recognition. After they succeeded in buying a neighboring piece of land in 1824, they were finally able to build a chapel on it, as until now they only had one room with an altar. Since the community of sisters grew steadily over the next few years, they were forced to expand the convent, which had become too small, in 1842. As early as 1884 they were able to send some sisters to the seminary of Tournai to manage the household and to found their first branch in 1897 with the stab of St. Augustine in Berlaar. In Mechelen itself, they also had care in the Sint-Jozefkliniek from 1916.

The Congregation of Episcopal Law merged into the Augustinian Order on December 26, 1927 and in June 1942 also took over the care of the St. Jozefskliniek in Turnhout. On March 8 of the following year they acquired a villa Belaar adjoining their monastery and set up a retirement home (Sint-Jozefsrusthuis) in it. However, the congregation was not to last long, as it was already on April 15, 1967, together with the tutors van Liefde of Dochters van Maria van Mechelen and the Dochters van de Onbevlekte Ontvangenis van Overijse to form a new congregation, the Diocesane Befers van Overijse- Mechelen , were merged.