Zwartsters Veurne
In Veurne based Zwartzusters Augustinessenstraße are a congregation from the religious family of Zwartzusters .
history
It is not known exactly when the sisters came to Veurne; They are first mentioned in a city bill from 1461. The monastery, possibly from a beguinage , had its own chapel before 1512 and was consecrated to St. Ursula in 1521. A document from 1533 shows that the sisters also taught girls. When the Geusen took control of the city in the second half of the 16th century, the monastery was to be sold in 1580, but this was not done due to the protest of the city magistrate . Nevertheless, survival was only possible through the influx of some sisters from Ypres in 1586, of which it has been a branch ever since. Three years later the community began to renovate the dilapidated monastery buildings with financial support from the city council. Caring for the plague victims, three sisters worked in the Sint-Janshospital in 1593, with two more joining them until 1606.
When the Grauwsteers introduced the cloister in 1639 , they took over school service again and, in return for payment from the city council, also took care of the orphans and the mentally ill. The monastery owned the sole burial rights in the city and built a new monastery chapel in 1724 with financial support from the magistrate. The size of the community steadily decreased during these years. After the community had reached its maximum number of 18 sisters in 1650, it shrank to twelve in 1700 and to nine in 1787.
On October 3, 1796, the French occupiers informed the sisters that the monastery would be closed. All attempts to prevent this failed and on January 19, 1797 the final notice of annulment was issued. The building and its inventory were appraised on February 10, 1798 and sold on March 22. The four remaining sisters left their home for good.
In 1814, Sister Jacoba De Winter, the last survivor, tried to restore the monastery and asked the sisters in Belle and Dixmuide to send one or two sisters. Together with her the pastor Franciscus Rousseeuw wrote to the bishop, who on January 13th 1815 gave his promise, but recommended to wait until all preparations were done before wearing the religious dress. Since the former monastery building had been sold, a house was rented on Zwarte Ninnenstraat, which was exactly opposite the former monastery. On May 1, 1815, Sister Jacoba and four postulants moved into the new monastery, and a day later Pastor Rousseeuw received the episcopal permission to dress the postulants. A month later, two sisters from Belle ( Soeurs de Notre-Dame du Fief ) arrived.
After mother Jacoba died on October 16, 1815, the community received state recognition on November 9, 1821 and was limited to a maximum of eight members. In the following year they succeeded in buying back part of the former monastery and moving into it with five sisters in 1823 after it had been renovated. Membership limit was raised to ten in 1830 and to fifteen in 1875.
In 1905 the Congregation of Episcopal Law also built a home for the elderly in Veurne, which, however, did not coincide directly with the motherhouse. During the First World War they provided for a children's home in Wulveringem together with the Zwartzuster congregations of Ieper and Dixmuide. After the First World War, further branches were established and the parent company rebuilt.
On March 27, 1928, the congregation of 53 sisters united with the Augustinian order . After the Germans occupied Belgium, the motherhouse was confiscated from them in February 1943, whereupon the convent moved to a house on Veleeshouwerstraat. Like many other communities, they too felt the increasing shortage of young people, so that in 1954 they could still be found in two branches with 34 sisters. On October 10, 1954 they merged with the Congregation of the Zwartsters, mother house in Bruges .