History of the monastery

A little bit of history...
Our Order began in 1098 in Cîteaux, in France, and for that reason we are called “Cistercians.” A few centuries later, a reform of our way of life took place in the monastery of La Trappe, in France, so we are now commonly called “Trappists” and “Trappistines.”
 

Notre Dame de la Paix te Chimay (België), ons Moederhuis.
Abdij O.L. Vrouw van Koningsoord The first Cistercian monastery for nuns in the northern part of the Netherlands dates from before 1200 and was located in Friesland. During the succeeding centuries, about twenty more monasteries for women would be founded in our area. At the end of the 16th century, though, as a result of the Reformation, almost all the monasteries disappeared from the Netherlands. The Cistercian monks were the first to be able to return, with an abbey for monks being founded near Tilburg in 1881: Koningshoeven Abbey. The foundation of Koningsoord Abbey: When family members of the monks of Koningshoeven Abbey came to visit the monks, the question regularly surfaced about a similar way of life for women. Since there weren’t any Trappistine monasteries in the Netherlands at the time, the abbot directed young women to the Belgian Trappistine Abbey, Notre Dame de la Paix, in Chimay. Many of these young women entered that monastery and the group grew to number about fifty Dutch sisters. This led to the foundation of a monastery for nuns in the Netherlands: Koningsoord Abbey.
On November 21, 1933, construction was begun in Berkel-Enschot, while the young Dutch women were receiving their formation in the Cistercian way of life in Notre Dame de la Paix. In 1937, when the monastery in Berkel-Enschot was completed, they all came to the Netherlands, accompanied by M. Gertrudis Demarrez, the abbess of Chimay, who also became a foundress and continued to lead the new community for the next twenty years. On July 16, 1937, the community of Koningsoord sang the praises of God for the first time in Berkel-Enschot, which is why this date was chosen as the foundation day. The church was dedicated on October 6. In September 1940, Koningsoord became an autonomous abbey. World War II was a time of great concern, anxiety, and pain: three of our sisters were children of a Jewish couple who had converted to Catholicism when they married. Because of their Jewish ancestry, Sr. Hedwigis and Sr. Theresia Löb were arrested and transported via Westerbork to Auschwitz, where they met a tragic death. A third sister, Sr. Veronica Löb, was ill and wasn’t taken by the police at that time; eventually, though, she had to go underground until she died of tuberculosis. Moving Koningsoord Abbey from Berkel-Enschot to Arnhem: During 1995, the city of Tilburg made known its plans for expansion by developing the Overhoek section, which lay between the urbanized areas of Tilburg and Berkel-Enschot. Since the buildings and grounds of Koningsoord Abbey were strategically located within this area, the community had to start looking for another location in 1996, preferably not too far away from the original location, due to the historic and economic ties which the community had with Brabant. This search led them to no less than thirty different locations. An offer by the Mill Hill Missionaries in Oosterbeek got things moving: the property which had been a model farm on the Johannahoeve Estate in Arnhem, where young men had once been trained for mission work in the tropics, seemed to be especially suitable for building a new monastery. The Mill Hill Fathers sold the sisters about 30 hectares of land. The demolition of St. Jozefhuis was begun in September 2007, and on November 19, 2007, construction of the new monastery in Arnhem, on the edge of the Hoge Veluwe National Park, was begun. The corner-stone laying was celebrated on April 18, 2008. On October 3 of that same year, together with the construction workers and other guests involved with the building process, we celebrated the dedication of the new bell, Benedict, and the bell tower was hoisted up to the top of the roof of the new monastery. During the moving process, the cemetery was also re-located and all our deceased sisters were laid to rest in the new monastic cemetery in Arnhem. Construction proceeded well and the community itself was able to move to Arnhem on May 8, 2009.

 

Foundations made by Koningsoord:
Many young people entered the monastery after the war ended and, by 1952, a number of sisters from Koningsoord were able to go to the Eifel region of Germany to found Maria Frieden Abbey, fulfilling the desire of the abbot of Mariawald (the German Trappist monastery) who longed for a Trappistine monastery in that country. This monastery became autonomous in 1956. Not long afterwards, Koningsoord was able to send a number of sisters to Our Lady of Altbronn Abbey in Alsace. Due to a lack of new members, this community was threatening to die out, and the young Dutch sisters would be able to give the abbey a new vitality.	Maria Frieden
Not long afterwards, Koningsoord was able to send a number of sisters to Our Lady of Altbronn Abbey in Alsace. Due to a lack of new members, this community was threatening to die out, and the young Dutch sisters would be able to give the abbey a new vitality.	Baumgarten
In 1964, Koningsoord once again founded a new monastery, this time in Butende, Uganda, responding to the appeal of Pope Pius XII to plant the contemplative life in the Third World. In 1971, the monastery of Our Lady of Praise became an autonomous abbey.	Butende
Throughout the course of the years, the number of sisters in Koningsoord Abbey has remained stable at around fifty sisters. By 1998, however, the age distribution of the sisters had become quite unbalanced, so those who needed nursing care moved to St. Jozefoord, a nursing home for religious in Nuland.