Oosteeklo Abbey


Oosteeklo Abbey was a Cistercian nunnery founded in Oosteeklo in 1217 and later moved to Ghent.

History

In the Middle Ages the lay brothers and the secular tenants of the monastery played an important role in the agricultural development of the sandy heathland around the village of Oosteeklo.
In 1577, during the Dutch Revolt, the abbey was plundered and razed. Seven surviving members of the community regrouped under Abbess Elisabeth Fransmans and in 1585 moved into the Posteernehof in the city of Ghent. Under Joanna de Hertoghe, the abbey church was built in Ghent, and under Francisca vanden Steene the refectory, chapter house and infirmary were built and the church decorated. While established in Ghent the monastery did retain extensive property and rights in and around Oosteeklo. Their former guesthouse in the village is now listed as built heritage. On 11 May 1666 Gerard de Baere, Abbot of Dunes, granted permission for a chapel with portable altar to be built on the former site of the abbey in Oosteeklo.
In 1796 the Revolutionary authorities suppressed the house in Ghent and confiscated the building, which in 1797 was sold at public auction. The former nuns bought back the house through a front man, and continued to live in it as a clandestine community until 1814, when again officially recognised as a monastic house. Over the course of the subsequent few decades, the community died out. In 1842 the former monastery buildings were transferred to the Jesuits, and in the early 20th century to the De La Salle Brothers.

Abbesses

The abbesses listed in the Gallia Christiana, vol. 5, 227–228, are as follows.
  • Isabella
  • Egidia de Salsyne
  • Lyna Trys
  • Lyna de Boulers
  • Ida Dammand
  • Agnes van Hove
  • Heylsoeta de Rocleers
  • Maria Keelcapons
  • Belina van Somerghem
  • Clara Tollins
  • Margareta vanden Berghe
  • Margareta van Wilsem
  • Catharina d'Appers
  • Margareta vanden Voorde
  • Catharina Seysens
  • Clara Smeyers
  • Christiana Laus
  • Catharina van Raveschot
  • Margareta Poleyts
  • Agnes Cabelliau
  • Gentina de Mastin
  • Catharina de Beer
  • Anna de Pottelsberghe
  • Philippina de Mastin
  • Johanna Sanders
  • Elisabeth Fransmans
  • Joanna de Hertoghe
  • Maria de Brunswyck, daughter of the Duke of Brunswick
  • Francisca vanden Steene
  • Isabella Clara Eugenia de Huchin, a goddaughter of Isabella Clara Eugenia
  • Juliana vanden Bogaerde of Bruges
  • Maria Alexandrina Coene of Ghent