Belgica Sacra: May 2017

Tervuren Park is one of the favourite spots for the residents of Brussels. The combination of water, forests and a grand edifice of the Africa Museum renders it an oasis of rest. Those exploring the area will find here the remains of a majestic castle that once stood here. Originally the residence of the dukes of Brabant in the XIV and XV centuries, it became one of the country residences of the Sovereigns of the Spanish Netherlands the Archduchess Isabel Clara Eugenia (1566-1633) and her husband the Archduke of Austria Albert VII (1559-1621).

Tervuren castle, Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625)

But as you venture further into the forest, lacking in the knowledge of the history of the area you are unlikely to find other traces of the Infanta's heritage. These traces are very faint. But, it is rewarding to discover them - little, fading glimpses of the past; reminders of historical changes that have transformed Belgium's landscape over the centuries.

I suppose not many people walking through the part of Tervuren Park, called Bois des Capucins, or Kapbos, ask themselves why it is called the Capuchin Forest. Fewer still venture off the Kapucijnendreef or the Drève des Capucins. If you come across what appear to be a line of red bricks beneath your feet, you may like to exit the pathway and explore the land around you.

Covered under a canopy of grass you'll discover remains of what appear to be either foundations or ground-level chambers of buildings that once stood here.

They are the faint remains of the Capuchin Monastery. (I was only able to find these ruins thanks to modern and older maps, as well as GPS.)

Built in 1626-1627, the Capuchin monastery did not last long. Like many monastic institutions on the territory of the Habsburg Netherlands, it fell victim to the decree by the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II that contemplative monasteries, which he saw as "unproductive", had to close down. The anti-clerical fury of the French Revolution that swept across the Austrian domains dealt a final death blow. As a result, by 1798 the Capuchin monastery ceased to exist. An expert in ecclesiastical architecture, Joris Snaet of the Catholic University of Leuven, writes that the monastery was "completely destroyed.“ While at it, Joseph II also took the trouble to demolish the castle of Tervuren.

Joris Snaet's study, entitled "Isabel Clara Eugenia and the Capuchin Monastery at Tervuren” (in Cordula van Wyhe, ed., Isabel Clara Eugenia: Female Sovereignty in the Courts of Madrid and Brussels, 2011) has helped me piece together the story of this place.

As Snaet writes: “the monastery was Isabella’s last great monastic foundation. She assisted at the laying of the first stone of the monastery [on 25 June 1626, together with Archbishop Jacobus Boonen of Mechelen] and at the consecration of the church. The monastery was intended primarily as a seminary for Capuchin novices. A small hermitage was specially constructed for her in the garden.” Thus, there was a royal connection between the archducal castle, one of three (also the Coudenberg Palace in Brussels and Mariemont) favored by Archduchess Isabel and the monastery. Isabel would often retire here for a few hours or days of spiritual retreat or in preparation for religious feasts. Her withdrawal became more frequent after she became a widow. According to Snaet, the "Tervuren monastery was one of the rare Capuchin monasteries in the Southern Netherlands to be located outside the walls of a city.” This owes exactly to the patronage by the court in Brussels.

We learn from Snaet that the monastery “is one of two Capuchin foundations, the other being the one in Brussels, established in 1587, to which Antonius Sanderus dedicated a chapter in his famous Chorographia sacra Brabantiae (see an engraving, which appeared in this book, by Lucas Vorsterman, the chief engraver for Rubens). The fact that this celebrated Flemish historian would devote a chapter to it attests to the importance this monastery once had.

The founding of this institution enjoyed the support of several esteemed Belgian families. At its consecration were such distinguished individuals as “the Duke and Duchess of Aarschot, the Prince of Chimay, the Count and Countess of Gamalerio, the Count of Bugnon, the Count of Destaires, the Count of Roeulx, the Countess of Grimbergen and many others. All had made donations to the monastery.”

The monastery was dedicated to ‘Saint Francis in the Desert.’ St. Francis is the patron saint of – among others – the environment. He is also considered a model for interreligious dialogue. He gained such a reputation due to his meeting with the caliph of Egypt. Admittedly, Francis wanted to convert him to Christianity, but, unlike the warring Crusaders, he approached the caliph non-belligerently. The two had a dialogue. We know thanks to researcher Eelco Diederik Nagelsmit that Franciscan spirituality was widespread in the XVII century Flanders [Venite & videte: art and architecture in Brussels as agents of change during the counter reformation, c. 1609-1659, Universiteit Leiden, 2014].

This Capuchin monastery holds another interesting connection to Belgian history. In 1626, 1627-1630 and 1633-1635 its superior - and probably also its architect - was Carolus of Brussels van Arenberg.

Portrait of capuchin friar Carolus van Arenberg by Paulus Pontius after Abraham van Diepenbeek

As the son of Anne de Croÿ, 5^th duchess of Aarschot (1563-1635), he came from one the finest Belgian families. After 1633, Carolus was suspected of “quietly supporting” his brother Philip, duke of Aarschot, in the Conspiracy of the Nobles to overthrow the Spanish rule. As a consequence, in 1637, he was expelled from the Spanish Netherlands, and allowed to return only in 1643 (meanwhile, his brother had died in detention in Madrid in 1640). While Carolus eventually reconciled with the Spanish crown, he remained deeply attached to the sovereignty of his family. The first superior of the Capuchin monastery might therefore be considered a Belgian patriot.

Capuchin monastery at Tervuren, Lucas van Uden (1595-1672)

Post scriptum: With the help of a Flemish friend I wrote to the municipal authorities at Tervuren suggesting that an information board be installed near the site of the former monastery. Such boards are found for instance at Rouge-Cloitre and Groenendael. I did not receive a response. This is regrettable. Unlike quite a few other remaining abbeys in the Sonian Forest all we have to show for the Capuchin monastery today are the few and far between traces of its foundations. However, I consider its imprint in Belgium's historical memory to be no less illustrious.

At Rosier 22 street, in off-the-beaten-track part of Antwerp one finds a set of austere buildings. It is a convent of the Discalded Carmelite nuns. Since the early XVII century, with the exception of a short interruption following the French Revolution, this place has been home to a silent dedication to the Divine.

The church and convent of the Discalded Carmelites in Antwerp

The convent holds a very special place in the Carmelite community. It was founded by the Blessed Anne of Saint Bartholomew (1549-1626).

The Blessed Anne of Saint Bartholomew, prayer card

Born in a Castilan village Ana García Manzanas became one of the closest collaborators - a nurse and personal assistant of Saint Teresa of Avila, who, together with Saint John of the Cross, reformed the Carmelite Order. A sheperdess in her youth, she was the first lay sister admitted to St. Teresa's Discalded Carmelite convent in Avila in 1570. There she learned to write, it is said thanks to the miraculous powers of St. Teresa. Anne took the black veil of a choir nun only in 1604 as a condition for becoming a fouding prioress in Pontoise (she also served in this capacity in Paris and Tours). Ana's sister also became a Carmelite nun. After Saint Teresa's death, Anne left Spain, along with another protegee of Saint Teresa, Venerable Anne of Jesus (the founder of a Carmel in Brussels), and three other sisters, to found convents in France, and in today's Belgium.

Following a one-year stay at the Monastery of Saint Joseph in Mons, Anne of Saint Bartolomew arrived on the 29th of October 1612 in Antwerp with three fellow sisters. She took up residence in the house of Don Ignatius de Borgia, a local governor. According to convent chronicles, he and his wife "considered themselves very happy to receive one whom they honored as a Saint, and who was revered as such by everyone." It is said that Anne helped him mend his ways, including overcoming an addiction to gambling.

Three years later, the Carmelite nuns bought land at Rosier, a Rose-tree - several small houses and a large orchard. Impressed by this place, Anne told the superior of the province, Father Thomas of Jesus, that "the songs of the birds will draw our minds to recollection."

In the fall of 1615 Archduchess Isabel Clara Eugenia, the daughter of King Philip II of Spain, and her husband Archduke Albert of Austria (a one-time cardinal of Toledo), the sovereigns of the Spanish Netherlands, arrived in Antwerp to oversee one of Isabella's maids of honor taking the habit of a Carmelite nun. The pair also laid the the first stone for the convent church dedicated to Saint Joseph (the cult of St. Joseph was spread by St. Teresa). This simple structure, in the tradition of Carmelites, was completed in 1639. The inscription on a silver medal, commemorating the occasion, states as follows:

"Albert and Isabella, by the grace of God, Infantas of Spain, Archdukes of Austria, Dukes of Burgundy and Brabant, Counts of Flanders and Holland, with their own hands these pious and happy princes have placed the first stone of this church in the year 1615."


Memorial with painted portrait of the Infanta in the Antwerp church of the Discalded Carmelite nuns

As prof. Cordula van Wyhe of the University of York, put it: "Albert and Isabel's primary goal was to secure their subjects' confessional allegiance to the Catholic Church and political allegiance to the Spanish crown... Albert and Isabel brought a Spanish flair to Catholicism in the Low Countries through the promotion of Iberian saints and Spanish spirituality." The introduction of the Discalded Carmelites thus exemplified "the hispanicization" of the religious life in the Spanish Netherlands. (from van Wyhe's Spiritual Writings of Sister Margaret of the Mother of God (1635-1643), published in 2015).

Infanta Isabel in front of Mariemont Castle, Jan Brueghel the Elder

Saint Teresa of Avila by Peter Paul Rubens on the cover of Cordula van Wyhe's book

Archduchess Isabel had first met Mother Anne when the latter took up an invitation to see the princely couple at their country estate at Marimont while on her way from Mons to Antwerp. She made a deep impression on the sovereigns. Infanta Isabel would henceforth maintain an intimate correspondance with Anne, and - as was not unusual for the age - consult with her on all matters, secular and spiritual.

In 1614, St. Teresa was declared blessed. Thanks to her close relationship with her - Saint Teresa died in the arms of her beloved infirmarian - Anne of Saint Bartholomew, the foundress and life-long prioress of the Antwerp Carmel, became a figure of authority, and of public attention outside of the convent, and beyond the Low Countries. In one of her many visions she saw that "the foundation in Antwerp would be a torch, which would cast its splendor and light throughout the whole country."

Brother Andrew of Jesus (Brzechwa), the first Polish Carmelite Discalded

After Brother Andrew of Jesus (Brother), the first Polish Carmelite Discalded visited Mother Anne in Antwerp, her fame spread to Poland as well. The Polish Primate Laurence Gembicki wrote to her on the 26th September 1623: "I recommend my person, this kingdom, surrounded on all sides by fierce and barbarous nations, the king whom God has placed at its head, and the holy Catholic church whose ship is tossed about by the upheaval of such great wars."


Archbishop Laurent Gembicki (1589-1624)

The spread of the Discalded Carmelites to Poland was helped by the familial and dynastic relations of the Vasa kings, then reigning in Warsaw, with Infanta Isabella and the Spanish Habsburgs. In fact, the Discalded Carmelites, who established their presence in the Spanish Netherlands would subsequently set up convents in Poland.

The times were extremely precarious for the Spanish Netherlands. Having contributed to the introduction of the reformed order into France, from 1604 until 1611, Anne of St. Bartholomew arrived in Flanders in the midst of the Eighty Year's War (1568-1648). The Catholic Spanish Netherlands were at war with the Protestant Dutch provinces. The Dutch revolt had a traumatic impact on Antwerp, which was the economic and financial centre of the Low Countries. The city was sacked by mutinied Spanish soldiers in 1576. This and other incidents gave rise to the "Spanish fury," a dark legend spread among Protestants to demonize the Spanish. Antwerp joined the anti-Spanish revolt, but was reconquered by Alessandro Farnese, governor general of the Spanish Netherlands after a year-long siege, from July 1584 to August 1585.

Anne was credited with saving the city from Dutch invasions in 1622 and 1624, earning her the title of Guardian and Liberatrix of Antwerp. Archduchess Isabel told one of her ministers: "I fear nothing for the citadel, nor for the city of Antwerp, for Anne of St. Bartholomew is there, and she alone is worth all the armies of the world."

Anne became what one today might call a celebrity. She wrote in her autobiography, without exaggeration, that "this monastery was esteemed by the entire city." She was a strong defender of the Teresian heritage, no doubt happy to live to see Teresa of Avila canonised in 1622. Anne left behind a treasure trove of letters, including hundreds dictated to her by Saint Teresa.

A title page of the Dutch translation of Anne's autobiography (1632)

Mother Anne not only looked after the spiritual well-being of the nuns under her care, but also their physical well-being. Knowledgeable as a herbalist, and a skilled infirmarian, with enlightened views on the physical and mental health, she was one of the precursors of nursing. As one scholar notes: "Less than a decade after the death of Ana de San Bartolomé, nursing began to professionalize" (Healing on the Margins: Ana de San Bartolomé, Convent Nurse. Barbara Mujica. Georgetown University, 2014).

In 1624, Anne welcomed into the fold Mary Margaret of the Angels (van Valckenisse), the future foundress of the Carmel in Oirschot. The young nun was deeply affected by the example set by Anne, who welcomed the profession of her vows one year later. Though never beatified, Mary Margaret herself would lead a life of a saint.


Mary Margaret of the Angels (1605-1658)

Anne of Saint Bartholomew died in the odour of sanctity. On the day of her funeral, more than 20,000 chaplets or pictures touched her remains - such was the desire of the people to retain a connection with her (and a belief in the power of relics). As well as Antwerp, Brussels was said to have been "deopopulated; not only the lower classes, but the nobles and several princes and princesses, departed immediately to venerate this holy body before it was placed in the tomb."

By 1632, some 150 miracles owing to her intercession had been approved. Here is one example. In 1633, the Queen Marie Medici of France, then in exile in the Spanish Netherlands, fell ill at Ghent. Even though the Infanta's doctors and the Queen's were called for, none could stop the fever which lasted forty-four days. Then, the prioress of the Carmel of Ghent sent her a mantle worn by Mother Anne. The Queen covered herself with it and within three hours regained perfect health.

***

“Silence is precious;

by keeping silence and knowing how to listen to God,

the soul grows in wisdom

and God teaches it what it cannot learn from men.”

Bl. Anne of St. Bartholomew

Unfortunately, I have not yet been inside the convent church (there is only one mass celebrated on Sundary early morning), nor, obviously, the cloistered quarters. However, let me share the pictures showing what the Antwerp Carmel looks like today and what it looked like in the first half of the twentieth-century. For this reason, I juxtapose the pictures from Flanders' Inventory of Real Estate, with illustrations from the book Antwerpen Karmel klooster. Anvers Monastère du Carmel, published in 1930.