Klooster Sint-Josephsberg
The Sint-Josephsberg Monastery of the Order of the Poor Ladies is the oldest still inhabited Poor Clare monastery in the Netherlands.
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The Sint-Josephsberg Monastery of the Order of the Poor Ladies is the oldest still inhabited Poor Clare monastery in the Netherlands. The Order of the Poor Ladies is named after Saint Clare, the first female follower of Francis of Assisi. Clara was a self-aware woman who succeeded in shaping her own vision into rules of life, which were approved by the pope.
Initially, the Poor Clares lived in Boxtel, but after the Eighty Years' War, the Protestant government prohibited the practice of the Catholic faith. Thus, they ended up in Megen, where they settled on the grounds of the former castle of the Counts of Megen and converted it into a convent. The seclusion of a castle suited them: Poor Clares live in isolation and poverty to devote themselves entirely to God. In the eighteenth century, they established a brewery, a bakery, and a vegetable garden for their own sustenance. From 1766, a special product was added: communion wafers. They still bake them.
The P…
The Sint-Josephsberg Monastery of the Order of the Poor Ladies is the oldest still inhabited Poor Clare monastery in the Netherlands. The Order of the Poor Ladies is named after Saint Clare, the first female follower of Francis of Assisi. Clara was a self-aware woman who succeeded in shaping her own vision into rules of life, which were approved by the pope.
Initially, the Poor Clares lived in Boxtel, but after the Eighty Years' War, the Protestant government prohibited the practice of the Catholic faith. Thus, they ended up in Megen, where they settled on the grounds of the former castle of the Counts of Megen and converted it into a convent. The seclusion of a castle suited them: Poor Clares live in isolation and poverty to devote themselves entirely to God. In the eighteenth century, they established a brewery, a bakery, and a vegetable garden for their own sustenance. From 1766, a special product was added: communion wafers. They still bake them.
The Poor Clares live with respect for the earth and are vegetarian. Based on their own recipes, they make vegetarian products. They sell them under the name De Vegetarische Zuster. On the website devegetarischezuster.nl, you can find where these products are available. Part of the monastery garden is being transformed into a food forest.
Little of the former castle remains, but the moat is still there. The current monastery building dates from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The sisters bought back their convent in 1896 from the government, which had seized it about a hundred years earlier. With the monastery under their own management, a major renovation began. A new chapel was built, and the old one was converted into a recreation room and infirmary.
This text has been translated using AI.