Sparrendaal Estate
Sparrendaal is an estate located southwest of Vught. This estate is part of a chain of estates that also includes Wargashuyse and Jagershagen.
In 1787, the wine merchants Thomas and Augustinus van Rijckevorsel from 's-Hertogenbosch purchased a plot of land for reclamation. At that time, the government was offering subsidies for planting conifers to reclaim the land. The family had spruce trees planted. Hence the estate’s name: Sparrendaal. In 1804, they built the country house “Oud-Sparrendaal” here.
In Scheut, Belgium, the Flemish priest Theophiel Verbist founded the Missionaries of Scheut in 1862. In 1899, thes…
In 1787, the wine merchants Thomas and Augustinus van Rijckevorsel from 's-Hertogenbosch purchased a plot of land for reclamation. At that time, the government was offering subsidies for planting conifers to reclaim the land. The family had spruce trees planted. Hence the estate’s name: Sparrendaal. In 1804, they built the country house “Oud-Sparrendaal” here.
In Scheut, Belgium, the Flemish priest Theophiel Verbist founded the Missionaries of Scheut in 1862. In 1899, these missionaries were gifted ‘Oud Sparrendaal’ and 38 hectares of land. They established the St. Francis Xavier Mission House there, with the aim of recruiting more Dutch people for missionary work. They began offering classes and courses. In 1929, the growing brotherhood built a new complex called “Nieuw Sparrendaal,” complete with a chapel, right next to the old manor house. It was a minor seminary with a boarding school for boys who wished to become missionaries. The boarding school was named the St. Francis Xavier Mission College. In 1958, Sparrendaal opened the mission college to day students and renamed it Xaverius College. In 1960, it received ministerial recognition as a high school. The new boarding school, Steffenberg, was built on the Sparrendaal grounds in 1963. It served as a school for the blind from 1971 to 1998. In 1970, Xaverius College and the MMS program run by the Sisters of Regina Coeli merged to form Maurick College.
The Brabants Landschap Foundation purchased the Sparrendaal estate in 1994. Since 1996, the Monumentenwacht Noord-Brabant Foundation has had its office in Oud Sparrendaal. Steffenberg was demolished in 2002. In 2006, the “Eik en Ven” estate was established here. In 2008, the last missionaries left Sparrendaal. They moved to a nursing home in Teteringen. Nieuw-Sparrendaal was demolished in 2009 to make way for two country homes. As part of this, the old beech-lined avenue was restored. Remnants of the monastery’s history include the cemetery and a small chapel dedicated to Mary.
This text has been translated using AI.