Heeswijk, Monastery of
HEESWIJK, MONASTERY OF
House of the premonstratensians, near 's Hertogenbosch, Netherlands—formerly of the Diocese of Utrecht, today Diocese of 's Hertogenbosch. It was founded in 1130–31 by Fulco of Berne as a daughterhouse of Marienweerd, at Berne, near Heusden; today nothing is left. For almost 300 years after the monastery was destroyed in 1579, the monks lived in various places of refuge without a cloister, the longest recorded exclaustration in the history of the Church. In 1857 it reestablished itself under its old name, Berne, at Heeswijk. The monastery sent to America (1893–1902) a foundation that established St. Norbert Abbey, DePere, Wisconsin, and another to Germany (Windberg) in 1923. Heeswijk has a priory in Essenburgh, maintains a gymnasium, has nine incorporated parishes, and directs a missionary diocese in India (Jubbulpore).
Bibliography: c. l. hugo, S. Ordinis Praemonstratensis annales, 2 v. (Nancy 1734–36) 1:329–335. a. versteylen, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart et al. (Paris 1912–) 8:818–821. c. j. kirkfleet, The White Canons of St. Norbert (Paterson, N.J. 1943). n. backmund, Monasticon Praemonstratense, 3 v. (Straubing 1949–56) 2:274–278.
[n. backmund]