The English Convent

Earlier this week, I went with a knowledgeable friend to visit the English Convent. I have intended to

 The image above, reversed from the original, in no way
conveys the present gloomy, indistinct state
 of this revered portrait. 

go for at least a year, but when I thought of it in 2015 I discovered that the portrait of Sir Thomas More was being renovated. As he is one of my historical heroes, I was keen to see this Hans Holbein copy brought to Bruges by Mother Mary Augustina More, an eighth generation direct descendant of the great man. She was elected Prioress in the English Convent in 1766 and presumably the portrait arrived, perhaps inherited, at some time during her education at the Convent school or after her profession there as a Canoness in 1753.

There is a long and often tumultuous history to the English Convent which began on September 14
1629, when five English nuns disembarked from a barge at Minnewater in Brydges [now Brugge]

They had come from Saint Monica's in Louvain, an English convent founded twenty years before, which now needed to expand. Bruges was chosen because of its proximity to the sea making more easily accessible a future possible return to England.
 

They soon found a home, a small house called Nazareth on Carmersstraat, a former hospice for travellers. There they established the Priory of Our Lady of Nazareth, founded, as was St Monica's in Louvain, on the religious philosophy of Windesheim. Windesheim, established as a Congregation in 1395, was an order based on the voluntary withdrawal from life to follow a life-time based on prayer, meditation and study of the Scriptures to enable a contemplative existence lived in the service of

 15th century Nun at Saint Monica's

others. The five sisters, accompanied on their original journey by Ursula Palmes, daughter of Sir George Palmes, a young girl who eventually became a member of the community, were later joined by five other sisters, also from Saint Monica's in Louvain.

Over many years, often in the midst of turbulent wars, plague and persecution, the Priory of Our Lady of Nazareth flourished, led by distinguished and far-sighted Prioresses. A boarding school for English girls was established early and new members of the Community continued to arrive until, again, space became a problem. A new architect-designed church replaced the original tiny chapel in 1739 and stands today dominating its surroundings, while its wonderful, Renaissance-style cupola, its rich Roman altar and apse, indeed, the whole octagonal structure, dazzle in
the huge interior. On the day when we visited, our guide sang to us under this same cupola to demonstrate the wonderful acoustics. I had been so impressed already by Sister Mary, our guide, an elderly, lively  nun with a mischievous sense of humour but her clear, bell-like singing, uplifting and with perfect pitch, added the final graceful touch.

She more than made up for the disappointingly dark and forbidding portrait of Sir Thomas which is one of the Convent's most prized possessions. I would love to have seen more of the building but the tour really covered only the large and handsome entrance hall and the Church. The gardens too, were not visited which was a loss. I may go again and ask if it is possible  to see the gardens which were on public view last September during the Open Monuments weekend. In the meantime, I have, at least, seen the copy of the Holbein Thomas More, owned by the last blood descendant of this historically important philosopher-writer and brought over to Bruges from England at some point during the mid-eighteenth century.

Charles 11 and his brothers, dining in Brugge
in the late 1650s.

The famous poet- priest-philosopher Guido Gezelle, who lived in Rolweg near the Convent, became Chaplain there during the last part of his life, dying in the convent in November 1899.

He is considered one of the masters of European lyric poetry and among many notable achievements, founded the Societe Archaeologique de Bruges in the 1860s and is chiefly responsible for preserving Bruges's mediaeval architecture.

Another historically famous figure, Charles 11, had his H.Q. in Brugge during his exile in the mid seventeenth century, and was offered continuing support by the Convent nuns. In his turn, after he became monarch, he proved to be a generous benefactor to the Convent and other Communities in Flanders. The English Convent is the only mediaeval religious house left in Flanders today and the original commitment to leading the contemplative life continues under the care, at present, of eight elderly sisters.

  Italianate apse and altar in the English Convent

1.