Even for those who believe in eternity, time can be an enemy. Just look at the fortunes of Edgard Claes, one of the last remaining Crosiers of Saint Agatha, the oldest inhabited monastery in the Netherlands. For seven centuries, up to seventy Crosiers lived in this monastery at the same time. Now there are only four left. And from September, when the Congolese Crosier Olivier returns to his native country, there are three more.
‘We have undertaken all kinds of projects’, says Claes (68) about the imminent extinguishing of the sacred fire in North Brabant. ‘We started a school for bookbinders, we focused on the reception of refugees, but nothing helped.’
That is not surprising, because one of the consequences of the crisis of faith in the Netherlands is that dozens of monasteries are currently dying out. In the past fifteen years alone, the number of active orders and congregations has fallen from about 130 to about 60. Moreover, the average age in those monastic communities is so high, and the new growth so small, that only fifteen are expected in the coming years. will survive for years.
And the Dutch branch of the Order of the Holy Cross, one of the many orders that arose after the Crusades of the 12th and 13th centuries, will not belong to those fifteen. ‘The last Dutch novice to join here was Kees Michielse’, says Claes. “That was about fifty years ago. And he is now deceased.’
Claes himself, a Belgian by birth, joined the monastic community when he was 22. He never regretted that choice for a second, but he couldn’t deny that the longer he roamed the order, the more lonely his existence became.
For example, in the past four brothers worked in the kitchen alone to feed everyone. A pig was slaughtered every week. But due to a lack of hands, the farm closed its doors permanently a few years ago, both the vegetable garden and the fruit orchard deteriorated and Claes never again experienced the same sensation of activity of yesteryear, at most an echo of it.
‘Be in, get out’ was a popular slogan at the time for a reason, says Claes.
A few years ago there was still a small revival of hope when three young people came to the gate and wanted to enter. They were no doubt drawn to the semi-dark corridors where men dressed in rough woolen robes did the oldest things in Europe. But after actually wandering around there for a while, they decided to forgo the whole exercise.
Praying seven times a day and living in a constant state of supreme ecstasy, as the Crosiers are accustomed to, simply no longer belongs to this time, Claes thinks. Nowadays, meaning, rest and contemplation are mainly things that have to fit into a busy agenda, between the sports class and that coffee appointment.
That’s why the remaining Crosiers made a rigorous decision a few years ago: after seven centuries of seclusion, they would now let in the world.
The Dutch Monastery Life Heritage Center was given access to the site and built a brand new depot where the archives of dozens of other past orders and congregations can be stored. It also helped to refurbish the gardens and to renovate the gatehouse, so that the now 20,000 visitors a year can drink monastery beer brewed by Brother Edgard.
Later on, the monastery cells were also converted into twelve apartments and to top it all off, the mayor went to the monastery on Tuesday to give the go-ahead for a crowdfunding campaign that should also make the last renovation possible: the restoration of the 390-meter-long separation wall – the oldest monastery wall in the Netherlands.
A total of 570,000 euros is needed for this, says Claes. The majority of the costs will be paid by the province, but the monastery must also collect 170,000 euros itself, according to the agreement.
Normally, the brothers would not really warm to a crowdfunding campaign – they were never a mendicant order, it was their job to help others – but Claes now realizes that times have irrevocably changed. Although their time on earth is finite, it doesn’t have to mean the same for their beautiful monastery.
That is why brother Edgard Claes, one of the last Crosiers of ‘Sint Aegten’, de Volkskrant today with a smile, proudly shows the nursery and the garden full of tulip trees, points one more time to the crowdfund and says: ‘We want to leave something beautiful behind’.
