The Norbertines Foundation

‍Foundationof the monastery

The land on which the hermitage of St. Gerlach stood was donated to the Mariastift of Heinsberg by Count Gozewijn IV of Valkenburg-Heinsberg in the year of his death (1165). This laid the foundation for the development of a shrine around the grave of St. Gerlach. After St. Gerlach's death residents of the Geul Valley and pilgrims continued to visit Gerlach's grave. Some wanted to be buried in this holy place themselves. It was therefore not surprising that the lords of Valkenburg founded a monastery near this spot in 1202. In the mandatory charter from 1201 the papal envoy Guido of Preneste records that on the holy spot donated by Gozewijn IV a monastery may be built and that believers may be buried there.

Gozewijn IV also arranged for nuns and initiates to be sent from the home convent in Heinsberg to Houthem to staff the convent. The convent, like the home convent in Heinsberg, joined the Order of the Norbertines. At the time this was a young, relatively rapidly growing order in the spirit of the Gregorian reform of the church. Norbert was also a nobleman from present-day Limburg, who lived in the 12th century and who embraced the poverty movement of the time. Houthem soon became an independent monastery. Initially a double monastery with both men and women, it soon became a women's monastery, a Norbertinesstift, headed by a provost and prioress, who were elected by the sisters - the canonesses.

The development of the monastery

Until the 18th century many noble young ladies from the hilly countryside would be professed as canonesses in Houthem. Upon their entry, they often donated property to the monastery (charter no. 3). Based on the income from the property donated to the monastery, including farms and land, it was determined that the monastery in St. Gerlach should not have more than 30 canonesses (charter no. 39). The various charters from the 13th and 14th centuries show how the convent's property gradually grew through purchases and donations. In exchange for a donation, there often came a commitment from the canonesses to pray for the donor's salvation (e.g. charter nos. 10, 12 and 18). There were also donations with a specific purpose, such as (wine) treats for the canonesses on certain holidays and the maintenance of the lamp above the choir of the convent church (charter no. 20).

The income allowed a wall to be built around the monastery (charter nos. 24-26). Within that wall, in addition to the monastery buildings, there were orchards, vegetable gardens, ponds, a hospital (charter no. 5), a tenant farm with stables and a brewery. Moreover, on the basis of a donation, the monastery was able to establish a refuge house at Stokstraat 55 opposite Our Lady's Church in Maastricht. That house served as a refuge for the canonesses in times of danger. This was no superfluous luxury, for in the time of the Eighty Years' War the convent was repeatedly plundered and (partially) burned down. During that time the convent remained a beacon of Catholicism. The present buildings of the former monastery (parish church and Chateau St. Gerlach) were built on the remains of the medieval monastery in the 18th century. The monastery was finally disbanded in 1786.

Want to know more?

If you would like to know more about the Norbertines foundation, please visit the website of the Friends of St. Gerlach(www.vriendenvansintgerlach.nl). In the parish church in St. Gerlach, the former monastery church, you can see the frescoes about the life of St. Gerlach and also the coats of arms of canonesses and of the provost and prioress who had this beautiful church built in the 18th century.

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