Religious life in and around the monastery

The monastery of St. Gerlach originated at the tomb of St. Gerlach, making it a shrine of St. Gerlach from the beginning. In the Middle Ages it was also a house monastery for the lords of Valkenburg and, of course, a noble Norbertiness monastery for canonesses. 

Above: Norbertus of Gennep. Norbert descended from the noble lineage of the lords of Gennep on the Meuse. Around 1100 he became canon of the chapter of St. Victor of Xanten. He continued to lead a worldly life at the court of Emperor Hendrik V. After his conversion he was ordained a priest in December 1115 and became fascinated by the poverty movement. From the ideal of following "poor the poor Christ" and with the permission of the pope, he travelled through many countries as an itinerant preacher. Norbert and his companions formed a new monastic community in the valley of Prémontré and took their vows there on Christmas night 1121. Norbert chose the rather strict guidelines of the Rule of Life attributed to Augustine. The order was finally approved by Pope Honorius II in 1126 and soon thereafter flourished. 

A central place in religious life was the church with the tomb of St. Gerlach. The canonesses had their own entrance to the church. Religious life otherwise took place mainly in the monastery. Adjacent to the church was the monastery which included chapter house, reception room, refectory, kitchen and sleeping quarters. A representative provost's wing became part of the monastery in the ^18th century. 

Above: the 18th-century provost's wing of St. Gerlach with St. Gerlach Church on the right.

Religious life also took place outside the monastery. In 1273, for example, the monastery of St. Gerlach obtained from Walram II of Valkenburg the right to make a binding nomination for the appointment of the parish priest of the church of Oirsbeek, so that ties with parishes were also established. In Houthem the church dedicated to St. Martin in Vroenhof was the parish church until the ^18th century. Only in the ^19th century would the monastery church become the parish church. Probably then the road of the dead to St. Gerlach was also constructed for the journey of deceased people from Vilt to this church.

The Road of the Dead of St. Gerlach‍.

Below: the "Road of the Dead" near Houthem-Sint Gerlach on a late ^19th-century or early ^20th-century map (the station featuring in it dates from 1888). The Road of the Dead goes straight to the church. Source map: 'Haunted Land - Investigations into Ancient Mysteries and Modern Day Phenomena' (2001), p.66 by Paul Devereux

There were rituals involved in the use of the road of the dead: "On arriving at the church, the procession would often first make three 'rounds around the church' to confuse the deceased. After the burial, the procession followed a different route back to the mortuary, being careful not to enter the house through a different door than the one through which the corpse had been carried out. If no other way was available, they left the church in a different direction than the one from which they had arrived. On the retreat, people would sometimes pour (purifying) water behind them."