Maison Notre-Dame
Marche-les-Dames, Belgium
Our community, Madonna House, responds to the invitation of Bishops of different countries to be of service in their dioceses. The mission of each foundation varies according to the location and needs of the area. Bishop André-Mutien Léonard invited us to Belgium to be an evangelizing presence in the Diocese of Namur, as we live out the charisms of our spirituality.
Our main ‘work’ in Marche-les-Dames is to receive other people into the heart of our community to offer them an experience of Christian living, by creating a community of fraternal love among ourselves (staff members originate from a number of different countries and cultures). We believe, and members of the community can attest by experience, that a life of simplicity, ‘Nazareth-style’, centred on God, can facilitate the healing of souls and psyches. We are called to preach the Gospel with our lives, and we never know which aspect of our lives will touch the heart of another person, revealing to him or her, the presence and love of God for them.
The Community of Madonna House in Belgium lives in a former Cistercian Abbey, Abbaye Notre-Dame du Vivier, dating from the middle ages.
Our daily work also includes the upkeep of the Abbey, and of the park and gardens which surround it. Other projects, like the distribution of food parcels (from a local food bank) to persons in need, are also part of our apostolate.
We receive individual retreatants who wish to profit from the peace and calm of the abbey, as well as groups who wish to come on retreat with a chaplain, or persons who come simply to live with us to deepen their spiritual life.
Legend has it that the Abbey was founded by the wives and daughters of the Crusaders from Namur who left for Jerusalem at the end of the 11th century. A group of 139 women settled in the valley around the year 1098, and the first altar was consecrated at this site on January 17, 1103. Historical records attest to the presence, around 1225, of religious Sisters who adopted the rule of St. Bernard (Cistercians) living at this location. The last Cistercian Sister died in 1856. After that, the abbey was successively occupied by: the priests of St. Vincent de Paul, the Ursulines of Cologne (1875) and the Apostolic Carmelites (1920). Their departure in 1976 put an end to 750 years of continuous religious life at Marche-les-Dames. The Abbey was then used as a boarding school until 1980. In 1981 the Sisters of Bethlehem and the Assumption arrived; they follow the rule of St. Bruno. They were succeeded by the present Community of Madonna House, who arrived on the feast of Pentecost, 2000.
