Jump to content
An Old School Catholic Message Board

Beguines


Gemma

Recommended Posts

Community living with a habit, but free to marry. Started as widows and orphans of crusaders.

Do our European PMers have any information on this way of life?

What's the possibility of a conservative American Beguinage? That which some discerners have stated as being their attraction has corrolated with that way of life--from the limited research I've done on it. Wikipedia has tried to tie them in with the Albigensians, but I think that's bunk. Doesn't fit the heresy.

There are American Beguines in California, but I'm unsure as to their orthodoxy.

Blessings,
Gemma

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gemma -
They existed at a point in history before there were religious congregations that
do apostolic work. Some were good & some not-so-good. The gradually disappeared
b/c the Crusades stopped & then, too the need for them ceased to exist b/c active
congregations came into being. The Church has never seemed to encourage their
re-appearance; they were problematic even at that time b/c they were pretty muc
independent (+/- founded as such) of the Church itself. Thats about all I can say
from the point of view of Church History.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

puellapaschalis

There are no Beguines left in Amsterdam and the church is Protestant (although there is a Catholic chapel nearby). Maybe [url="http://www.begijnhofamsterdam.nl/"]this site[/url] will be of help, although I don't know if there's an English version.

ETA: the Begijnhof of St. Elizabeth in Ghent has an [url="http://www.elisabethbegijnhof.be/english_main.html"]English website[/url] but I don't know how extensive it is.

Edited by puellapaschalis
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='puellapaschalis' post='1798864' date='Mar 6 2009, 10:17 AM']There are no Beguines left in Amsterdam and the church is Protestant (although there is a Catholic chapel nearby). Maybe [url="http://www.begijnhofamsterdam.nl/"]this site[/url] will be of help, although I don't know if there's an English version.

ETA: the Begijnhof of St. Elizabeth in Ghent has an [url="http://www.elisabethbegijnhof.be/english_main.html"]English website[/url] but I don't know how extensive it is.[/quote]

Yes, the first site does have English, and a tremendous help. A very lovely online retreat, if I do say so myself. Have you been there?

Blessings,
Gemma

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='HolyHearts' post='1798840' date='Mar 6 2009, 09:32 AM']Gemma -
They existed at a point in history before there were religious congregations that
do apostolic work. Some were good & some not-so-good. The gradually disappeared
b/c the Crusades stopped & then, too the need for them ceased to exist b/c active
congregations came into being. The Church has never seemed to encourage their
re-appearance; they were problematic even at that time b/c they were pretty muc
independent (+/- founded as such) of the Church itself. Thats about all I can say
from the point of view of Church History.[/quote]

Thanks for the historical perspective.

In today's world, when the Spirit is breathing anew, I think the Beguines could be resurrected as a lay association of the faithful, if done properly. The websites I've seen mentioned the Franciscan Third Order Regular rule being used.

One discerner I know of doesn't feel called to anything that's out there already, and has no interest in being a founder of a new charism. There are also war widows with children; women abandoned by their husbands. . .

Blessings,
Gemma

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FiereMargriet

I've been to the beguinage in Ghent and it's lovely. There are Benedictine nuns there now. I felt a bit bad that they have to put up with tourist traipsing in and out, but my host family said that must have been the agreement if they wanted to use the beguinage as their convent!

I've thought about how nice it would be to have some sort of revival of the beguines. I imagine there would be a lot of challenges, but I don't see why a strong orthodox community couldn't work out. It sounds like it would be a great way for woman (and men, if that transpired) to live their faith as well as their small-v vocations (I got that from somewhere on this phorum, that's a great way of putting it!) in the midst of the world.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Gemma' post='1798912' date='Mar 6 2009, 10:58 AM']Thanks for the historical perspective.

In today's world, when the Spirit is breathing anew, I think the Beguines could be resurrected as a lay association of the faithful, if done properly. The websites I've seen mentioned the Franciscan Third Order Regular rule being used.

One discerner I know of doesn't feel called to anything that's out there already, and has no interest in being a founder of a new charism. There are also war widows with children; women abandoned by their husbands. . .

Blessings,
Gemma[/quote]
:topsy: The second link does mention that in Ghent there are still a few around. What rule of life they might have followed i don't know,as there doesn't seem to be much information on them in
English,as far as books go.It might be possible to revive them,but like you I don't know anything about the American Beguines. I think you mentioned them before Gemma and they i think have a website. I'll look for it, and maybe try to right them and ask some questions about how did they come up with the idea,etc.etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:topsy: The website for the American Beguines is www.beguine.org

To quote from some of the website:

They are a small non canonical inter-denominational religious community.Some of the members live together in a modern day beguinage,others live sperately. Two are members of the Assoication of Contemplative Sisters. "The "Beguines" in our incarnation of them at least ,are not a group you join,but a lived patterns to adopt."

They do various works,one of which is regular lunch Taize services for women in the neighborhood and introducing Taize to local churches.
They do not accept donations are supported by one of their members, Dr.Pamela Hood a professor,who I guess gives part of her salary,and through their book store,Chimmeny Sweep Books,which specializes in hard to find, rare, and antique religious books, especially Roman Catholic pre Vatican II titles.
They are updating and that the bookstore website.

Chimmeny Sweep Books
P.O.Box 24642
San Jose,CA 95154

I went to the Association of Contemplative Sisters, and clicked on their links page.
And I found the following community,The Sisters of Emmaus,also called The Emmaus Community.
They take women 25 years of age and older.
They were founded in 1980 in South Bend ,Indiana.The two foundresses had met at the Indiana Carmel. The community is a canonical community recognized by the Diocese of Grand Rapids, Mich. They don't seem to wear a habit.
They have vowed women members, as well as associate members.They give retreats and such.

For those in Michigan,here is their address.
Emmaus Monastery
10154 Pine Grove Road
Vestaberg,Michigan,48891-9555
Link to comment
Share on other sites

puellapaschalis

[quote name='Gemma' post='1798906' date='Mar 6 2009, 05:53 PM']Yes, the first site does have English, and a tremendous help. A very lovely online retreat, if I do say so myself. Have you been there?

Blessings,
Gemma[/quote]

I'm glad that you enjoy it. I've been to the Begijnhof a few times when visiting Amsterdam. The Catholic chapel is very peaceful, but I've never been inside the (now) Protestant church in the centre of the courtyard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Iris from Ohio is founding the Oblate Sisters of Mary Magdalen. From what I saw of the rule, they are modern-day Beguines.

She will eventually have a webpage, but here is her blog:

[url="http://irisfromohio.blogspot.com/"]http://irisfromohio.blogspot.com/[/url]

Blessings,
Gemma

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='kavalamyself' post='1804013' date='Mar 11 2009, 07:28 PM']Yeah, Gemma. You are right! This is the order for me![/quote]

Let us know what happens.

Blessings,
Gemma

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Gemma' post='1803067' date='Mar 10 2009, 07:20 PM']Iris from Ohio is founding the Oblate Sisters of Mary Magdalen. From what I saw of the rule, they are modern-day Beguines.

She will eventually have a webpage, but here is her blog:

[url="http://irisfromohio.blogspot.com/"]http://irisfromohio.blogspot.com/[/url]

Blessings,
Gemma[/quote]

Thanks Gemma, I'll have to check her blog out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...