Passionistenklooster Hagelstein
THE ABANDONED MONASTERY IN BELGIUM
This is the ‘Passionistenklooster’ in Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium. The abandoned convent of the Passionists was built on the grounds of an old castle. At the present time, the buildings are reconverted to a police station and a school.
The first building on this site was a 13th century castle named ‘Hagelstein’. Eventually, in the 16th and 17th century, the domain belonged to a wealthy aristocratic family. In this case, the castle was used as a country retreat. At the time of the French Revolution, it became a hiding place for priests who secretly held mass. Later, the buildings fell into disrepair. Although there was still a large farm on the domain that was inhabited until 1928.
A monastery with a boarding school
In 1929 the Passionist priests bought the remaining buildings and had them demolished. Saint Paul of the Cross founded the Passionists or the ‘Congregation of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ’ as a Roman Catholic religious order. The priests of this order constructed a small monastery with a boarding school, where they taught boys religious education. Following the Second World War, the monastery underwent expansion, and a church was constructed. The monastery housed 1200 residents. The school expanded in 1956, with architect M. Driesen designing the Catholic Sint-Gabriel Institute. The school changed its name to College Hagelstein in the mid-1960s. At the time, there was room for 200 students.
Police
The Passionists are still an active religious family, but they left this monastery in 2005. Later, the building was reconverted and the Bodukap police is now housed in the monastery buildings. The boarding school is still a school today, but the last fathers who stood in front of the class disappeared already in the 1980s. The last celebration in the church dates from September 13, 2014. I took these photos of ‘Passionistenklooster Sint-Katelijne-Waver’ in 2011. Check this link for more religious abandonments.
