1584
Flanders having freed from the Calvinists, the
Canonesses who had taken refuge in St Omer rejoin those at Ypres.
There they begin a new monastery as the council of Trent has asked that nuns
should settle within the town walls.
1584 - 1633
Reorganisation of
the Canonial life, building work, teaching is
resumed.
Later on during various sieges of Ypres, the monastery
is badly damaged.
1744
The boarding school is completely destroyed by
the troops of Louis XV who invade Flandres.
1778
Restoration of
the Abbey.
1782
Reopening of
the boarding school.
1793
Because of the war between France and Austria,
the situation is such that after the death of the last Abbess,
it is no longer possible to elect a new Abbess.
From now on it is a Prioress who assumes the
government of the community.
1798
Under new threats of suppression the
community disperses..The goods and buildings are confiscated
and sold.
1801
After the Concordat between Bonaparte
and Pius VII, the sisters obtain a an property
close to the Abbey, they resume their religious life
in a rented house and reopen a boarding school.
1914-1918 The war
October 31st 1914, Sisters take refuge
in England.
July 1915
They return to France.
1915-1919
They organise temporary boarding schools for Belgian
schoolboys in France.
1919
February 1919. They return to Ypres. Everything
is destroyed including their monastery.
1921
The bishop having asked them to reorganize the
schools, they begin to build.
1940 The war
They flee for a few days to the surroundings
of Ypres but quickly return .
1967
With the help of some Canonesses of Bruges, the
community of Ypres founds the community of The Institute
of St Agnes at Sion in Switzerland. This community existed
until 1994.
Spirituality
of the Canonesses of Saint Victor
Canonesses
of St Victor, faithful to the ideal of Willem of Champeaux, founder
of the Congregation of St Victor of Paris (1108), seek to live
in the spirit of the first Christian community to wich St Augustine
gives pride of place in his Rule:
« Above all, live all together having one heart and one
mind on the way to God »
This unity is to be the visible sign of the
life of love and communion in God, Three in One.
The sisters nourish this life of fraternal
charity by the Community celebration of the Liturgy of
the Hours and the constant striving for a better
knowledge of God.
Their spirituality is apostolic and underlies
their mission in the Church and the Canonial Order, namely, teaching
the truth.
They try live all this through their various
activities in the service of the local Church.
