GROENENDAEL (« VALLE VERDE »)

GROENENDAEL (“Green Valley”). - A monastery (Lat. Viridis vallis) situated 8 km from Bruxelles, in the forest of Soignes. In 1304 it was a simple hermitage. With the favour of the duke of Brabante, Giovanni III, in 1343 three priests

of the Collegiate Church of S. Gudula withdrew there; two of them, Francone di Coudenberg (d. 1386) and Giovanni di Ruysbroeck, founded there in 1350 a provostship of Canons Regular of S. Agostino, placing themselves under the abbey of S. Vittore in Parigi.

The celebrated mystic Ruysbroeck was its prior until his death (1381). G. gave rise to new foundations: the priories of Rubea Vallis or Rouge Cloître (1374), of

Sette Fontane (1389), of Corsendonck (1398), of Bethleem (1407), and the provostship of Eemsteyn (1382). Around 1400 it had 20 choir religious and an equal number of lay brothers and “donati.” The Congregation of Windesheim, approved in 1395, incorporated G. in 1412, which remained a simple priory.

Cardinal Pietro d'Ailly and Pope Eugenio IV granted G. favours and indulgences; Carlo V often visited II. Plundered by the Calvinists, it was subsequently restored by the imperial authorities (16th cent.). The

(from L. A. Boyd, The Ford region of east Grenland, Nuova York 1933, p. 115)