GROENENDAEL (« Valle verde »). - Monastery (Lat. Viridis vallis) located 8 km from Brussels, in the forest of Soignes. In 1304 it was a simple hermitage. With the favor of the Duke of Brabant, John III, in 1343 three priests of the Collegiate Church of St. Gudula withdrew there, two of whom, Franco of Coudenberg (d. 1386) and John of Ruysbroeck, founded in 1350 a provostry of Canons Regular of St. Augustine, subjecting themselves to the abbey of St. Victor of Paris.
The famous 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 Seven Fountains (1389), of Corsendonck (1398), of Bethlehem (1407), the provostry of Eemsteyn (1382). Around 1400 it counted 20 choir religious and as many conversi and "donati." The Congregation of Windesheim, approved in 1395, incorporated G. in 1412, which remained a simple priory.
Cardinal Peter of Ailly and Pope Eugene IV granted G. favors and indulgences; Charles V often visited it. Sacked by the Calvinists, it was later restored by the imperial authorities (16th century). The Windesheim priory of G. was in decline when it was definitively suppressed by the law of 15 Fructidor 1796. Its religious had distinguished themselves as copyists and writers: the library of G. was very rich.
The Virilogium of Jean Jonchère (d. 1510), a chronicle of G., is lost. The history of G. is continued, with a great abundance of notices concerning the religious and benefactors, by the two obituaries or necrologies, the first of which was begun in 1386 by Francone Zeedelere (d. 1401) of Louvain; the second was compiled from 1401 to 1414 by Sayman van Wijc (d. 1438). The two precious registers were continued by other religious; the more ancient up to 1750, the second up to 1623. They have been critically edited by the Jesuit Marc Dykmans.
Bibliography3 works
Antonino Romeo