MAREDSOUS. - Benedictine abbey in the diocese of Namur (Belgium), founded by the Abbey of Beuron on land donated by the Desclée family.
The monks, who arrived there on October 14, 1872, began the construction of the monastery and took possession of the first monastic buildings on June 29, 1876. On May 1, 1878, the monastery was elevated to an abbey under the
The building complex, of a solemn yet not heavy grandeur, mirrors the characteristics of the best French Gothic style. In addition to the church and the monastery, it includes an abbey school with a humanistic curriculum (founded in 1881) and a crafts school (the bookbindings produced there are noteworthy).
Cultural activity found in M. an extremely active center. As early as March 1884, Dom G. van Caloen founded the periodical Le Messager des fidèles there, which in 1890 became the Revue bénédictine (v.). In 1898 Dom G. Fournier launched another periodical, Le Messager de St-Benoît, which in 1910 became the Revue liturgique et monastique. Also noteworthy are the Bulletin d'histoire bénédictine, begun in 1893 by U. Berlière; the Bulletin d'ancienne littérature chrétienne latine, published by B. Capelle; and the series Anecdota Maredsolana, which received particular impetus from Dom G. Morin (v.).
From M., led by Dom G. van Caloen, departed in 1895 the first Benedictine restorers of the Brazilian Congregation, and in 1899 the founders of the abbey of Mont-César in Leuven. In 1920 the abbeys of M. and Mont-César, together with the female abbey of Maredret (near M.), detached themselves from the Congregation of Beuron and, with the abbey of St. Andrew near Lophem (Bruges), formed the Belgian Congregation of Mary Annunciation.