TONGERLOO. - Premonstratensian abbey near Antwerp in Belgium. It was founded in 1128 in honor of the B. Virgin, by Giselbert, with religious sent from the abbey of St. Michael of Antwerp.
The founding charter was signed by St. Bernard and by the b. Waltmann; the first abbot was Henry, a companion of St. Norbert. The bishop of Cambrai granted privileges to the abbots, who very soon made the monastery of T. one of the most flourishing spiritual centers of these regions, where before the end of the 13th century they had more than 20 parishes, which later came to number as many as 40. Then T. had to hand over its revenues to the bishop of Bois-le-Duc until 1590.
In 1572 the Huguenots killed the priests Peter Janssens, parish priest of Haarenby-Oisterwijk, Henry Bosch, parish priest of Nispen-Roozendaal, and Peter de Calmphout, who refused to renounce his faith (J. Van Spilbeeck, Les martyrs de T. au XVIe siècle, Brussels 1890).
From 1569 to 1590 it was incorporated into the diocese of 'S-Hertogenbosch. From 1626 to 1812 the abbey had a theological college in Rome. At T. in 1793 the 6th octavo volume of the Acta Sanctorum of the Bollandists was published.
The abbey was suppressed in 1796 and partly demolished; it was restored in 1848 and damaged by a fire in 1929. It still preserves its ancient enclosure; one enters it through a great portal (15th-16th centuries); the prelature building of Kerrièx dates to 1725 and contains a picture gallery (16th-17th centuries) and a series of Brussels tapestries of 1686. The hospice has a wing with turrets from 1473, restored in 1930, in which are the library and the infirmary.
The present abbey church, in Gothic style, goes back to 1851-58; it contains a 16th-century copy of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper. The cloister too has been entirely rebuilt.
Bibliography6 works
Enrico Josi