The area

The area “the Holy Triangle” in Oosterhout is formed by three monasteries – Our Lady’s Abbey, St. Paul’s Abbey and St. Catharinadal – which border on it triangularly. The Norbertinesses of St. Catharinadal moved into the little castle, The Blue Camera, in 1647. In 1901, the Benedictine nuns moved into the boarding school on the Vredeoord estate next door. With the arrival of St. Paul’s Abbey in 1907, the name quickly came into popular use: the Holy Triangle.

Special location

The monumental architecture of the three monasteries is surrounded by large and walled gardens, vast farmlands, old lanes and a vineyard. This unique Brabant cultural landscape was designated a State Protected Cityscape in 2006.

Because all three monasteries are still in function, the area breathes an atmosphere of silence and spirituality. It is an oasis of peace in which the monastic inhabitants have lived for centuries according to church traditions and in communion with God. Their religious way of life is not natural in this day and age. However, the core values and life questions associated with it are still current and occur in everyone’s life. In the studios of monasteries, various crafts and art forms were traditionally used to help shape the monastic ideal. By organizing an art event at this site, the h3h biennial joins this tradition.

Three monasteries

The convents of the Holy Triangle are:

• St. Catharinadal, inhabited by the Norbertine Sisters

• Our Lady’s Abbey, inhabited by the Benedictines

• St. Paul’s Abbey, inhabited by the Chemin Neuf community

Aerial view of the area.

St. Catharinadal – Norbertines

St. Catharinadal Priory is the oldest monastic community in the Netherlands. The Premonstratensians can look back on a rich history. The convent, founded in 1271 in Vroenhout, near Roosendaal, was seriously threatened by the waters of the Sint-Aagtenvloed in 1288. This prompted the sisters to move to Breda in 1295. They stayed there until 1647. From then on it had become impossible for the convent community to maintain itself in Breda any longer. Exercising the Catholic faith was difficult after the Revolt. They fled to Oosterhout, where they moved into the small castle De Blauwe Camer. This castle, whose oldest parts date from the late fourteenth century, is one of the most beautiful monuments in North Brabant. Soon they expanded the castle with a monastery building around a pawnyard. A fine gatehouse was added in the nineteenth century. The Blauwe Camer is surrounded by a moat. Thirteen sisters live in the priory, canonesses who live by the Rule of St. Augustine. Every day they sing the Hours. Attached to the priory since 1954 was a workshop renowned for the restoration of antique books.

Our Lady Abbey – Benedictines

In 1901, the Benedictine nuns settled in the boarding school on the Vredeoord estate on Sand Hill, which bordered St. Catharinadal Priory. The women monks – also called monials – had been expelled from Wisques, France, that year because of anticlerical legislation by the French Waldeck-Rousseau government. Over the years that followed, they built the old boarding school into an abbey with a monastic church: Our Lady’s Abbey. After a few years, due to the entry of Dutch nuns, the abbey was so “Dutchified” that Dutch became the language of instruction.

The abbey was built in neo-Gothic style by French architect Villain. He designed the church and monastery as a square of buildings around a pledge courtyard. In 1961, the church was rebuilt to a design by the renowned Dutch architect Granpré Molière. In 1972 and 1982, the complex was expanded with a guesthouse and a new monastery section with a second pledge courtyard, in the Bossche School style. Another renovation and modernization of the abbey followed in 2021. In the abbey, twenty-three nuns live according to the Rule of St. Benedict. Benedictine life is characterized by the “ora et labora,” an alternation of work, study and prayer. Every day, the sisters chanted the Hours. They restored antique goblins and medieval manuscripts in their workshops. The abbey had a paraments workshop, where religious textiles were produced. Today, the sisters still make candles.

The estate
The foundation of the Our Lady Abbey estate was laid in 1826 with the construction of Villa Vredeoord. The garden was used by students of the boarding school located on the estate. Beginning in 1901, the Benedictines expanded the territory until the estate was finally 10 acres in size. The land was used mainly for self-sufficiency. Starting in the 2000s, the convent garden was transformed into a park-like landscape, combined with an orchard and fruit orchard. The complex has the status of a municipal monument and state-recognized estate. Ecological management and maintenance is supported by the Stichting Vrienden Landgoed Onze Lieve Vrouwe Abdij.  The estate is not open to visitors.

St. Paul’s Abbey – Benedictines and Chemin Neuf

In the wake of the Benedictines, the Benedictine monks from Wisques also came to Oosterhout. They built St. Paul’s Abbey, adjacent to the Benedictine abbey, in 1907. Colloquially, the whole area soon became known as The Holy Triangle.

The building was designed by the young French architect and Benedictine monk Paul Bellot, who was introduced to the work of Berlage and Cuypers in the Netherlands. He turned the abbey into a wonderful creation in brick. The internationally renowned architect-monk, Dom Hans van der Laan, who is among one of the most important founders of the later Bossche School, designed the guesthouse in 1938-1939.

Many Dutch people soon joined the Benedictines as well; around 1950 there were over a hundred monks living in the abbey. The monastic community played an important role in the social, religious and cultural life of their time until the last quarter of the twentieth century. Writer Frederik van Eeden was a child there and was even baptized there. Dom Nico Wesselingh and his confreres gave Gregorian chant new impulses. Dom van den Berg’s work in the orchid nursery was pioneering. The pottery workshop was known far beyond the borders. Furthermore, the abbey was renowned for their painting and restoration workshops. The monks transferred the abbey to the French Communauté de Chemin Neuf in 2006 and themselves moved to a monastic retirement home nearby. The abbey is now inhabited by this ecumenical community with an apostolic character, with a strong focus on young people and families.