Soleilmont Abbey

About

The Abbey of Notre-Dame de Soleilmont is an abbey of Cistercian Steppins in the Bois du Roy in Fleurus Vieux-Campinaire, near Charleroi, in Hainaut, Belgium. Before the 1963 fire she was located in Gilly. An unverified tradition situates its foundation in 1188, but it undoubtedly belongs to the Cistercian women since 1237. The Sisters were expelled from their abbey in 1796 but the community returned in 1802 after the devastation caused by the French revolutionary regime. On 1 January 2009, the abbey had 32 sisters.

A non-authenticated tradition allows the abbey of Soleilmont to climb to 1188. Henry the Blind, Count of Namur (+1196), would have founded this abbey for the ladies of Namur and surrounding areas whose husbands would have accompanied Godfried of Bouillon during the First Crusade. Soleilmont is first mentioned in a charter from 1185. Traditionally, however, the formal foundation is dated in 1237. In a document dated 11 January 1237 Boudewijn, Count of Namur and Hainaut, asked the Abbey of Cîteaux to include the Abbey of Soleilmont as her daughter's abbey. After inspection and after...