Beguines gallery

In Breda beguinage

Whether they are famous or not, in this repertoire all the beguines I’ve encountered are here mentioned. We want to pay tribute to all these weavers of the beguinal movement.

Sometimes the traits of their vocation are inaccurate or may change with time, because life itself is modifiable and the beguinal choice offers multiple ways of living. In addition, lay and religious elements intertwine in beguinal life, and ecclesiastical pressures are not absent

A short biography of each of them is (will be) presented and whenever possible a blue link refers to a wider description of their life. I have written in red the traits that allow us to include them among the beguines or near the beguinal movement. Some biographies have been prepared by other scholars whom I thank for their generous collaboration. In this case, their name is mentioned.

Both traditional and modern beguines, but only the dead ones, are remembered, because they all belong to the same history. The list will always be incomplete because the memory is still being reconstructed, but with the women whom we find here, we are really in good company.
Here they are:

Agnès d’ANTHÉE (14th)

Agnes BLANNBEKIN (c.1244-1315)

Agnès d’ORCHIES (13th)

Aleydis VAN KAMERIJK ( CAMBRAI) (+1235)

Alyt BAKE ( 1415-1455 )

Angela da FOLIGNO (1248-1309

Angelica BONFANTINI (+1244)

Angelina di MONTEGIOVE (1357-1435) (o di MARSCIANO)

Angioletta di RIGNANO (16th)

Anna VAN SCHRIECK (Anversa, + 1688)

Anna CORDEY (Dienst and Leuven +1720)

Beatas de LLERENA (16th)

Béatrice de NAZARETH (+/-1200-1268)

BLOEMARDINNE (+ 1355)

Catalina GUIERA (15th)

Caterina da BOLOGNA (1413-1463)

Caterina da GENOVA (1447-1510)

Cecilia FERRAZZI (1609 – 1684)

Chiara da MONTEFALCO (1268-1308)

Chiara da RIMINI (1280-1326)

Christina EBNER (1277-1356)

Christine COUCKE (15th)

Christine van SINT-TRUIDEN (+/- 1160-1224)-The Astonishing

Christine van STOMMELN (1242-1312)

Clusin or Claesinne NIEUWLANT (Gent, + 1611)

Colette de CORBIE or BOYLET (1381-1447)

Cornelia Catherina FRIJTERS (+1990)

Criste TSFLOGHELEERE (15th )

Cristina van MARKYATE (ca.1096-1154)

Dorothée de MONTAU (1347-1394)

Douceline de DIGNE (+/-1214/15 et 1274)

Elisabeth HUNGARY or of THURINGIA (1207-1231)

Elisabeth de SPALBEEK (1246–1304)

Elizabeth van BERG (13th)

Eve de SAINT MARTIN (1190-1265)

Francesca ROMANA in the world Ceccolella BUSSI  (+1440),

Gertrude RICKELDEYof ORTENBERG (+ 1335) and Heilke of STAUFENBERG (+ after 1335).

Gertrude VAN HELFTA (+ 1302)

Gertrude VAN  OOSTEN or DELFT (+ 1358)

HADEWIJCH (+1250 ca)

HEILBIG o HELWIG (14th)

Ida van LEEUW o GORSLEEUW (+/- + 1260)

Ida de LOUVAIN (+ 1290 ca)

Ida de NIVELLES (1197-1232)

Ingrid di SKÄNNINGE (1220-1282)

Isabelle DEWIT (18th)

Ivana CERESA (1942-2009)

Ivette ou Jutta de HUY (1157-1228)

Jeanne d’ARC (1412-1431)

Joan d’ANTHÉE (14th)

Julienne de CORNILLON (1193-1258)

Julian of NORWICH  (1342 – 1413)

KATELINE (14th)

Katherina VANDER HULST (15th)

KATREI Sister (14th)

Linke DOBBE (16th)

Lutgarde de TREVES (+1231)

Lydwine van SCHIEDAM (1380-1433)

Marcella PATTIJN (1920- 2013)

Marcella VAN  HOECKE (1908-2008)

MARCELLINA Sister (at the world Carolina SOLIMANDO) (20th)

Margherita di CORTONA (1247-1297)

Marguerite d’ARLON (+1414)

Marguerite PORETE (+1310)

Marguerite d’YPRES (+1237)

Marì DIAZ (circa 1490-1572)

Maria di AJOFRIN (XV)

Maria DAVILA (+ 1511)

Maria GARCÍA (1340-1426)

Maria LEPORINI (1951-2015)

Maria PETYT (1623-1677)

Maria de TOLEDO (1437- after 1484)

Maria VAN HOUT or VAN OSTERWIJK(+ 1574)

Maria Bendetta di CARIGNANO and Maria Angela CANAL (15th)

Marie de GREZ (+1271)

Marie d’OIGNIES (1177-1213)

MATTEKEN (15th)

Mechthild von MAGDEBURG (1208/10 – 1282)

Metza von WESTENHOVE (+ 1366)

Odile de LIÈGE (+1220)

Philippinne de PORCELLET  (13th)

Rita da CASCIA (1381-1457)

RIXENDA (13th)

Romana GUARNIERI (1913-2004)

Sofia del fu BARTOLO (13th)

SPARRONE (13th)

Uda (or Oda) da THOREMBAIS (13th)

Umiliana DEI CERCHI (1219-1246)

Umiltà di FAENZA (1226-1310)

Ysabiaus de WARLAING (14th)

Abbaye de Fontevraud

Historical beguinages

Beguinages

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
G303carte
AmsterdamportabyMakeda
di02cartographie
tu10grotte-lourdes
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA G303carte AmsterdamportabyMakeda di02cartographie tu10grotte-lourdes

Today only Belgium still retains a significant number of beguinages and since 1998 thirteen of them have been classified by UNESCO as world heritage of humanity . There are also two in the Netherlands, Amsterdam and Breda, and one in France, in Cambrai, and some traces in French Flanders. The rest is only a reconstruction of history and cartography.

What we commonly call “beguinage” was established in Flanders (now  Netherlands and Belgium) from 1240 as the main community form of beguinal life. It can be proved that where the buguinages have become parishes, they have had more guarantees of continuity. This is one of the reasons why, although the first groups of beguines were born in the diocese of Liège, it is mainly in the Flemish territory of Belgium that there are still important traces.

Leuven
Small béguinage

However, we must remember that the places where beguines had lived were various: near a monastery or a leper house, in contiguous houses on the same street, in nearby hermitages up to solitary forms of life in a cell or within their own family and even a wandering life, quickly forbidden by the Church.

Here we present the historical beguinages. As the state of research is very incomplete, the reality of the beguinal world, still too hidden, is certainly superior to that presented here. For Belgium, Germany, Holland, Italy, Spain and Switzerland more information are available underneath. For modern beguines, click on the beguinal movement today.

in Belgium
Leuven – Big beguinage
by Renaud Hanriot

The most recent works of Pascal Majérus have documented 300 beguinages in Belgium, with different connotations between Flanders and Wallonia
For the most part they have been founded between 1230 and 1280, the XIII century is the golden age of the Beguinal movement. About 30 of them survived the destructions. Of these, only two are in Wallonie (Liège and Enghien), two in the Brussels region (Anderlecht and Brussels) and 26 in the Flemish region as follows:
province of Antwerp (Antwerp, Herentals, Hoogstraten, Ivy, Mechelen (great beguinage and little beguinage) and Turnhout;
province of Limburg: Borgloon, Saint-Trond, Tongeren and Hasselt;
province of East Flanders: Aalst, Dendermonde, Ghent (great beguinage, small beguinage and beguinage of Mont-Saint-Amand-lez-Ghent) and Oudenarde;
province of West Flanders: Bruges, Diksmuide and Kortrijk;
province of Flemish Brabant: Aarschot, Diest, Leuven (Great Beguinage and Little Beguinage), Overijse and Tienen.

in France
Belfort

Various beguinages, especially in the north, eixsted among which Aire sur la Lys, Arras, Bailleul, Beaune (at the service of the famous hospital founded by Nicolas Rolin), Cambrai, Castelnaudary, Douai, Lille, St. Omer (21 convents with 395 women living there by 1322) and Valenciennes. Laura Swan writes: “ Between 1245 and 1355, fifteen beguinages were established in Douai “ among them Champfleury , with its flourishing hospial, “ that grew to include at list one hundred beguines” (The winsdom of beguines, p.32)
In Paris, the famous “Grand beguinage” was founded in 1260 by Louis IX himself and was closed in 1471. It could accommodate about 400 women, widows or young singles. At that time, Paris also counted dozens of other minor beguinages. Today, in this historic place the Lycée Charlemagne sets up, accessible from the street of the same name. Nearby, the old church of Saint Paul and Saint Louis, already existing at the time of the beguinage. Not far from there, “Place de l’Hôtel de Ville”. In 1310, it was called “Place de Grève” and knew the martyrdom at the stake of Marguerite Porete. Nothing remembers this tragic abuse, if not by chance a café at a corner of the square which is called “Café Marguerite”. .

Il sito
Liceo Charle Magne
Cortile interno
Chiesa St Paolo & Luigi
Caffé Marguerite
Il sito Liceo Charle Magne Cortile interno Chiesa St Paolo & Luigi Caffé Marguerite

Going south, there are Belfort and then Narbonne, Digne and Beziers. The only French beguinage preserved today would be that of Saint-Vaast located at Cambrai.

in Germany
Kartographische Darstellung
by Frank-Michael Reichstein

Beginning in the 80s, the historical beguinage presence was rediscovered thanks to extensive studies and a research methodology per spatial sectors promoted by the Federation. This enabled an impressive number of beguinal locations to be identified, as it can be seen in cartography by Frank-Michael Reichstein, presented on the Federation’s website (Kartographische Darstellung aus: Frank-Michael Reichstein: Das Beginenwesen in Deutschland, Berlin 2001).
The Brita Lieb Interview  published in Neue Wege 7.8.2018 offers an overview of historical research in Germany and other European countries.

in Italy
Humiliate, Cassago monastery

Three traditions of “beguinal life” are present in the Italian context: in the North, the Humiliate (especially in Lombardy); at the Center (especially in Umbria) a multiplicity of spiritually committed secular life expressions that are grouped under the term Bizzoche or Pinzocchere. We owe to the scholars Romana Guarnieri and Mario Sensi the production of numerous historical researches on these realities. Finally, in the South, especially since the 16th century, a particular form of beguinal life called “monache di casa” (house nuns who lived in the family or alone) develops. These women insisted to express their choice of voluntary celibacy through “religious” clothes. The “house nuns” will then be distinguished in “bizzoche professed” and “ bizzoche non-professed or devotional ones”. Others, called “monache di conservatorio“, live together in institutions of social aids, under a civil or an ecclesiastical jurisdiction. (See the works of  Gabriele Tardio, Adriana Valerio and Giulia Boccadamo)

 in Netherlands

Walter Simons, in his magnificent book Cities of Ladies, points out that in the years 1240-1280 communities of beguines were established in about one hundred places in the Netherlands. (cited by E.Wagenmakers, https://www.begijnhofbreda.nl/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Wagemakers-inleiding-Frans.pdf)

The gradual disappearance of these enclosures is due on the one hand to the abandonment and destruction caused during the Dutch revolt against Spain (1565) and on the other hand to the devastation wrought by the Calvinists during the wars of religion. Only two very beautiful beguinages remain today: Amsterdam and Breda, which have been protected by the Orange-Nassau family.

Amsterdam is the destination of many tourists who visit it daily and it is a reference point for Catholics who live in the historic center. According to the statutes, its houses must be intended for single women, preferably Catholics. (From an interview of May 5, 2012 with Van Heyst, rector of the beguinage, published by Paola De Groot-Testoni)

Breda is small and harmonious. Its central lawn was originally used for washing fabrics and wool and later become “hortus sempliciorum” for the cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants. The beguinage maintains its original function as a place of residence for the women. It also has an important museum function. (www.begijnhofbreda.nl)

in Scandinavia

There are documents that attest both in Sweden and in Denmark to the presence of beguines, who however lived preferably outside the cities and near male monasteries. Also in these countries they organized infirmaries for the poor. Thanks to the works of Laura Swam, we have traces in Denmark:  beguines were present in Roskilde from 1260 onwards, in Copenhagen from 1270 and in Ribe (on the North Sea) from 1290.
In Sweden, Ingrid of Skänninge (+1282) was part of a group of beguines who then embraced Dominican spirituality. In 1388, Bishop Nicolaus Hermansson of Linköping agreed that the Beguines of the surroundings of Vadstena continue their lifestyle. However, in 1412 they were condemned by the bishop Johan of Uppsala and in 1506 pushed off from the Bridgettine Order’s monks who wanted to expand on their lands.

in Spain
Altarpiece, church of S.Antoine, Barcelone
by Jaime Huguet, century XV

Thanks to the Women’s Research Center of the University of Barcelona we have information on the beguinal movement in Spain and particularly in Catalonia, with the “Reclusorio de Santa Margherita”.
Furthermore, the works of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, in the framework of the research project on female spiritual authority in Castillia, review in the “Catalogo de santas vivas” different profiles of mystical beguines.

in Switzerland
Basel

According to the medievalist Hans Joachim Schmidt, professor at the University of Freiburg, there were beguinages in the towns of Freiburg (in Romon near Freiburg ” béguines street”), Einsiedeln, Lausanne, Zurich, Berne and Basel, the better known, with 22 houses of beguines in the middle of the XIVth century. It seems that there were even some in the rural places, but historical research is difficult.
(Source: “A vue de l’Esprit” programs, RSR, Swiss-French radio, by Bernard Litzler, from 23 to 27 January 2012).
For further informations, here the very interesting paper Beguines in Switzerland presented by Brita Lieb during the Beguinenreise 2018 in Switzerland (transaltion by Gabi Bierkl) and the text of Martina Wehrli-Johns Beguines and Beghards in the Historical Dictionnary of Switzerland.

Beguinages are also metionned  in Austria, England, Hungary, Luxembourg and Poland.

Gent – Map of beguinge of Sint Amandsberg

Although survival beguinages have similar spatial features, each one of them has a style of its own. In the smallest one in Anderlecht, next to Saints Peter and Guidon’s church, were lodged eight Beguines. In the largest ones, such as the Ten Hove in Leuven or the Saint Elizabeth’s in Gent, hundreds were lodged. The closeness of a river made textile and wool washing easier.

The spatial model of the beguinage is square or in regular echelon or a combination of both; it is circled by a wall and in some cases also by a moat.

Gent, small Beguinage
Staute of Sint Hubert
by Renaud Hanriot

At the main entry, a doorkeeper Beguine controls the access. At closing time all the Beguines have to be in and all visitors out. The statue of the patron or patroness of the beguinage is usually placed above the main door; at the centre is the church. All around there are one-storey dwellings with a small garden and devotional decorations to give the entrance a personal flavour. The convent is the communal dwelling of those who have no property, and the house of the Grande Dame is generally prominent.

 

Beguinage of Tutnhout, Grotto

One can also find an infirmary, the Table of the Holy Spirit (sharing food and other goods) and several elements of devotion scattered here and there: small chapels, Pietà, statues, Calvary, to create an atmosphere of concentration and prayer. If the beguinage makes its living out of agriculture, then sheds and other related buildings can also be found.
Their burials found place in the church or around it.

Today visitors of a historical beguinage feel a sense of interiority, calm and rest, due, among other things, to the construction standards that made them the first places of concerted urban planning. But if even the stones have a memory, then it is also the spirituality of these women that will survive through these vestiges.

On the web

Information sources available on the web, classified by the following 5 categories: 

 1 Articles and books
2 Blog & Facebook & Twitter
3 Information web sites
4 Podcast
5 Videos

 

You also might contribute to improve this list, by sending other more bibliography references to: info@beguines.info

1 Articles and books (in descending chronological order)

Daniela Blum, Corporal Relationship, Corporal Conformation: Female Forms of Following Christ around 1200, Technical University of Aachen (RWTH Aachen University), conference in Female Corporeality and Religion.
Center for Women’s Studies in Theology, Leuven, June 2023

Anita Prati, Morire per un libro: Margherita Porete, in Settimana News, May 2023

Dominique Costermans, Béguines et béguines. Des femmes qui ont marqué l’histoire de la Chrétienté, L’Appel juin 2022

Huanan LU, Le béguinage Ste-Élisabeth à Valenciennes (XIIIe-XIVe siècles), Doctoral thesis in History and Civilizations, under the supervision of Sylvain Piron., defended on 30-09-2021 in Paris, EHESS, as part of the Doctoral School of the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences.
Online consultation here

Veerle Fraeters, Hadewijch and the Beguine Movement, thanks to Academia

Elena Botinas Montero e Julia Caballero Manzanedo, Le beghine. Libertà in relazione,  2004-2008 Duoda, Centro di Ricerca delle Donne. Università di Barcellona.

Medievalist Tanya Stabler Miller presents and frames Aline Kiner’s book “La nuit des béguineshttps://tanyasmiller.wordpress.com/2020/03/01/review-aline-kiner-la-nuit-de-beguines- 2017/ , March 1, 2020

Abby STONER , Sister BetweenGender and the Medieval Beguines, (date not defined)
source: https://www2.kenyon.edu/projects/margin/beguine1.htm

Line KORTOBI has published two very interesting articles in the Libération newspaper in July 2019:
https://www.liberation.fr/amphtml/france/2019/07/19/beguinage-quand-le-troisieme-age-s-inspire-du-moyen-age_1734278

https://www.liberation.fr/apps/2019/07/beguinage/

Apolline Vranken,  Des béguinages à l’architecture féministe. Comment interroger et subvertir les rapports de genre matérialisés dans l’habitat ?
thesis of Master 2 in architecture, Prix de l’Université des Femmes, 2018

AAVV, Beguinal movement yesterday and today , speeches in various languages presented at the international congress of 23/08/2017, celebrating the 750th anniversary of  Breda beguinage

Milena GARAVAGLIA, Cohousing al femminile, Abitare nei beghinaggi moderni, e-book, Amazon, 2017

Paul Marchal , DE DUITSE BEGIJNENBEWEGING IN DE MIDDELEEUWEN, (2016) (notified by Graham Keen)

Kelly Lynn Morris, The vita of Douceline de Digne (1214-1274): Beguine spirituality and orthodoxy in thirteenth century Marseilles, University of Cagary (Canada), July 2001

E.T, Knuth, The Beguines, 1992, in  http://www.users.csbsju.edu/~eknuth/index.html

2 Blog & Facebook & Twitter

Béguinage de Sainte Barbe
https://www.facebook.com/groups/537554444552281

Sisters of Valley https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=sisters%20of%20valley

Debby VAN LINDEN:  https://begijnhovenqueeste.wordpress.com
begijnhovenqueeste@gmail.com

Debby VAN LINDEN: https://www.facebook.com/Begijnenhovenqueeste-Community-of-beguine-news-796709140445669/

3 Information web sites
Belgium

A new folder of the Petit béguinage d’ ANDERLECHT after restoration achieved on 2023

 UNESCO website of the 13 Flemish béguinages in the  World Heritage List

Le jardin du béguinage https://www.habitat-groupe.be/acteurs-logement/le-jardin-du-beguinage

Le petit béguinage de La Lauzelle https://www.habitat-groupe.be/le-petit-beguinage
Interview sur le Petit béguinage réalisée avec l’aide d’Evelyne Simoens

Begijnhof van Turnhout www.vriendenbegijnhof.be (notified by M. Hugo Vanden Bossche)

Marcella Pattiyn, the last historical beguine
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcella_Pattyn

France

Agence Vivre en béguinage www.vivre-en-beguinage.fr
La Maison des babayagas www.lamaisondesbabayagas.eu

Germany

Foundation  http://www.beginenstiftung.de
Federation  www.dachverband-der-beginen.de
BEGINE – Treffpunkt und Kultur für Frauen e. V. – http://www.begine.de
Beginenhof in Berlin : Frauenwohnen im 21. Jahrhundert
Beginenhot Tännich http://www.beginenhof-thueringen.de/index.html

Holland

Begijnhof van Breda :  http://www.begijnhofbreda.nl/

Italy

Metter in ordine la differenza: l’esperienza della Sororità di Mantova, http://www.iaphitalia.org/images/sororita.pdf
Nel giardino delle beghine
https://www.nelgiardinodellebeghine.it/

Other in the world

http://begine.wordpress.com/website in German language, really not up to date, that collects experiences of women living together in various places in the world

Sisters of Valley https://www.sistersofcbd.com
Giovanni Drogo, Sister of the Valley  https://www.nextquotidiano.it/suore-cannabis-terapeutica-sister-of-the-valley/ 

https://www.beguine.link/
information in English about Beguines, old and new, especially in USA

4 Podcast

RST 30-minute podcast Béguinages, Solidarités, Pèlerinages,shared on December 17th 2023 on channel 1 of the Swiss radio and television. The journalist Matthieu Wirz met the beguines of the beguinage of St Martin du Lac
https://www.rts.ch/audio-podcast/2023/audio/beguinage-solidarite-pelerinage-27460004.html?id=27460001

BBC (radio Four) podcast (1 hour) dedicated to Julian of Norwich, interviews several people who are scholars of this recluse.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001rgs4 (notified by Graham Keen)

Rita Fenendael, Béguinages d’hier et d’aujourd’hui (October 3th 2022)
https://www.rcf.fr/articles/ecologie-et-solidarite/rita-fenendael-beguinages-dhier-et-daujourdhui

Dominique Costermans : Béguines et béguinages (dossier mag L’Appel) 30th May 2022 on RCF Bruxelles

5 Videos

The Hadewijch’s songs, presentation of the integral edition made by Francesca Barresi,  with medieval music played by Murmur Mori, Fondazione Lercaro, Bologna, 16th January 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNrrPEJI_uc

Beghinaggi le sacre case delle libere donne – reportage of Devana daughter of Liliana for La Scuola delle Donne® – September 2023
Video in Italian available since 1/9   https://youtu.be/qmoZNJf1Z5I
text Beghinaggi le sacre case delle libere donne
Video in Italian with English subtitles available since 2/9   https://youtu.be/O6WCQ5x7jck
Text Beguinages the sacred houses of the free women-1

L’identità delle beghine storiche (The Identity of the Historical Beguines) by Silvana Panciera.  10th June 2023 in Mantua in Il giardino delle beghine. It answered the question what aspects define the identity of the historical beguines.
https://youtu.be/yB95Y5ceq1E

Le Beghine-  Talk with Adriana Valerio and Silvana Panciera,
managed by Gabrielli Editori, on October 19th, 2022
https://youtu.be/ncAzHaDCSYQ

François Marxer
Hadewijch d’Anvers ou le secret du monde (1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmziUUz_Tvk&t=1s
Hadewijch d’Anvers ou le secret du monde (2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=373KALvPhkY

https://www.lejourduseigneur.com/videos/beguinage-nous-vieillirons-ensemble-2491
The Petit Béguinage de la Lauzelle 25 years after its foundation in 1995.
Video (26 minutes) in French by Virginie Breda (2021)

Les béguines, libres et folles d’amour par le Béguinage de la Croix aux boeufs, sur des textes de Jacqueline Kelen (2019)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPS3b5aJzpo
La spiritualité au feminin, les beguines (2017)

The Beguines http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toJp9c-LXys by Silvana Panciera

 

Paper texts

Articles  and books in alphabetic order by author. If a link is related to the title, thus a short synthesis or the entire text are available.

You also might contribute to improve this list, by sending other more bibliography references to: info@beguines.info

sr Felicitas, Beguinage of Bruges
A  B  C  D   E   F   G  H I+J+K  L M   N   O   P  Q+R   S   T   U  V+W+Y Z

AAVV, Béguines et béguinages, Archives générales du Royaume, dossier éducatif, 1ère série n.12, Bruxelles, 1994

AAVV, sous la direction d’A.Vauchez, Histoire du chistianisme, Tome 5, Desclée de Brouwer,Paris, 1993

AAVV, Trésors des béguinages, Snoeck-Ducaju et fils, Gand, 1961

AAVV, Un monde de femmes indépendantes. Du XIIe siècle à nos jours. Les béguinages flamands, Guide Luciole pour voyageurs intelligents, Riverside, 2003

AAVV, Het geschrevene blijft. Het archief van het Begijnhof Breda, Begijnhof Breda 2017

AAVV, Leven tussen’t Klooster en de Wereld, Begijnhof Breda, 2017

BARA ocso Wendelein, Hadewijch di Anversa: una vita dedicata all’amore , in La Scala, n° 70; 3 / Luglio – settembre 2016; pagine 157-166.

BARTOLOMEI-ROMAGNOLI Alessandra, DEGL’INNOCENTI Antonella, SANTI Francesco, Scrittrici mistiche europee, Edizioni del Galluzzo, Firenze, 2015

BARTOLOMEI-ROMAGNOLI Alessandra, Mistici e mistica domenicana, pp.351-387, in FESTAGianni e RAININI Marco (a cura di), L’ordine dei Predicatori. I Domenicani : storia, figure e istituzioni (1216-2016), Editori Laterza, 2016

BARTOLOMEI ROMAGNOLI Alessandra, CORPO SACRO. Scrittura ed esperienza mistica tra medioevo e età moderna, Fondazione Centro italiano di studi sull’alto medioevo, Spoleto, 2022, pp. 857

BAUMER-DESPEIGNE Odette, Le mouvement béguinal au XIIIe siècle en Belgique, Frauenfeld – Suisse, 1987, texte polycopié

BEATRICE de Nazareth, 7 degrés d’amour, Ed.Claude Martingay, Génève, 1972.

BEATRICE de Nazareth, I sette modi di amare Dio. Via di Beatrice, edizioni Paoline,2016

BLASUCCI A., CALATI B., GREGOIRE R., La spiritualità del medievo, volume 4 della Storia della spiritualità, Borla

BLUM Daniela, Corporal Relationship, Corporal Conformation. Female forms of following Christ around 1200, in Female Corporeality and Religion, KU Leuven, 1-3 June 2023 (thanks to the very kind author)

BOUCKAERT Claude, De laatste der begijnen, Uitgeverij Groeninghe, Kortrijk, 2000

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Beguinal movement today

Marcella Pattjin
Beguinage of Kortrijk

With the death of the last Beguine in the world, Marcella Pattijn, on April 14, 2013, in the Sint-Jozef home in Kortrijk (Belgium), the historical epic of the Beguinal movement comes to an end. The movement sprang up in religious fervor which marked the end of the twelfth century and especially the thirteenth and helped to promote that the eminent medievalist historian Raoul Manselli calls “the second evangelization of Europe“.

Still little known or badly known despite its incisive historical heritage, the movement of the beguines seems to regain breath today through some modern experiences of community life that are inspired by it. Sometimes they refer to it by their denomination as for example the Garden of Beguinage in Etterbeek or the Beginenhof in Berlin. At other times, they integrate into the new experiments one or more dimensions which have characterized the very life of historical Beguines.

We will therefore list by geographical zone the emerging initiatives that are inspired by the Beguinal movement in their daily life:

In Austria
In Belgium
In Germany
In France
In Italy
Others in Europe
Others in the world
informations up to dated at July 2022

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