Author: Silvana Panciera

The Beguines Newsletter informs you about beguinages and beguines, both traditional and modern. It is written by Silvana Panciera and revised by Bernard Van Meenen (French language) and Graham Keen (English language). It lives thanks to the news you send us.
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Please, read below the recent Newsletters with, between brackets, the date of their sending :

Remembering Luisa Muraro ( September 2026)

Exactly one year ago, on 20th September, 2025, the conference Come quando si accende una luce (How when the light comes on) was held at the Catholic University of Milan, the symbolic place where Luisa Muraro graduated with a thesis in philosophy of science.

I immediately thought the light was Luisa herself, but Clara Jourdan, editor of Esserci davvero (Being There), a conversation with Luisa Muraro describing the thread of her life and the genesis of her major works (Libreria delle donne, 2025), corrected me and clarified that the title refers to what happens within us thanks to Luisa’s writings.

The conference proceedings are now available in the edition Come quando si accende la luce.Thinking with Luisa Muraro. Edited by Laura Colombo, Vita Cosentino, and Wanda Tommasi. The book is available at the Libreria delle donne in Milan. To receive it by mail, please write to info@libreriadelledonne.it.

Philosopher, educator, translator, and feminist activist, a brief biographical sketch of her can be found at this address: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luisa_Muraro

Along with some of the conference participants—Martina, Milena, Monica, and Raffaella—we met on November 20th for a webinar to share some key aspects of Luisa’s thought.

This is what emerged

Luisa marked the history of philosophical thought by introducing the concept of the mother, more precisely the symbolic order of the mother, as a vehicle for learning language, the mother tongue, therefore, considering that the acquisition of language coincides with the acquisition of the symbolic order.

Luisa was deeply involved in feminism, working first in the city of Milan where in 1975 she founded, together with Lia Cigarini and others, the Libreria delle donne , a place of study, self-awareness, cultural production, and the practice of new forms of relationships and political analysis. It also supported many initiatives promoted by women in the area, not least Nel Giardino delle beghine (the Beguine Garden) in Mantua.

Thanks to her numerous writings and subsequent translations, she has become an essential figure in the “feminism of difference,” which insists that women’s freedom does not equate with emancipation and that women’s desires are not limited to the achievement of equality with men, but lead to other life experiences and social relationships for a change in a no longer patriarchal civilization.

In this field, a particular relationship between women that she promoted is the “Practice of Entrustment,” which Milena Garavaglia explains as follows (pp. 42-43) in her e-book Cohousing al Femminile. Abitare nei beguinaggi moderni:

“Entrustment is a practice, on a symbolic and social level, exercised within a relationship of mutual trust between two adult women: when referring to the other, one grants her authority, that is, she talks to her about what she does, seeks help in recognizing her own desires, and takes her advice into account. This is a recognition that implies a mutual commitment, that is, nurturing relationships with other women and considering them an irreplaceable resource of personal strength, mental originality, and social security. Women work tin order to “give themselves an identity,” helping each other to progress, trusting and relying on one another, having self-esteem without competing with others, and the ability to seek advice for their own needs.”

Finally, thanks to her friendship with the Beguine Romana Guarnierii,Luisa was introduced to the mystical works of the Beguines, which truly fascinated her. She introduced the movement, particularly Marguerite Porete, without identifying with them.

The numerous conference speakers aptly exposed the many facets of Luisa Muraro’s thought. With her tireless and learned commitment, she certainly brought feminist thought to a truly philosophical level.

A huge thank you to her, to Lia Cigarini, to Clara Jourdan, and to all those like them, and like us at the Beguines Newsletter, who never give up.

Luisa passed away in Milan on June 13, 2026.

To her, we say we would not like to feel like her orphans, but her heirs and that we will always carry her with us.

NEWS

Stephan Delfanne shared some updates on Facebook regarding the progress of the Sainte Barbe Beguinage project, which he founded with his wife, Marie-Claire. The King Baudouin Foundation has decided to support a feasibility study for the renovation of one wing of the site to offer five private units for long-term rental, while developing concepts of green health and positive health (therapeutic wellness area, multipurpose room for yoga/gentle exercise/singing/meditation, etc., and a space dedicated to nutritional education).We will keep you informed of the results of this study.

Bernard Delcourt, OHC, monk at Holy Cross Monastery in New York (http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/), informs us that some of Hadewijch’s songs can be listened to on Apple Music, upon subscription:Grote Minne – Spirituality of Love
https://music.apple.com/us/album/hadewijch-grote-minne-spirituality-of-love/6774313041

A great scholar of Beguines and Beguinages (August 2026)

Thanks two recent lectures he gave in Brussels, the second on May 21st, entitled Les Béfguinages où l’invention d’une altre faction de réaliser sa vie de femme, I have finally rediscovered the foremost expert on Belgian beguinages and a leading connoisseur of the  beguine movement. This is Pascal Majérus. When I first met him in 1994, having just been captivated by the Beguines, he was a researcher a the National Archives of Belgium, working specifically on these women called Beguines. These women were, in fact, the reason of my visit.

Of his numerous publications, which can be found cited among the bibliographic sources on the website https://beguines.info, his nearly 1,000-page book, Ces femmes qu’on dit béguines. Guide des béguinages de Belgique, Bibliographie et sources d’archives, Archives Générales du Royaume, 1997, Tomes 1 et 2.

This Guide aims to “list the beguinages that existed within the territory of present-day Belgium and to guide the reader in their bibliographic and heuristic research” (p. 7). It is not exhaustive and is constantly “in progress,” as the author has quickly pointed out.

This work is the fruit of a remarkable and painstaking archival effort, listing all the localities in Belgium where one or more beguinages existed, along with all available historical details. This research, published in 1997, identified 126 Belgian towns with one or more beguinages. In a subsequent interview with RTS (Swiss radio), Pascal Majérus cited 300 beguinage entities, and the list is certainly incomplete.

I am truly delighted by his return to public life in this beguinal field and I am very grateful to Graham Keen, our excellent guide to Belgian beguinages, who attended the conference on May 21st and provided me with a summary, and also the excellent article Les béguinages. Cités de femmes, laboratoires de liberté which was distributed at the event. A small warning: page 23 follows page 25.

I highly recommend watching Graham’s video on the Flemish beguinages, which he now knows like the back of his hand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXODpicjGL8
Good job, Begard Graham!

NEWS

Our Beguines of Provence, Viviane-Marie and Muriel-Raphaëlle from the Mémoire d’Elles association, invite us to take a look at the work of sculptor Jean-Joseph Chevalier during the creation of the statue of Saint Douceline.
https://youtu.be/T0xNFKbdM-0
Three-fifths of the total amount has been raised, but a little more help is still needed. Here is the link to contribute:https://www.helloasso.com/associations/association-memoires-d-elles/collectes/sculpture-sainte-douceline

To mark the 30th anniversary of the creation of the École de la Sagesse (School of Wisdom) in Barjols, the Saint Martin du Lac Beguinage is planning to host a seminar on its history, initiatives, and experiences. Save the dates: October 17th and 18th. The program will be available in September.

La scuola delle donne (The Women’s School), founded in 2017 by Devana, daughter of Liliana, reminds us of the link to the documentary video she made on the beghiaggi in 2023 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmoZNJf1Z5I&t=3sor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfqLODqIHrc with English translation) and their research published onhttps://www.academia.edu/117767692/Beghinaggi_le_sacre_case_delle_libere_donne

Many ways to pay homage the Beguines (July 2027)

There are various ways in which people pay homage to the intrepid history and courageous social and spiritual commitment of the Beguines. Some teach the Beguines’ history ; some study, publish, and publicly present the results of their research. Some undertake translations to spread knowledge about their movement. Some promote awareness-raising and remembrance activities, videos, or podcasts. Some create a Facebook page ; some start a beguinage or an association bearing their name. Some organize and lead visits to beguinages. Some manage a website or newsletter. Some even commission an artist to create a statue. And then there are still others who, finding inspiration in the lifestyle, are inspired by it and call themselves Beguines or Begards. In short, so many initiatives that rejoice in hope.

With the dream realized by Nadia Taglietti, we are witnessing a new approach that has set colours and construction cranes in motion to make it a reality. It’s no less than a mural, approximately 14 meters long and 6 meters high, painted on the facade of Nadia’s house in Macina di Castenedolo (Brescia), at Via Villaggio dei Platani 17. The mural was created by street artist Vera Bugatti. Google Alert also mentioned it and posted a link to the work, which can be found on the artist’s website. Clicking this link gives you a glimpse of how beautiful and impressive this work is:https://www.verabugatti.it/comunione-dintenti-un-omaggio-alle-beghine-e-a-margherita-poret

Unveiled on Sunday 10th May 2026, this mural, titled Comunione di Intenti (Communion of Intent), pays homage to Nadia’s parents, but also to the Beguines, with particular reference to the Umiliate (medieval Beguines of Northern Italy), on whom Nadia, a historian by training, wrote her thesis, entitled Dalla Domus de Cambiago al monastero domenicano dei SS. Agostino e Pietro Martire (XII-XVI) (an extract Dicte priora et sorores non sint moniales nec earum domus monasterium appellatur: The Milanese domus of the Umiliate of Cambiago between the XII and XIV centuries was published by the Archivio Storico Lombardo, year CXXI-CXXV 1998-1999). Since then Nadia has never stopped being interested in it. So much so that for about a year together with Milena Garavaglia, author of Cohousing al femminile. Abitare nei beghinaggi moderni (Cohousing al femminile. Living in modern beguinages), they are preparing a map of the historical presence of the Humiliates in Lombardy, whose order was suppressed in 1571 by Pope Pius V.

Indeed, if you know of any vestiges of this order, please let Nadia Taglietti <nadiataglietti@yahoo.it> and Milena Garavaglia <cart55924@gmail.com> know their location and type. They will be very grateful.

Just as all of us friends of the beguines are truly grateful to you, dearest Nadia, for this fantastic initiative of yours, which will undoubtedly raise awareness of the beguines to all who raise their eyes to admire this, allow me, masterpiece of reverence and gratitude by Vera Bugatti.

NEWS

Thanks to journalist Caroline Vinet de La Vie, I learned that a Marguerite Porete Square has been established, very close to the Place de Grève where Marguerite Porete was burned at the stake. You can read the minutes of the resolution adopted by the Paris City Council in May 2024 (2024 DU 80).

 https://a06-v7.apps.paris.fr/a06/jsp/site/Portal.jsp?page=ods-solr.display_document&id_document=176152&items_per_page=20&sort_name=&sort_order=&terms=2007%20PP%2080,&query=2007%20PP%2080

 Monique Van Lancker, wandering around Paris, had already sent me a photo of the plaque she discovered while walking.

Google Alert reports the publication of Bernard Raimon‘s book, Mistica delle beghine. Hadewijch e il movimento femminile nel XIII secolo, Monasterium, 192 pages. Available athttps://fedecultura.com/products/mistica-delle-beghine-bernard-raimont-monasterium-9791280938350

Vivre en Béguinage is delighted to share the association’s 2025 Social Impact Report. This 56-page document details the beneficial effects of the inclusive housing model for seniors, particularly regarding healthy aging. To download the report, please request it on the website
https://www.vivre-en-beguinage.fr/rapport-impact-social?_sc=Mzk5MTk3MiMxMzUy&utm_campaign=Newsletter+juin+2026&utm_medium=email&utm_source=brevo

The mystic beguine of Magdeburg (June 2026)

Sometimes it’s the figures themselves who summon us to better understand their message. This is what happened to Giuliana Vittoria Fantuz, who, for no other reason, felt compelled to write about Mechthild of Magdeburg. A fitting call, given that the Beguine Mechthild is still little-known, yet truly deserves to be.

Hans Urs von Balthasar, to whom we owe the twentieth-century rediscovery of her work, considered Matilda the second pinnacle of medieval charismatic theology, after Hildegard of Bingen and before Meister Eckhart, as she was capable of expressing the phenomenology of religious experience in its purest form, is written in the preface of the book.

To learn more about the Beguine mystic, Giuliana initiated many contacts, but here’s what she wrote to me in an email from a few months ago: “Over time, I called and wrote to many people in England and Germany, but no one ever responded.”
Fearless like Mechthild, Juliana then traveled to Magdeburg, but knowledge of this medieval mystic (1208/10–1282) was extremely limited. Meanwhile, the translator Paola Schulze Belli (from whom the selected excerpts included in the second part of the volume are taken) had died, so this contact also faded.

However, the book has been completed and is truly remarkable. It offers a complete overview of Mechthild’s life, her Beguinage, her book, and an anthology of selected excerpts from The Flowing Light of the Divinity, translated by Paola Schulze Belli. It also includes an in-depth analysis of how a vision, revelation, or other supernatural phenomena is understood and evaluated within the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The magnificent preface by Alessandra Bartolomei Romagnoli, a leading scholar of mysticism, is a red-carpet entrance to the book.

A traveler at heart, Giuliana has explored monasteries in Germany and beguinages in Belgium, and is now in close contact with the Cistercian monastic community ousted from the monastery of San Giacomo di Veglia (Vittorio Veneto-Treviso), to which part of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated. This sad event prompted the author to include an accusation in the book on the status of women in the Church today (see https://beguines.info/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Conclusione-e-rilancio.pdf). This further brings us closer to Mechthild, whose criticism of the religious institution cost her so much that she left the Beguinal community for refuge in the monastery of Hefta.

Giuliana Vittoria Fantuz, a graduate in Foreign Languages and Literatures from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, is a journalist and writer. She has published several essays on religious figures, including Julian of Norwich. Her book on Mechthild is available in bookstores and online: Giuliana Vittoria Fantuz, Matilde. La mistica beghina di Magdeburgo, with excerpts from The Flowing Light of Divinity and a preface by Alessandra Bartolomei Romagnoli, published by San Paolo Edizioni, March 2026, 192 pp.

The author is available for in-person presentations. To contact her: giulianafantuz@gmail.com

NEWS
Patrizia Righettini informs us that Melissa Febos’s book, The Dry Season (see July 2024 Newsletter), is available in Italian translation under the title Dry Season. Il mio anno di piacere senza sesso (Dry Season. My Year of Sexless Pleasure), translated by Federica Principi, Nottetempo, p. 360, €20. You can read here the review of Antonella Lattanzi, published in the “Books” supplement of the Corriere della Sera on Sunday, April 19, 2026. Even the review mentions the Beguines.
Thanks to our “book scout” Patrizia.

Cathy Gaspard brought to our attention the article Mystical research, seeking perfection and helping the poor: how a modern-day Beguines community was formed in the heart of Brussels (article published on May 28, 2026, in The Brussels Times, but referring to a previous article from October 19, 2019). Many thanks, Cathy.

A statue for Douceline (May 2026)

Are you familiar with the saying, “Things come in threes”? Well, this time it’s certainly true once again. For the third time, our spotlight shines on Provence and its Beguines, both historical and modern.

You already know the most famous among them, Douceline de Digne (1214-1274), who played a leading role in Barjols, Hyères, Marseille, and Sainte-Baume. In the heart of the 13th century, she was the driving force behind the original development of the Beguines’ community in Provence, founding two beguinal establishments in Hyères and Marseille: “Les Dames de Roubaud.”

You are already familiar with the Association MEMOIRES D’ELLES (Viviane-Marie and Muriel-Raphaëllehttps://association-memoires-delles.webnode.fr/), also featured on our website ,https://beguines.info/?page_id=371&lang=en which revives this memory through numerous initiatives, and we already know the book Béguines de Provence, which was presented in our April Beguines Newsletter.

I have just received some truly important news from Viviane-Marie and Muriel-Raphaëlle. The Association Mémoires d’elles, supported by the Sainte Douceline Fraternity of Hyères, intends to bring Douceline’s remarkable personality back into the spotlight in a very tangible way.
How?
By creating a 1-meter stone statue, which will be placed in the church dedicated to Douceline, the Church of Pyanet in Hyères. Jean-Joseph Chevalier has been chosen as the artist to create this sculpture. An artist dedicated to “serving a single ideal: beauty.” You can admire his works by visiting his website: https://www.jeanjosephchevalier.fr
This very informative flyer provides additional information and the way for a possible personal contribution

The initial budget of €5,700 has only been partially reached, and our Beguines of Provence are appealing to our generosity by launching a crowdfunding campaign. The link is: https://www.helloasso.com/associations/association-memoires-d-elles/collectes/sculpture-sainte-douceline
In France, donations are tax-deductible.

We hope this beautiful project will come to fruition and preserve the tangible memory of Douceline and her followers in the heart of her church and Provence, as well as among those who feel able to contribute.

INFO
Laura Swan, author of the beautiful book The Wisdom of the Beguines, and Susan Emanuel, English translator of the great Aline Kiner’s book La nuit des béguines, have pointed out to me that the website https://lithub.com/the-radical-write-how-a-medieval-catholic-mystic-inspired-my-debut-novel/ links to the author of CANTCLE and not to Marguerite Porete. The text therefore doesn’t mention beguines and perhaps also suffers from a lack of historical depth. I thank these two attentive readers and apologize for not having looked into the information I received myself.

Martina Bugada informs us that on 28th March , Il Giardino delle Beghine celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Sororità, also remembering the birthday of its founder, Ivana Ceresa. A celebration also shared with the two new sororities born in Tuscany in Empoli in San Miniato on the initiative of Giulia Taddei and her friends.  Heartiest congratulations.

Graham Keen informs us of the death, on 8th April, 2026, of Father Charles Delhez, whom he met in December 2022 to learn more about the project for a possible future beguinage in Blocry (Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgique). Here is Graham’s article: https://beguines.info/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/BLOCRY-beguinage.pdf and the tributes paid to Father Charles:
https://www.cathobel.be/2026/04/combien-de-milliers-de-km-as-tu-parcourus-je-remercie-dieu-de-tavoir-mis-sur-mon-chemin-les-hommages-au-pere-charles-delhez-affluent/
When this beguinage is built, the main square will certainly be dedicated to Father Charles. RIP. For more information about the great Blocry project see https://www.blocry-paroisse.be/asbl-pole-blocry

Bernard Van Meenen informs us that Pascal Majérus will give the conference “Les béguinages, ou l’invention d’une autre façon de réaliser sa vie de femme” on May 21st at the Jette University Antenna:https://jette.brussels/fr/actualites/conferences-antenne-interuniversitaire-de-jette-2025-2026
Don’t miss it, and if you are so inclined, please send me a report of your experience.

Beguines of Provence (April 2026)

Just a year ago, I translated into Italian the life of Douceline de Digne, written by her disciple Philippine de Porcellet. Good news: the Italian edition is nearing publication. We’ll have more on that soon.
In the meantime, Cathy Gaspard has just finished the English translation (well done, Cathy!), which will be reviewed by Brother Bernard Delcourt (Holy Cross Monastery, New York). Thank you, Bernard.

To this very good news about the Beguines of Provence, we have another equally joyous piece of news: the publication of the book Beguines of Provence, by Laurence Fritsch (<laurencefritsch13100@orange.fr>).

Laurence Fritsch holds a doctorate in medieval and modern history, is a paleographer, translator, and specialist in Provençal heritage and spirituality. Having worked for many years in communications and publishing in Paris, and later as a teacher, she is now a writer, lecturer, and organizer of spiritual itineraries in Provence. She is in close contact with our modern-day Beguines of Provence, Viviane-Marie and Muriel-Raphaëlle, from the Mémoire d’elles association (https://beguines.info/?page_id=371).

The book Beguines de Provence is a historical essay of nearly 400 pages, renowned for its thorough documentation and wealth of references. Many authors who have contributed to our understanding of the Beguines movement are mentioned. Although academic in nature, the book is a smooth and enjoyable read.

It not only teaches us about the various aspects of Beguine life in Provence (chapters 2-3-4), but in the very first chapter, it also guides us through the emergence of this spiritual movement, which now seems to have found its own name in French: “Béguisme”. All the main related questions are addressed: active life vs. contemplative life, connection with the new orders, origin of the word Beguine, persecutions and religious orders, and many others. Particular attention is also paid to the male Beguinis themselves.

I was deeply touched by the dedication of the book to Anne-Marie Monges, Lecturer at Aix-Marseille University, who had suggested to Laurence that they work together on the Beguines, but whose wish could not be fulfilled due to her untimely death.

Laurence has carried the torch for both of them.

NEWS

Graham Keen informs us that a group from the An Croi Beguine community (Ireland) will be visiting Belgium from April 16th to 18th. He will join them to show them around some Beguinages. Fantastic, Graham!

This year again, from June 10th to 13th, the Béguinage de la Croix aux Boeufs is delighted to offer the opportunity to participate in a workshop with Marie Barguil, somatopsichopedagogue.“Last year, 19 of us recharged our batteries in a wonderfully harmonious atmosphere. Marie Emmanuel and Thérèse are delighted to welcome you and… to participate. Warmest regards,Your two Beguine sisters, Thérèse and Marie Emmanuel”
For information and registration: https://beguines.info/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Stage-pleine-presence-juin-2026-web.pdf

Susan Emanuel informs us that a 26-minute documentary about Marguerite Porete, produced in 2024, is available on Arte.tv until early June at the following address: https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/115019-011-A/quand-l-histoire-fait-dates/. It is presented and narrated by medieval historian Patrick Boucheron and historian Isabelle Lupette. Thank you, Susan.

Marguerite Porete again (March 2026)

On Monday, 12th January at 1:00 AM (yes, you read that right, 1:00 AM), I participated in a Zoom webinar held in Quebec, which had been recommended to me by friends scattered around the world. Thank you Bernard (USA), and thank you Thérèse (France). How lucky I am to have such good friends!

The online meeting was organized by Fabrice Blée, professor of theology and founder of Solars (https://www.solarscentre.com), an initiative that presents itself with the label “doing theology differently,” aiming to reconcile us with the great mystical tradition, even beyond the Christian tradition.

58 of us gathered to listen to Jean Bédart, essayist, novelist, and philosopher, who has produced a prolific body of work, including unpublished texts he writes in preparation for his books (https://hfortier.com/documents/JeanBedard_cv201706.pdf).
He also manages his blog (https://jeanbedardphilosopheecrivain.wordpress.com).

Jean Bédart is also the testimony of a deep sense of daily life and concern for the future of the world. He was the founder of a community inspired by rural life (Sageterre), being the only alternative for the future and which, according to him, has points in common with the life in beguinages.

Jean Bédart presented his historical novel Marguerite Porete. L’inspiration de Maître Eckhart (Marguerite Porete. The Inspiration of Master Eckhart). Since I haven’t read it, I’ll share the description from the Solars website: “His meticulously researched biographical novel, “Marguerite Porète, l’inspiration de Maître Eckhart” (winner of the Prix de l’Académie des lettres du Québec), recounts the life and work of Marguerite Porète. This mystical philosopher reveals a life-affirming feminism, an organized and militant feminism that shook both the Church and the State. She was the direct inspiration for Maître Eckhart. While she remains relatively unknown (Christian Bobin praises her in “Le Très-Bas”), she cannot fail to make an impression: her thought and especially her actions compel us to fundamental changes that could well contribute to making our world viable, sustainable, and above all, happy.” By clicking this link you can listen to the replay of the lecture: https://vimeo.com/1153796370/4c58af5d71?fl=ip&fe=ec

Since the book is a novel, I probably won’t read it, because my thirst for knowledge demands the historically documented rigor of the events recounted, something a novelist can easily do without, at the risk of providing information that sometimes didn’t actually happen. I recently came across a very beautiful video in Italian (again, about Marguerite) which recounted, among other things, a visit that Master Eckhart supposedly paid her while she was imprisoned in Paris. This is a historical inaccuracy. Nevertheless, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=464yUgm0urY

A crucial issue for the future will be the reliability of the knowledge disseminated, as anyone can express and write their opinions and present them as proven facts. AI will then simply amplify them everywhere.
The Beguines community will bear the brunt of this, and it is already doing so.

On the occasion of this 8th March I wish you a meaningful day and I offer you my latest work on Marguerite Porete, translated into English to make it accessible to a larger audience. A great thank you to Cathy Gaspard for her linguistic reading.
https://beguines.info/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Marguerite-Porete-a-heretic-to-be-sanctified.pdf.

INFO  RECEIVED

Please note that Milena Garavaglia will present Beghine. La forza delle donne tra passato e presente(Beguines. The Strength of Women between Past and Present) on March 8, 2026, at 4:30 PM in the “Mario Costa” Council Chamber in Sedriano (MI), organized by the Councilor for Culture and the Friends of Culture Association of Sedriano. For information: Milena Garavaglia <cart55924@gmail.com>

On March 23, from 2 to 4 pm, the conference Les béguinages, des pierres nées sans texte? (Beguinages: Stones Born Without Text?) will be held in Brussels, organized by https://agesettransmissions.be at Rue Belliard, 20 – 1040 Brussels. The speaker is the eminent specialist Pascal Majérus, author of Ces femmes qu’on dit béguines : guide des béguinages de Belgique : bibliographie et sources d’archives. (These Women Called Beguines: A Guide to the Beguinages of Belgium: Bibliography and Archival Sources). If you attend, please give him my warm regards.
For information and reservations (admission €12): +32 476 40 98 30.

Brigitte Meister, a member of the Board of Directors of the Dachverband-der-Beginen (Beginen Association), informs us that the annual Beginen Reise (Beginen Reunion) will take place from April 29th to May 2nd, 2026. Here is the program and information on how to participate: https://beguines.info/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Beginenreise-2026.pdf

I invite you to see the progress of the Beguinage of Saint Barbara, recently posted by Stephan Delfanne on Facebook by clicking here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/537554444552281/permalink/1444356477205402

Angela da Foligno (February 2026)

Among the specific features of the Beguine world, that emerged towards the end of the 12th century,there was the possibility of choosing one’s own spiritual director. Unfortunately, cases of a woman being chosen for this role were extremely rare, I imagine because of the sacrament of confession, with its remission of sins, which was the prerogative of men.

Beguines in Europe primarily turned to the mendicant orders, which, like them, arose from the religious fervor of those centuries. However, the Beguines of the North mainly opted for the Friars Preachers (later called Dominicans), while those of the South chose the Franciscans.

Such was the choice of Angela of Foligno, a member of the Franciscan family, whose memory was brought to my attention by the Poor Clare Christine Daine, to whom I owe my first encounters with the Beguine world.
Christine (christineclarissedaine@gmail.com) practices and leads simple presence meditation groups in Brussels and sends out “Le Fil Bleu (The Blue Thread)” every week, featuring beautiful texts. In one of these, she shares “an amazing text by Angela that delighted me. Like many Beguines, Angela uses oxymorons to speak of God, saying something and its opposite, like ‘Far-Near’ or ‘Darkness-Light’. No word can express God, not even love… perhaps especially love. And yet, something must be said about Him… Then, she shares her experience. »

Here is the text taken from the Book, and quoted by Christine, in which Angela da Foligno (click on her name to know something about her) shares her experience:

“Now, I place my hope in no good that can be spoken of outwardly, or even conceived, but my hope lies in a secret good, very sure and hidden, which I understand with such darkness.”

“The soul sees absolutely nothing that the mouth or even the heart can later recount; it sees nothing and it sees absolutely everything.”

“Once my soul was lifted up, and I saw God in such clarity, such beauty, and such fullness, as I had never seen Him before, nor in such a complete way. I saw no love there; I then lost the love I had and became non-love.”

“In this Goodness seen in darkness I collected myself entirely.”

“If I say that it is all good, I destroy it.”

Important message received from beguine Brita Lieb

On Christmas day, December 25, 2025, Gertrud M. Hofmann-Startz, the founder of the Beguines in Germany, died peacefully. On December 3, 1925, she had celebrated her 100th birthday with her family! We are happy that she died peacefully to God; as a Beguine, she did so much good for so many people, and He will surely welcome her with open arms. Her Requiem Mass will be held on Thursday, January 8, 1926, at 11:00 a.m. in the chapel of her home in Essen-Steele. I wish you a happy and healthy 2026, and all my love.
Sister Brita, Beguine

Activity

On March 8, 2026, Milena Garavaglia will present the Beguinal movement on behalf of the cultural group and the municipal administration of Sedriano (MI). Through her various presentations, Milena, author of the book “Cohousing al Femminile: Abitare nei beguinaggi moderni,” is spreading awareness and respect for these Beguinal friends of ours. For information: Milena Garavaglia <cart55924@gmail.com>

Good news from German and Italy (January 2026)

It’s auspicious to begin the new year with good news, as well as with the best wishes of us who collaborate at the Beguines Newsletter. We are Antonio (informatics support), Bernard (French revision), Graham (English and Deutsch revision), and Silvana (writer and sender). Please extend our wishes to your beloved ones but also to all living being around you.

A recent contact with Uta-Maria Freckmann has introduced me to two significant items in the world of German beguines. What you read here can be found more widely developed on the website https://Beginenhof-Nordhastedt.blogspot.com; the quotes from the website are in italics. This text has been proofread and approved by Uta-Maria, who is responsible for the network of contacts.

So here is the good news: two from Germany and one from Italy

The first is the existence of the Nordhastedt beguinage (6 km from Heide), founded in 2019, following the previous one that existed from 2013 to 2019 in Wedel (near Hamburg). This Beguinal community is currently composed by three residents and two others online. Her main characteristic is the steadily established spirituality and the centrality of Christ in their quest, unconnected to any religious institution. “Life in the Beguinage is very similar to that in religious monasteries, but with the freedom to express one’s own spirituality.”

Strong involvement and fierce independence are well expressed by Manuela Schindler, Martina Sruckhoff, and Maria-Uta Freckmann. Each of them presented the reasons for their Beguinal choice, and they are all firmly convinced to have made the right choice and are very happy about it.

From the website, we also learn that they work as therapists, alternative practitioners specializing in podiatry, psychotherapy, fibromyalgia, and spiritual counselors. Their voluntary commitments include caring for the elderly, peace movement, and supporting women. They also organize events open to the public at the Beguinage.

The second good news is the launch in June 2025 of the biannual magazine Beginen Heute (Beguines Today), which can be downloaded directly from https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CGAPE51VWLPykNu-Y0yfXmFKGF5-VBt3/view?pli=1 or read on one of the social media listed below.
Beginen Heute on 01.01.2026: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15Bkn_5zlRNUoWr-McsLhvKGXqDsJytOJ/view?usp=sharing

The aim of this German-language magazine is “to revitalize and support the Beguine movement, to strengthen the cohesion of all Beguines, and to raise public awareness of their activities.”

Beginen heute Blog: https://beginen-heute.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Beginenheute/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beginen.heute/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/zeitschrift-beginen-heute/

We hope that Beginen Heute will contribute to connecting a friendly network among German-speaking women and others who, albeit with different sensibilities and methods, draw inspiration from the historical Beguines.

And finally, the third piece of good news: Hadewijch’s work, Canti, was recently published in the Lettere series, edited by Marco Vannini. It is a complete edition, with original Dutch text on the opposite page and extensive commentary by Dutch specialists. The Italian translation is by Franco Paris, professor of the subject in Naples.
Hadewijch CANTI. Testo nederlandese medio a fronte. A cura di Veerle Fraeters e Frank Willaert, Le Lettere, Firenze 2025, pp. 458, € 25,00 – ISBN 9788893665445

Reading the Newsletters of the year 2025

Reading the Newsletters of the year 2024

Reading the Newsletters of the year 2023

Reading the Newsletters of the year 2022

Reading the Newsletter of the year 2021

Reading the Newsletters of the year 2020

Reading the Newsletters of the year 2019

Reading the Newsletters of the year 2018

Reading the Newsletters of the year 2017

PAINTINGS & ICONS              SCULPTURES                  MUSICS

PAINTINGS & ICONS

Three paintings with beguines by Jaap Oudes (1926-1998)

www.dirkenjaapoudes.nl

Images sent in April 2019
by Jan Oud

SCULPTURES

MUSICS

under the direction of
Hendrik Vanden Abeele

the choir Psallentes

2 CD of beguines’s musics

recorded on 2015 at Abbaye
of Keizerberg in Leuven

HADEWIJCH d’Anvers, Les chants, Éditions de Veerle Fraeters et Franck Willaert avec une reconstitution des mélodies par Louis Peter Grijp, Préface de Jacques Darras, Traduction du (moyen) néerlandais par Daniel Cunin, Albin Michel, 2019

In this section are listed the biographies of the most famous admirers, and therefore also supporters, of the beguines. As for the portraits of the beguines, here too the list will be always incomplete and unachieved. The names of the both are generally written in the original language.

Let’s start by recalling that it was thanks to these men, sometimes anonymous, that we were able to know the “vitae” of the following beguines with their associated biographer:

Beguine                                                    Biographer
Marie d’Oignies (+1213)                    Jaques de Vitry  and  Thomas de Cantimpré
Odilia di Liegi (+1220)                       Anonymous priest of St Lambert of Liège
Juetta di Huy (+1228)                        Hugo di Floreffe, Premostratensian
Christine de Saint trond (+1228)   Thomas de Cantimpré
Christine de Stommeln (+1312)      Pierre de Dacie
Ida di Nivelles (+1231)                       Goswin di  Bossut, Cistercian
Ida di Leuven (+after  1231)          Anonymous Cistercian
Margherita d’Ypres (+1234)            Thomas de Cantimpré
Julienne de Mont –Cornillon (+1259) Anonynous priest of St Martin of Liège
Ida di Gorsleeuw (+after 1262)        Anonymous Cistercian
Beatrice di Nazareth (+1268)            Anonymous Cistercian
Chiara da Rimini (+1326)                   cardinal Giuseppe Garampi (+1792)
Maria Petyt (+ 1677)                             Michael de St. Augustin (+ 1684)

Here is a first list  of their admirers-protectors. Every name is linked with a short biography below :

Adolphe de la MARCK (1288-1344)

Cesarius de HEISTERBACH (1180-1240)

Dieudonné DUFRASNE(1938-2017)

ECKHART Master (ca 1260-1328)

Foulque de TOULOUSE (or de MARSEILLE) (c.1155-1231)

Gabriele Tardio (1954-2013)

Geert GROTE (or GROOTE) (1340-1384)

Goswin de BOSSUT (13th)

Guiard de CRESSONESSART ( 13th-14th)

Guido de NIVELLES (+1227)

Hugues de PIERREPONT (+ 1229)

Jacques PANTALÉON (1195-1264)

Jacques de VITRY (1170-1240)

Jan van RUUSBROEC (1293-1281) (also RUYSBROECK or RUESBROEC)

Jean de NIVELLES (+ shortly after 1219)

Lambert LE BEGUE (1131 – 1180 or 1187)

Louis IX (saint) (1214-1270)

Louis MASSIGNON (1883-1962)

Mario (don) SENSI (1939-2015)

Pierre de DACIE (between 1230-40 – 1289)

Robert de SORBON(1201-1274)

Thomas de CANTIMPRÉ (+1272)

Adolphe de la MARCK (1288-1344)
Bishop of Liège, he protects the beguines by convincing Pope John XXII and by his initiatives in their favour in his diocese. On August 13, 1318, under the pressure of generous protectors (including Bishop Adolphe de La Marck himself), John XXII by his bull “Ratio recta” deletes  the sentence promulgated six years ago against the beguines of the Netherlands and the region of Liège.

Cesarius of HEISTERBACH (1180-1240)
He was a German abbot and a writer, prior of the former Cistercian abbey of Heisterbac. Césarius spoke about the beguines in very laudatory terms, as the Walter Simons reported in his book  Cities of Ladies  (p.35) :  “Cesarius of Heisterbach, a Cistercian monk living in the region of Cologne and well informed about goings-on in Low Countries, affirmed that “Although those [holy] women, whom we known to be very numerous in the diocese of Liège, live among the people wearing lay clothes, they still surpass many of cloister in the love of God. They live the eremitical life among the crowds, spiritual among the worldly and virginal among those who seek pleasure. As their battle is greater, so is their grace, and a greater crown will await them”.

Dieudonné DUFRASNE (1938-2017)
Dieudonné Dufrasne was born in 1938 in Cuesmes in the Belgian coalfield Borinage. Became a Benedictine monk in 1959 and then ordained priest in 1963, Dieudonné was one of the founders of the monastery of Clerlande where his funeral was celebrated on 27 October 2017. There, he was above all interested in liturgical renewal, but also in the animation of groups and the generous personal welcome that I also received during my research on the beguines. His name will remain linked at the publication in 2007 of Libres et folles d’amour (Free and love’s crazy), one of the first popular works on the beguinal movement, later translated into Italian with the beautiful title “Donne moderne del Medioevo” (Modern Women of the Middle Ages). The book reveals his deep admiration for the loving boldness of the beguines and features three of them: Mechthild of Magdebourg, Hadewijch and Marguerite Porete.
Dieudonné was “A man of God close to the people. His sweetness, his intelligence, his right word express how much he care to be a witness of a God who has become flesh for our joys and our pains” writes Marcela Lobo in one of the 52 commemorative texts.

ECKHART Master (ca 1260-1328)
Perhaps his name was John, he was born in Hochheim, in Thuringia, around 1260, in a family of the little nobility. He entered the Dominican order, held his novitiate in Erfurt, then in 1285 he was sent to the Dominican General Studium in Cologne, where Albertus Magnus (+1280) and Thomas Aquinas (+1274) had worked.
On 18 April 1294 he was in Paris as a reader of the Sentences of Pietro Lombardo, his first teaching position, under which he obtained the license for the doctorate in theology, a condition for a chair. He was also, like Thomas Aquinas, twice magister actu regens, professor at the University of Paris. His last teaching position was in Cologne. He writes in the vernacular language four treaties and about 120 sermons.
Master Eckhart was also a man of government as prior of the convent of Erfurt from 1294 to 1298 and vicar of Thuringia. In 1303, he was provincial prior of the Dominican province of Saxony, then in 1307 of the province of Bohemia. In 1324 in Strasbourg he held the post of vicar general with jurisdiction over the female monasteries of the Order of Preachers.
Himself a great preacher, he was reproached for preaching to the laity the great theological reflections in the German language. Following a challenge to his preaching by two Dominicans, slanderers and intrigues, the Archbishop of Cologne, Henry II of Virneburg, an inquisition process against Master Eckhart was initiated in 1326. For that, he appeals to the Apostolic See of Avignon, where the trial will take place, but he died in 1328 during the trip. On March 27, 1329, Pope John XXII promulgated the Bull In agro dominico, by which he condemned twenty-eight propositions drawn from Master Eckhart’s works.
Great figure of the German mysticism, during the 10 years of his mandate as Vicar General of the Dominican Order in Strasbourg, Master Eckhart protects the beguines and intervenes in their support. Later he will be a frequent visitor to the beguinage in Cologne. As Jacqueline Kelen notes in her book on Hadewijch, Master Eckhart drew many themes from the l béguinal mysticism that he later developed, such as deepening of the inner life, contemplative union without intermediaries, deification, annihilation in the One.

Foulque de TOULOUSE (or MARSEILLE) (c.1155-1231)
He was born from a Genoese family established in Marseille. After being a merchant and poet, he became a Cistercian monk, since his love for Eudoxie de Montpellier is not paid. So, in 1195, he wrote his last poem and entered the Order. He will then be a Bishop of Toulouse and will participate in the crusade against the Albigensians. Looking for refuge in Liège, he discovered the beguines who stroked him very much and who elected them as example. Taking a temporal refuge in Oignies, he insisted with Jacques de Vitry to write Marie d’Oignies’ Life, since he considered her “defensor Dei” and an effective example in the struggle against the Catharses. This is why Jacques will dedicate this work to him.

Gabriele TARDIO (1954-2013)
Gabriele  was born in San Marco in Lamis (Foggia) on 27 September 1954 and prematurely died on 18 June 2013. He worked for his land, to spread his culture, to share his faith, to give continuity to the its history. Among his works, we find several studies that refer to beguines, nuns and hermits in the areas of his knowledge and to some devotional rites typical of that context. All his studies are freely available to the public. It was an figure of reference in the scout group entrusted to him, a researcher and scholar, held in high regard by the “experts”, a man imbued with a simple but robust spirituality, which has always supported him in his life choices, has always distinguished by its active commitment to emergency situations and attention to the last, also taking care of their physical needs. Love for his origins has always brought him back to his country even after the novitiate in Assisi and his stay in Teora among the earthquake victims and the displaced people of the terrible earthquake of the 80s. Having settled in the family home, near Stignano, he continued, as his friends in the “Valley of Hermitages“, to make history with “his feet” through each path that could lead him to understand and find a piece of the puzzle of our culture.
Particular attention was devoted to the study of the tradition of “fracchie” that he lived as a true moment of devotion to the Sorrowful Mother and as a ring of continuity between the different generations of this people. He has made numerous publications available to everyone free of charge. In fact, he wrote: “culture is free, priceless … research serves to stimulate other knowledge, so those who want to get rich give us some of their knowledge“. (source : https://www.lefracchie.eu/index.php/gabriele-tardio)

Geert GROTE (1340-1384)
Canon and notable in the Dutch city of Deventer, Geert Grote knew very well the world of the beguines and most probably he took inspiration for the foundation of the Devotio Moderna, a movement – the brothers and sisters of the common life – for a poor, personal and secular Christianity which was very successful in Belgium, Holland and West Germany, This movement is considered one of the anticipations of the Reformation. The Devotio Sisters had the term beguine as their nickname, but unlike these, they lived in community of goods (Charles Caspers, Breda, 2017).
Grote had great esteem for the beguines who, though not pronouncing their perpetual vows, lived in evangelical simplicity and were certainly not less religious than the clergy.

Goswin de BOSSUT (13th)
Cistercian of the abbey of Villers, he is the alleged author of the Life of Ida of Nivelles and perhaps of other beguines’ biographies. In fact, intense contacts, informal and non-institutional, existed between the monks of Villers and the beguines of the area of Nivelles-Oignies.

Guiard de CRESSONESSART (13th-14th)
Cleric of the diocese of Beauvais, he was imprisoned in 1308 and sentenced to life in prison in 1310 for having helped and defended Marguerite Porete. Romana Guarnieri writes about him: “A strenuous defender of ‘apostolic life’, he declares himself sent by Christ to support and save those faithfuls who have given everything and live in perfect poverty, and for this they are persecuted”

Guido de NIVELLES (+1227)
Priest, brother-in-law of Marie d’Oignies, Guido was the chaplain of the leper colony of Willambroux, when Marie and her husband were also there. Later he practiced in the chapel of the adjacent beguinal community until his death in 1227.

Hugues de PIERREPONT (+1229)
Prince bishop of Liege from 1200 to 1229, he welcomes and promotes in his diocese the female penitential movement, of which Marie d’Oignies is one of the best known figures.

Jacques PANTALÉON (1195-1264)
Archdeacon of Liège, he was a great admirer of Julienne, the beguine-recluse of Mont-Cornillon, and later Augustinian nun, who, following a vision, promoted the Corpus Christi Feast. He will support her with Robert de Thourotte, the Bishop of Liège. When then he became Pope himself, Urban IV (1261-64), with his 1264 Bull “Transiturus de hoc mundo“, will officially formalize this feast and set it aside for the whole Church.

Jacques de VITRY (1170-1240)
A native of Vitry-sur-Seine (Reims), parish priest d’Argentueil, «magister parisiensis», canonical regular in Saint Nicolas d’Oignies, Archbishop of Acre (1216), auxiliary of the Bishop-Prince of Liège, Cardinal Bishop of Frascati (1228), he died in Rome in 1240. He accompanied the Crusaders in the siege of Damietta (1218).
A great defender of the beguines, he helped to support them and to make them recognized by ecclesiastical authority. Jacques de Vitry was struck by the figure of Marie d’Oignies, about whom he wrote a “Vita” in view of her beatification. He left Paris, where he was a teacher of theology: “Tired of dry studies and worldliness and thirsty for inner life, he ended up settling near her (Marie) as a canon of the small and poor Augustinian priory” (Romana Guarnieri, Donne e chiesa tra mistica e istituzioni,, p.76). Deeply struck by her wisdom, he gave up teaching to become a humble itinerant preacher. From now on Marie will be the inspirer of all his sermons. For Jacques, women like Marie could save Christianity from heresy.

Jan van RUUSBROEC or RUYSBROEC or RUYSBROECK (1293-1381)
He frequented the beguinal environment very closely, as his mother spent the last few years in the Brussels beguinage, after leaving the village of Ruysbroeck in order to be close to her son who was becoming a priest at the St. Gudule Cathedral in Brussels. Ruusbroec himself assumes the spiritual guidance of a community of beguines in Brussels. After 20 years of parish service, he retired to Groenendal with two other companions to live a more contemplative life. “When we refer to those times, the foundation of Goenendal may appear as something else from the desire for a spiritual life away from parochial concerns and assignments. It was to take the right path between the corruption of the clergy and the unruliness of the madmen of love breaking with the Church “(Claude-Henri Rocquet, p.45)
In fact, as Ruusbroec expresses himself in his Del tabernacolo spirituale: “Look at the princes of the Church and tell me if they are good shepherds. Their palaces are full of servants. From them greatness and power abound, wealth of the world. Their table collapses with dishes and nectar, their closets and their trunks are full of precious clothes and jewels, they have in abundance all the most magnificent is offered by the earth. But they never get enough and the more they receive, the more they want. They are similar to the miserable world hungry for earthly goods because it does not have the taste of God “.
Many traits of his spirituality are of beguinal origin. Paul Verdeyen affirms that “he had to be greatly influenced by the writings of the beguine Hadewijch and we can even say that Ruusbroec and his brothers have “saved” the literary posterity of Hadewijch. In fact, anyone who knows the history of women’s writings of this era, knows that the beguine Hadewijch had to cope with numerous problems“. Sweet, humble, luminous, solitary, in the fifteenth century the Carthusian Denys nicknamed him the Admirable for the depth and quantity of his works written in the mother tongue, the thiois, the old Flemish.
A very different view of  Ruusbroec is given by Jacqueline Kelen who reproaches him for having “expropriated” Hadewijch without having mentioned her even once.
(Sources: Les activités de Ruusbroec à Bruxelles, Paul VERDEYN sj lecture on 14 February 1998 – Claude-Henri ROQUET, Petite vie de Ruysbrouck, Desclée de Brouwer, Paris, 2003 – Jacqueline KELEN, Hadewijch d’Anvers ou la voie glorieuse, Albin Michel, 2011).

Jean de NIVELLES (+ shortly after 1219)
An important figure in the ecclesiastical environment of Liège, he later retired to the monastery of Oignies, between 1215 and 1219. He had considerable influence on the development of the first nucleus of beguines in Liège, without being the founder. Jacques de Vitry said of him that he was light, teacher and spiritual father of the entire diocese.

Lambert LE BÈGUE (1131 – 1180 or 1187)
He was a priest of Liege from which some have erroneously derived the name of “beguine”, while it would be more correct to suppose that the epithet “Le Bègue” was attributed for his protection towards the beguines. He was also considered the founder of the beguinal movement following an idea emerged in the clerical environment around 1250 to assert the male prominence. According to Professor D’Haenens, the epithet Bègue would be written Bège and would allude to the rough wool dress brought by Lambert and his disciples. He was arrested, mistreated and imprisoned in the castle of Revogne-lez-Rochefort, then taken to prison in Rome because his preaching against the scandals and simony of the Church of Liege. It seems that he had sent a critical text to Pope Callistus III – the Antigraphum Petri (the defence of Peter) – in which he denounced the laxity of the priests. At that time, many clerics lived openly with their spouses.
The vernacular translation of the Acts of the Apostles (translated in rhyme so that the illiterate people could memorize them more easily), of some texts of the New Testament and of Lives of Saints, among them that of Saint Agnes, caused him a sentence and prison. But rehabilitated by Pope Callistus III to whom he had sent an apology in his defence, he returned to Liège where he died a short time later (in 1180 or 1187 according to the sources). Shortly before his death, he would have built a church in Saint Christophe at his own expense and some small houses to welcome women who wanted to live under his direction, away from the world or, as others say, a retreat house for single women, widows of the crusaders. (Sources: J.Delmelle, Lemmens, pp. 103-105, Simons)

Louis IX (saint) (1214-1270)
He became king of France at the age of 12. He lead two crusades (VII and VIII). In 1260 he founded the great Beguinage of Paris, which he placed directly under his protection and entrusted the first direction to a Flemish «Magistra», Agnès de Orchies. This beguinage, which will be closed in 1471, could host about 400 women, widows or unmarried young ladies.

Louis MASSIGNON (1883-1962)
Orientalist and French theologian, great scholar of Islam and in particular of its mysticism, he was very impressed by the beguine Christine of Sint Truiden (+1224). He considers her as a saint while Pius IX (in 1857) institutes her like Blessed. At the invitation of Fr.Van Straeten, rector of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, that preserves the relics of Saint Chistine and serve in the sanctuary of Steenart, Louis Massignon prepares a study and a conference for Thursday 24 July (the day of her death) 1924, in the 7th centenary of her death. This text will then be published in La Cité chrétienne and in 1950 in a tribute volume. The figure of Christine hits Massignon on different levels, personal and spiritual. In Gedenkboek published in 1950 we read: “L.Massignon professor at the Collège de France, who in 1924, on the occasion of the 7th centenary of the death of St. Christine, had asked to be able to glorify the saint in gratitude for the grace of his conversion which he attributes to our virgin of Sint Truiden “(p.350). On the scientific and spiritual level, the text presents the Massignon’s reflection on the themes of substitution, the reparative oblation of “special victims” and allows him to “argue” on the themes of miracles and supernatural phenomena. (Source: MASSIGNON Louis, Ecrits mémorables, Tome I, Laffont, Paris, 2009)

Mario SENSI (1939 – 2015)
Born in Assisi in 1939, he was ordained a priest in 1963 and soon after was appointed parish priest of Colfiorito. Doctor of theology (1967) and then Doctor of Philosophy (1970), in October 1988, he was appointed professor of Church History at the Pontifical Lateran University, becoming, in 2002, professor of History of the ancient and medieval Church. Since October 2009 he has been professor emeritus. It has brought out in the history many beguinal communities of Central Italy with a meticulous expertise. To him we owe the most complete monographs of these experiences, arose from “ a solitary, slow, silent and tireless study” as Romana Guarnieri, his great friend, had to say. The work, in two volumes, which sums it up is “Mulieres in Ecclesia. Storie di monache e bizzzoche”, Italian Center of Studies on the High Middle Ages, Spoleto, 2010
Since the 1960s, Mario Sensi, then a twenty-year-old seminarian, came across the beguines of the thirteenth century and explored various parish and diocesan archives, “bringing out a dense landscape from the thick fog, inhabited by a crowd of minor female figures … all these linked by a moving “gender” solidarity, attested by countless wills, left by wealthy women in favour of other women poorer than them, both of then being pious“(Guarnieri, p.408). In Umbria they were many. Don Sensi was also a dynamic animator of the ecclesiastical archival association.

Pierre de DACIE (between 1230/40 – 1289)
He is one of the most important writers in the Latin language of Swedish literature. Pierre was born in Visby (Island of Gotteland) between 1230-1240. Around 1250, he entered as a novice in the convent of the friar preachers of his hometown (the term “Dominicans” will be in use only from the sixteenth century), where he pronounced his vows. He is of a neurasthenic temperament, with a personality dedicated to the rigor of the Dominican discipline. The meeting with the beguine Christine de Stommeln in 1267 in Cologne, where he finished his studies at the Studium founded by Alberto Magno, will upset his spiritual life.
On December 20, 1267, introduced by his brother Walter, he went to visit this beguine who knows ecstasy, hallucinations and stigmata. Between 1267 and 1269, Pierre meets Christine 13 times and then goes to study in Paris near Thomas Aquinas, where he will stay more than a year and from there he will begin a correspondence that will end only at his death. On his return from Paris he meets Christine for the 14th time on 29 of September 1270. He returns to Sweden where he teaches philosophy and theology and will be prior in various monasteries. Taking advantage of a trip to Cologne, where he went for his heart problems, he will make a 15th visit to Christine and will try to take her to Sweden on three occasions.
A final visit will take place in 1287 on his return from the general chapter of Bordeaux. In 1288 his health diminishes. He dies during Lent in 1289. Christine survived him for 23 years. Peter wrote Christine’s Life, made reports of his visits and collected 38 of their letters (those of Christine are dictated to her confessors).
The relationship with Christine helped him to overcome his natural melancholy and to express a form of lyricism, more inspired by the psalms than by the poetry. Ernest Renan was interested in this “monastic idyll”, a jewel of spiritual friendship.

Robert de SORBON (1201-1274)
He was born in a peasant family in a small Ardennes village. He studied to become a priest, was promoted a doctor and provided a rectory in the church of Cambrai. His sermons and lectures earned him a good reputation and King (Saint) Louis IX chose him as chaplain and perhaps as a confessor. He is the founder of the Sorbonne where laymen who study theology can be relieved of material difficulties. The Aline Kiner’s novel La nuit des beguines tells us that Robert de Sorbon kept sermons in the great beguinage in Paris and defended the beguines. The historian Grundmann writes that “In the middle of the 13th century, at the University of Paris, two theologians were teaching close to each other: one, Robert de Sorbon, saw the Beguines and the Papelards as particularly pious people, who for their authentic and fervent piety they were despised and mocked by the supporters of a worldly life; the other William of Saint Amour, fanatical opponent of the whole poverty movement, hurled his vehement insults and his insinuations full of mockery against the Beguines and the Papelards “(Grundmann, Religious Movements in the Middle Ages, Il Mulino, 1974 p.339 )

Thomas de CANTIMPRE (+1272)
Younger of one generation of Jacques de Vitry, Thomas de Cantimpré was born in Bellingen in the Flemish Brabant (south of Brussels) around 1200. Son of a noble family, destined to become a priest, at 6 he was sent to the Abbey of Cantimpré where he attended up to his 17 years
the courses of the capitular school of the cathedral. He will be officially integrated into this community of regular canons and will receive priestly ordination in 1223. The entry of Thomas among the Dominicans in 1232 marks a new stage: he takes the habit in the convent of Leuven where he will almost always live, except for short stays in Paris, Trier and Cologne. Following the Dominican spirit, he immediately resumed his studies: in Cologne with St. Thomas Aquinas and Albert the Great, in Paris in the convent of Saint-Jacques. In 1246 he returned to Leuven where he served as a sub-prior and as a reader, then as a general preacher for a large region covering part of Germany, Belgium and France. Bilingual preacher, he travels Flanders from east to west and also France to preach against the Albigensians. He died on May 15, no doubt around 1270-1272. To him we owe various hagiographies of beguines (Béatrice de Nazareth, Christine de St Trond, Marguerite d’Ypres, le supplément à la Vie de Marie d’Oignies …). But his most famous work is The Book of Bees, a treatise on religion and practical morality in the framework of an allegory on bees. There are elements of anthropology, zoology, botany, mineralogy, astronomy, astrology and meteorology.

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)

Melissa Febos, They Used to Be Places Just for Women. Now They’re UNESCO World Heritage Sites, AFAR, 8 March 2024

https://thehistorypress.co.uk/article/the-forgotten-boleyn/
In the book The forgotten Boleyn by Claire Martin, Cecily Boleyn, is described as having a life of informal piety and chastity outside of male supervision, and not living in a convent. Cecily did not seek worldly success or a husband chosen to satisfy family ambition. If she was not a formally recognized Beguine, she had the existential characteristics of one. (September 2023)

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 béguines” https://tanyasmiller.wordpress.com/2020/03/01/review-aline-kiner-la-nuit-de-beguines- 2017/ , March 1, 2020

Abby STONER , Sister Between : Gender 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

CIPO- Centre d’Interprétation du Proto-Béguinisme d’Oignies (Aiseau-Presle, Belgique) informs about the origin of the beguinal mouvement
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082142693055&locale=fr_FR

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
The association Mémoires d’elles (Memoirs of them)
https://association-memoires-delles.webnode.fr/

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

Beguinages: oases of peace. (November 2025)
The 26 beguinages in Flanders are known as “Oasen van rust” – oases of peace or tranquility. Graham discovered them over ten years ago and they are a continual source of inspiration for him – the peaceful locations (in the middle of busy towns), the lovely buildings (most of them so well restored) and the history of those admirable women (a source of spiritual inspiration). His friend Maurice Gauche converted the photos into this video. Contact: grahamfranciskeen@gmail.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXODpicjGL8

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)

Julian of Norwich full movie by Mar’s Dowry Productions, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvQy7fgQrc0

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

Toward the end of the twelfth century an utterly new phenomenon occurs: different women intend to exist as such, without being either wives or nuns. They are neighbours or living in the same house or in terraced houses in the same street. Some live as hermits near a church, or with sick people, some live alone or in groups, near a male convent. Others, mainly poor women, choose a wandering apostolic life, praying and begging for “a piece of bread for God’s sake”.

This is how the movement of the Beguines comes to life. In spite of a variety of forms, the movement has the same aim everywhere: living a secluded life in an urban environment, heading for perfection through prayers, sanctified work, help of the poor, community life and mystical research, also with forms of asceticism.

The Beguines’ experience is a creative mixture of both secular and religious ingredients. Among the secular ones: individuality, institutional independence, remunerated work. Among the religious ones: a dedicated life with revocable vows, intense praying, help to the poor, mystical research.

The first group of Beguines historically documented develops around Marie d’Oignies (b. 1177- d. 1213). After nursing with her husband a group of lepers for twelve years, in 1207 Marie retires to live a Beguinal life at Oignies, in Hainaut, a province of today Belgium.  A second group forms with the help of Lambert le Bègue. Just before his death in Liège in 1187, the prelate had a group of small houses built around the church of San Christophe, in order to accommodate women intending to live in seclusion. We also know of the existence in Nivelles in 1208 of a group of women devoted to praying and charity.

The considerable increase of their number, the vicissitudes due to an errant life and the clerical pressure for a protected setting of these women lead to the creation of beguinages: groups of small individual houses enclosed by walls, which later acquired the status of a parish. The movement gains its widest expansion in the thirteenth century and develops mainly in the beguinages from the second half of the same century.

Such diversity, and the absence of a centralized administration make it difficult to quantify the number of Beguines. From a letter of Pope John XXII to the bishop of Strasburg, we know that in 1321 only in West Germany live about 200,000 Beguines. In 1372 as many as 1,300 Beguines live in Brussels, that is more than 4% of its 30,000 inhabitants. One estimates that at the moment of its greatest expansion the movement counted about one million Beguines throughout Europe. But there is no documentation for it.

The Beguinal movement does not have a precise origin nor a founder

In the seventeenth century there has been an attempt to indentify her in St. Begga, but this attempt lived shortly, as Begga, sister of the abbess Gertrude de Nivelles died much earlier, precisely in 693. Without a founder, without a precise origin, the Beguinal movement also has no unified rule, as each beguinage has its own one. Last but not least, the Beguinal movement has no formal historiography, which partly explains its limited historical visibility.

These women are called by different names according to the country where they live. In one of his sermons, written between 1229 and 1240, Jacques de Vitry enumerates them so:

In Latin           MULIER   RELIGIOSA
In French        PAPELARDE
In Lombard    HUMILIATA
In Tuscan        BIZZOCA
In German      COQUENNUNNE
In Flemish       BEGIJN

The origin of the Flemish name is uncertain: it may be a philological corruption of the word Albigenses; it may come from the colour beige of their dress; it may come from Old German “beggen, beggan”: to pray; or from Old French “begart”: to pour out prayers; or still, from Celtic, in French “bègue-béguelle”: simpleton, bigot.

The Beguinal movement includes also men, the Beghards.  Like the Beguines, the Beghards are not tied by irrevocable vows, nor have a unified rule and the members of a community obey only to their local superior. But unlike Beguines, Beghards do not have private property. The brothers in the same convent share their money, live under the same roof and eat at the same table. They are in general of modest origins, weavers, dyers and so on. For this reason they are closely linked to guilds. We even know that in Brussels – and probably elsewhere – no one could ever be admitted to a Beghard convent unless he was a member of the weavers’ guild. Beghards are often men who have suffered hardship, men who had survived friends or have been deprived of familiar ties due to unlucky events, men who could not live on their own because of delicate health, old age, accidents.

The Beguinal movement emerges in the same period of religious fervour when the Franciscan and Dominican orders are born, as well as a number of movements qualified as heretics  [Apostolians, Albigenses, Cathars, Free Spirits, Poor Volunteers] violently repressed by the Church. Also the Beguinal movement is considered suspicious and in the odour of heresy. Thanks to the active intervention of some prelates, in the thirteenth century two Papal bulls  [by Gregory IX in 1233 and by Urban IV in 1269]  are issued in protection of the Beguines in a few  dioceses of what today is Belgium. But the German, French, Italian, and other Beguines found it hard to resist, as the repression was still active elsewhere.

The Inquisition, created in 1231, condemns to the stake also a number of Beguines, among them Lutgarde of Trier in 1231, Aleydis of Cambrai in 1236,  Marguerite Porete in 1310, and Mezza Von Westenhove in 1366. The Vienne Synod (1311 – 1312) condemns the Beguinal movement as heretic, but the sentences was mitigated by two papal bulls: the first, by John XXII in 1319 in favour of the Beguines of Brabant, the second by Clemente VI in 1343, in favour of the Dutch Beguines.

Persecuted, subject to inquisitional procedures, often deprived of their properties, even forced to close their institutions, only the Beguines of the Low Countries manage to hold on without too many aggressions, even in a general atmosphere of suspicion and strict compliance with the authority. In these are hard times, new buildings such as the beguinage of Hoogstraten built in 1380, are extremely rare. The repression lasted until all the Beguines were transferred in closed and strictly controlled communities. The most obstinate Beghards were locally condemned several times and came to an end with the end of the Middle Ages.

The crisis of the Calvinist Reform in the northern Low Countries causes the disappearance of all beguinages, except those in Amsterdam and Breda. In the southern Low Countries, the movement has a revival, but on it the wind of the Counter-Reformation blows, which calls for a stricter supervision by spiritual directors and a stricter seclusion.

The Austrian government, which after the treaty of Utrecht  [1713]  obtains the government of these territories, does not encourage the movement. On the contrary, it introduces a set of obstacles such as permissions and taxes, which forces the Beguines to sell their beguinages at low prices.

Lastly, the French occupation in 1795 confiscates their properties and acknowledges their existence only as charitable services. In 1824 the Beguines obtain the right to wear again their dresses, but not to own their properties, and for a while they are also forbidden to enter new professions.

In spite of this, in 1896 in Belgium still live 1,230 Beguines. In 1960, 600 Beguines are living in eleven beguinages but at the end of the twentieth century their number can be counted on the fingers of two hands. The latest beguine in the word, Marcella Pattijn (1920- 2013), died Sunday 14 April  2013 in Kortrijck in the home Sint-Jozef where she have lived after have been living in the Kortrijck Beguinage from 1960 to 2005.

VIDEO