BONNE-ESPÉRANCE, MONASTERY OF

Premonstratensian monastery near Binche, Belgium, in the province of Hainault, Diocese of Tournai; founded 1125 or 1126 by Rainaud de la Croix and his wife Béatrice. The property at Ramignies originally given to St. Norbert proved unsuitable. Odo (d. 1125 or 1126), the first abbot, moved the community to Sart-Richevin and finally to Vellereille-le-Brayeux in 1130. In 1140 a cloister of nuns was erected by Bonne-Espérance (Bona Spes) at Rivreulle as a daughterhouse of the Abbey of prÉmon trÉ. The monastery gained new prominence when the second abbot of Bonne-Espérance, the noted exegete and hagiographer, Philippe de Harvengt (d. 1183), incorporated a number of parishes during his term of office. But the abbey suffered severe damage during the religious wars. It was pillaged in 1543 at the siege of Binche, burned in 1568 by the Prince of Orange and again devastated in 1577, at which time Abbot Jean Trusse (d. 1580) was imprisoned. In 1792, during the Battle of Jemmapses, the abbey was besieged once more, and Abbot Bonaventure Daublain (d. 1797) and his community dispersed. In 1794 it was suppressed, and the buildings, acquired by the Diocese of Tournai, were converted into a seminary.

Bibliography: n. backmund, Monasticon Praemonstratense, 3 v. (Straubing 1949–56) 2:361–364. a. versteylen, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart (Paris 1912–) 9: 1030–32. É. poumon, Abbayes de Belgique (Brussels 1954). l. h. cottineau, Répertoire topobibliographique des abbayes et prieurés, 2 v. (Mâcon 1935–39) 1:424. É. brouette, Obituaire de l'abbaye de Bonne-Espérance de l'ordre de Prémontré (Louvain 1964).

[e. d. mcshane]