[2] On 30 January 1648, at the end of the Eighty Years War, the Treaty of Münster was signed between Spain and the Netherlands.

Therefore, Catholics from Valkenswaard and Schaft built a chapel in Achel which was part of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège.

The early roots of the Abbey date back to 1686, when Petrus van Eynatten, a son of the mayor of Eindhoven, founded a community of hermits of Saint Joseph.

The community would flourish until 1789 when they were expelled from their convent after the French revolutionary army invaded the Austrian Netherlands.

The abbey and its 95 hectares of land had been bought by the priest Gast from Heeze on 9 April 1845 with the support of several beneficiaries.