Scourmont Abbey

The abbey is famous for its spiritual life and for running the Chimay Brewery, one of the few producers of Trappist beer.

In 1844, Jean-Baptiste Jourdain, the priest of Virelles, suggested that the wild plateau of Scourmont was a suitable place for a monastery.

The monks founded a school and model farm to train orphans and abandoned children, and to rehabilitate delinquents.

In 1859 the first prior of Scourmont, Modeste Decroix (Fr François in religion) was removed from office and sentenced to twenty years hard labour on multiple counts of sexual assault.

[2] On 7 October 1860 François Robyn (Br Hugo in religion) set fire to the church, library, and a new dormitory after being reprimanded for breaking his vow of silence.