St. Andrew's Abbey, Bruges

The Abbey of St. Andrew at Bruges was founded by Count Robert II of Flanders as a resuslt of a promise he had made should he survive the First Crusade.

[2] In 1521, Emperor Charles V and his brother Ferdinand visited the monastery and attended vespers, an event which is commemorated by a plaque.

[2] The abbey was suppressed and destroyed in 1796 during the French Revolution; only the 16th-century tower remained standing, and is now incorporated into the parish church built subsequently.

In 1898 Dom Gerard van Caloen, a monk from Maredsous Abbey founded a new monastic community close to the site of the previous one,[3] for the specific intention of training missionaries.

Léon Ockerhout, uncle of Dom Gérard, donated seven acres of the Beisbroek area for the construction of an abbey complex.

[4] Gaspar Lefebvre made significant pastoral contributions to the liturgical movement by publishing from 1920 to 1959 biligual missals from Latin into English, French, Dutch, and Italian.