Our Monastery Trail Stage 3 Uden - Megen

Story of the route

• Maria Refugie Abbey
  The origins of Maria Refugie Abbey in Uden lie in Rosmalen, on the grounds known as Coudewater. The first foundation of the Order of St Birgitta settled here as early as 1434. The sisters had to leave when 's-Hertogenbosch was taken over by the Protestants. The mother superior sought a suitable place of refuge. Her choice fell on Uden, where an old and dilapidated monastery stood empty. The bakery and the schoolhouse were added in 1714. The schoolhouse was home to a boarding school for young girls, which would enjoy a good reputation as an educational institution for eighty years. Part of the convent is still inhabited. The nuns, called Bridgettines, practise their faith in seclusion.
• St Anthony of Padua Monastery, Megen
  St Josephsberg convent is inhabited by the Order of the Clares while the Order of the Friars Minor lives in St Anthony's Monastery. When, after the Eighty Years' War, the Catholic faith was banned from public places, the friars travelled around as hawkers to assist Catholics in their religious experience in secret. Until the sixties of the last century they served as teachers. Anyone who has been to Megen has probably noticed the building with the inscription Acropolis; this used to be the school. The flowers and plants in the Hof van Lof (courtyard of praise) tell their own story. The sunflower reminds us of St Francis, who wrote his Sun Song poem. The box tree reminds us of Palm Sunday and of Saint Clare, who received a palm branch from the bishop as a sign of approval and joined Francis on that day.