Centennial Mass (left to right): Fr. Benoît Gschwind, provincial of Europe, Fr. Leo van der Klauuw, Fr. Benoît Grière, superior general

On Tuesday, January 6, 2015, the feast of the Epiphany, a large group of Assumptionists from Holland, Belgium, Paris, Rome, and Bucharest gathered in Boxtel and were joined by Oblate Sisters of the Assumption, lay Assumptionists, friends, and local dignitaries to mark the centenary of the Assumptionist presence in this country.

It was on January 5, 1915 that the first permanent Assumptionist community  was founded in Holland at what is known as the Kasteel Stapelen, a 16^th century castle purchased by the Congregation from a wealthy Catholic family interested in bringing a religious community to the region. In short time the Assumptionists made of it an alumnate (minor seminary) and eventually put up a separate building to accommodate the growing number of young people interested in such an education.

Over the years there have been more than 500 Dutch Assumptionists, the vast majority of whom served in a wide range of foreign missions, either as collaborators or as founders: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Brazil, Germany, New Zealand, the Near East (Jerusalem and Lebanon), and elsewhere.  A large number of Dutch religious became involved in Byzantine studies and created two lasting testaments to this enterprise, an impressive library and a scholarly journal (The Journal of Eastern Christian Studies), a periodical of the Institute of Eastern Christian Studies in Nijmegen.

The celebration began in the chapel of the center in Boxtel  (Molenweide) where several elderly Assumptionists reside. Afterward, all were invited to the Kasteel first for a presentation of a book recently completed by Fr. Arno Burg, A.A., which skillfully relates the history of the Assumption in this country. The day’s celebration ended with a festive meal and an afternoon filled with much gratitude for God’s blessings and plenty of warm memories of Assumptionists now departed.

Fr. Arno Burg, A.A. author of the history of the Assumptionists in Holland