The Last Beguine

6000 strong in 1910, still 600 strong in 1965. And now the last resident of any Beguinage (in fact, a Franciscan but invited to join the community by the last Mother Superior) is in an old peoples' home. I had the priviledge of meeting her while she still resided in Kortrijk.

The Benedictines have to their eternal credit taken over the Beguinage at Bruges after the Beguines left in 1927. There specialities were lace manufacturing and laundry and it is often claimed that they shrank for economic reasons. That may have been the occasion for their decline, it was certainly not the cause.