What role does the Soeterbeeck monastery in Ravenstein still play for Radboud University? The Radboud Heritage department will put the spotlight on the monastery this weekend, with the 24 Hours Soeterbeeck event. ‘Do we want to keep it as a place of contemplation?’

This coming weekend, you can experience the life of the Augustinian sisters at the Soeterbeeck monastery. During the 24 Hours Soeterbeeck event, the Gregorian women’s choir Voces Caelestes will be performing old monastic hymns.

Th choir’s songs all come from the songbooks of the Augustinians, who lived in the monastery until 1997, according to Johan Oosterman, program director at Radboud heritage. Voces will be using copies rather than the original books: those remain safely locked away. ‘They’ll sing the same notes as the sisters used to.’

The choir members will perform the divine office of Augustine. ‘It’s very beautiful’, Oosterman says. ‘A lot of the texts come from Augustine himself; from his Confessions, and other sources.’ The songs will be performed in Latin, but attendees will also receive a book of translations in Dutch, courtesy of classical scholar Vincent Hunink.

In addition to listening to the singing, attendees can attend lectures, workshops, and a guided tour of the artwork in the monastery. It’s also possible—for a fee—to stay the night in a one- or two-person bedroom, but most spaces have already been reserved.

Zeitgeist

Radboud Heritage hopes to use the event to draw attention to the monastery, which was given to Radboud University by the Augustinians in 1997. ‘The university turned it into a conference centre, while respecting the place’s history. The intent of the donation was for Soeterbeeck to remain a place of contemplation’, according to Oosterman. But in recent days, the monastery has seen fewer and fewer retreats, PhD conferences, or courses for new professors.

Oosterman states that this is partly due to the zeitgeist; people no longer wish to invest the 15 minutes it takes to travel to Soeterbeeck (from Nijmegen Central Station to Ravenstein Station, ed.). But according to the program director, the building’s policy has been changing as well. ‘The intent now is to rent to organisations with long-standing agreements, often from outside the university. But those organisations aren’t always aware that the location is an ancient monastery. Additionally, this means that the monastery is less available to university employees.

‘At every level of the university, I meet people who want to maintain Soeterbeeck as a place of contemplation’

According to Oosterman, the university needs to ask itself what it wants from Soeterbeeck. ‘Will it remain a monument with a long heritage tradition and a beautiful collection (see insert, ed.), or will we turn to commercial exploitation? The latter is possible, but in that case it’s best that we leave it to a company specializing in such things.’

Obviously, Oosterman hopes that will not be the case. ‘At every level of the university community, I meet people who think it‘s worthwhile to maintain Soeterbeeck as a place of contemplation, where the story and tradition resonates is what we do there.’

More info on 24-hour Soeterbeeck can be found here.

Translated by Jasper Pesch