Rolduc, Monastery of
ROLDUC, MONASTERY OF
Called also Kloosterrade, former abbey of canons regular of st. augustine in Rolduc, Limburg, the Netherlands; in the old diocese of Liège. Rolduc was founded in 1104 by Ailbert d'Antoing (d. 1122), a canon of Tournai and founder of Claire-Fontaine, who became its first abbot. The immunity granted it in 1108 was confirmed by Pope callistus ii in 1122; after 1136 the abbey came under the protection of the counts of Limburg, who were buried there. Thirty-eight abbots, drawn for the most part from the aristocracy of Limburg, followed Ailbert. Abbot Wynand Lamberti saved Rolduc from suppression after the Peace of westphalia, but it was secularized in 1797. Repurchased by the exiled canons, it became a minor seminary for Liège in 1831 and then for the Diocese of Roermond, Netherlands, after 1843. From 1123 a flourishing school had existed in the monastery. Its book catalogue in Chartularium Rodense (c. 1230) lists more than 200 theological, philosophical, and classical works, ranking it among the largest of medieval monastic libraries. Deeply influenced by the school of Liège, it became augustinian in theology while showing a preference for allegory and mysticism. The crypt of the monastery church was built by Ailbert and consecrated in 1108. The church itself, dating from 1209, was restored in the 19th century and contains Ailbert's remains discovered at Sechten in 1771.
Bibliography: h. dubrulle, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart (Paris 1912–) 1:1144. f. sassen, "L'Enseignement scolastique à l'Abbaye de Rolduc au XIIe siècle," Revue néo-scholastique de philosophie 36 (1934) 78–100. l. h. cottineau, Répertoire topobibliographique des abbayes et prieurés, 2 v. (Mâcon 1935–39) 2:2496. a. f. manning, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 6:350–351.
[g. e. gingras]