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Walking in the footsteps of his predecessor, Perpète Renson (1704-1743), formerly parish priest of Dorinne, followed the climb towards greater religious perfection. From the beginning of his prelacy, he favoured a tendency towards renewal, known under the name of “ancient rigour”, introduced during the previous century in a part of the Order by the Lorraine reform of abbot Servais de Lairuels. He decided to reintroduce the original observance of the statutory rules, principally in respect of the vow of poverty, which had become softened by certain customs. In 1707, he suppressed the gratuity which was paid personally to each of the brethren and which his predecessors had not dared to touch. He reintroduced the common wardrobe under the direction of a religious who had the duty to provide the brethren with everything they might reasonably require. These reforms had their origin in a very exact programme whose purpose was to bring the community back to a more austere and simpler lifestyle, more in harmony with the condition of a religious. Following the example of his predecessor, he did not hesitate to send home anyone who did not appear determined to persist in their vocation.

Moreover, abbot Renson made extensive and intelligent use of the savings of his predecessors as well as of those he himself had accumulated. The church and the monastery had suffered many privations resulting from the wars and disasters of the time; he undertook the repairs. In 1705, he restored the religious’ dormitory and in 1707 he enlarged and embellished the garden for their use. Between 1707 and 1710, he bought two properties close to Ciney. In 1710, he built a large series of buildings, a mill, barns and sheds. Four years after these constructions, which were already large, abbot Renson ordered the complete rebuilding of the church and laid its foundation stone on Easter Tuesday, 3 April 1714. Completed in May 1719, it received on the 16th of that month a visit and congratulations from the Prince-Bishop of Liège, who set 23 July for its consecration. Since, however, he had fallen severely ill, he sent Ferdinand-Paul, Bishop of Namur in his stead.

The 1714 church was two hundred feet long and eighty feet wide and was divided into three naves by two rows of Doric columns, the central nave being appreciably raised. The choir was ornamented with sculpted medallions representing saints of the Premonstratensian Order, and under the marble floor of the sanctuary there was a crypt dating back to the XIIth or XIIIth century, supported by a double row of columns. Two rows of piers decorated the portal, which ended in a pediment. The woodwork was regarded as a piece of beautiful joinery and sculpture. It had life sized representations of the four Evangelists and the four great Doctors of the Church. The side aisles were ornamented with excellent paintings representing episodes from the life of St. Norbert.

 

Augustin Lambreck, successor of the prelate Renson, received the abbatial appointment on 23 October 1743 and being known as a faithful guardian of religious discipline, he contributed to a warming of relations with the mother-Abbey of Floreffe. Pursuing the work of his predecessor for whom he had worked as an architect, he built the main building which bears the motto: “Pax huic domi 1747”. He died on 13 December of the same year.

 

[updated on the 28.10.05]

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