| Oosteeklo Abbey | |
| Native Name: | Abdij van Oosteeklo |
| Native Name Lang: | nl |
| Order: | Cistercian nuns |
| Established: | before 1217 |
| Disestablished: | 1796/1842 |
| Map Type: | Belgium |
Oosteeklo Abbey was a Cistercian nunnery founded in Oosteeklo in 1217 and later moved to Ghent.
In the Middle Ages the lay brothers and the secular tenants of the monastery played an important role in the agricultural development of the sandy heathland around the village of Oosteeklo.
In 1577, during the Dutch Revolt, the abbey was plundered and razed. Seven surviving members of the community regrouped under Abbess Elisabeth Fransmans and in 1585 moved into the Posteernehof in the city of Ghent.[1] Under Joanna de Hertoghe (died 1630), the abbey church was built in Ghent, and under Francisca vanden Steene (abbess 1636–1668) the refectory, chapter house and infirmary were built and the church decorated.[2] While established in Ghent the monastery did retain extensive property and rights in and around Oosteeklo. Their former guesthouse in the village is now listed as built heritage.[3] On 11 May 1666 Gerard de Baere, Abbot of Dunes, granted permission for a chapel with portable altar to be built on the former site of the abbey in Oosteeklo.[4]
In 1796 the Revolutionary authorities suppressed the house in Ghent and confiscated the building, which in 1797 was sold at public auction. The former nuns bought back the house through a front man, and continued to live in it as a clandestine community until 1814, when again officially recognised as a monastic house. Over the course of the subsequent few decades, the community died out. In 1842 the former monastery buildings were transferred to the Jesuits, and in the early 20th century to the De La Salle Brothers.[5]
The abbesses listed in the Gallia Christiana, vol. 5 (Paris, 1731), 227–228, are as follows.