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Every year, around the anniversary of Jan van Ruusbroec’s death (2 December 1381), the Ruusbroec Institute organises Ruusbroec Day, which it has been running in collaboration with UCSIA since 2016.

Ruusbroec Day 2025

In 2025, the Ruusbroec Society will celebrate a very special anniversary: our 100th. Throughout this celebratory year, we organised a whole series of initiatives and activities, ranging from lectures and conferences to book launches and exhibitions. This Ruusbroec Day marks the festive conclusion of our celebrations.

Programme 5 December 2025

The programme will begin with a Mass in the Ignatius Chapel, led by Anton Milh, O.P., at 11.00 am.

• 2.00–2.20 pm: John Arblaster: ‘100 years of the Ruusbroec Society: a look back at an eventful anniversary year’
• 2.20–2.40 pm: Kara Verboven: ‘The Ruusbroec Society Library: a gem of the Flemish heritage landscape’
• 2.40–3.20 pm: Daniël Ermens and Lieke Smits: ‘Presentation of the book series 100 Years of the Ruusbroec Society’ and presentation of the first copies
• Coffee break until 4.00 pm
• 4.00 pm–4.30 pm: Tine Van Osselaer and Robrecht Neyrinck: ‘Divine Dishes: the surprising culinary heritage of the Ruusbroec Library revealed’
• 4.30 pm–5.00 pm: Thom Mertens: ‘Laudation for Prof. Dr Kees Schepers on the occasion of his retirement’

Ruusbroec Day 2024

Speakers:

• John Arblaster (University of Antwerp): Introduction to the theme
• Anique de Kruijf (Museum Catharijneconvent)
• Vera De Boeck (MAS)
• Bert Van der Veken (PARCUM)
• Kim Christiaens (KADOK)
  

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Ruusbroec Day 2023 (1 December 2023)

Action and Contemplation
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Speakers:

• John Arblaster (University of Antwerp): Introduction to the theme and tribute to Prof. Emeritus Dr Rob Faesen
• Rob Faesen (University of Antwerp/KU Leuven/Tilburg University): Action and Contemplation in Hadewijch and Jan van Ruusbroec
• Lieke Wijnia (Catharijneconvent Museum): The iconographic representation of Mary Magdalene
• Dries Bosschaert (KU Leuven): The history of the worker-priest movement, with special attention to Egied Van Broeckhoven"

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Ruusbroec Day 2022 (9 December 2022)

Mysticism and the Apocalypse

Speakers:

• John Arblaster
• Lisa Doeland
• Guido de Baere

Ruusbroec Day 2021 (2 December 2021 – ONLINE)

Mysticism and the Body

Speakers:

• John Arblaster: Introduction to the theme
• Rik Van Nieuwenhove: “The Body in Ruusbroec’s Mystical Theology.”
• Evelyne Verheggen: “Corporality and courtly love mysticism in the seventeenth century: a revival of medieval visual culture.”
• Artistic interlude by dancer and theologian Sander Vloebergs
• Herman Westerink “The Life of Those Who Are Dead – on Protestant mysticism and the body.”
• Tine Van Osselaer “How do you read a suffering body? The significance and exemplary role of the stigmatised in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.”
  

Ruusbroec Day 2020 (27 November 2020 – ONLINE)

Book presentations

Speakers:

• Guido Marnef and Jonas Van Mulder: ‘Come, pilgrims, come here.’ Devotional printed matter for places of pilgrimage in Flanders and Brabant (1500–1850) - Alfons Thijs (d. 2014), edited by Jonas Van Mulder, with contributions from Ilse Eggers, Daniël Ermens and Erna Van Looveren (Peeters, 2020).
• Tine Van Osselaer, Kristof Smeyers and Leonardo Rossi: The Devotion and Promotion of Stigmatics in Europe, c. 1800–1950 - Tine Van Osselaer, Andrea Graus, Leonardo Rossi and Kristof Smeyers (Brill, 2020).

Ruusbroec Day 2019 (29 November 2019)

Desolation in mysticism

Speakers:

• Veerle Fraeters: Introduction to the theme
• Guido de Baere: Jan van Ruusbroec
• Dirk Boone: Die evangelische peerle
• Patrick Lateur: Guido Gezelle
• Hein Blommestijn: Joost Zwagerman

Ruusbroec Day 2018 (7 December 2018)

Female mystics have their say 2

Speakers:

• Veerle Fraeters: Introduction to the theme
• Rob Faesen: Beatrijs of Nazareth
• Lieve Uyttenhove: Maria van Hout
• Marc De Kesel: Madame Guyon
• Ilse Kerremans: Edith Stein

Ruusbroec Day 2017 (1 December 2017)

Female mystics speak out

Speakers:

• Veere Fraeters: Introduction to the theme
• Marleen Cré: Marguerite Porete
• Esther van de Vate, TOC: Maria Petyt
• Kristof Smeyers: Thérèse of Lisieux
• Willem Lemmens: Simone Weil

Ruusbroec Day 2016 (2 December 2016)

Mystical freedom – traditions and the future

Speakers:

• Veerle Fraeters: Introduction to the theme
• John Arblaster: Freedom in the thought of Jan van Ruusbroec
• Marc De Kesel: Mysticism, freedom and modernity
• Bart Dessein: Freedom in Buddhism

Ruusbroec Day 2014 (28 November 2014)

Presentation of four books published by members of the Ruusbroec Society:

• Mulieres Religiosae: Shaping Female Spiritual Authority in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods, edited by Veerle Fraeters and Imke de Gier (Turnhout: Brepols 2014)
• The Complete Ruusbroec: English Translation with the Original Middle Dutch Text, edited and introduced by Guido de Baere and Thom Mertens (Turnhout: Brepols 2014)
• A Companion to Ruusbroec, edited by John Arblaster and Rob Faesen (Leiden: Brill 2014)
• Christian de Borchgrave, Les jésuites et le mouvement flamand. Histoire d'un engagement tardif mais virulent (Leuven: Peeters, 2014)

Sprekers

• Walter Van Herck
• Karin Strinnholm Lagergren
  

Every spring, the Ruusbroec Institute organizes its annual Spring Lectures, featuring researchers sharing insights into their ongoing work.

Program 2026 

Friday, February 20

• Kristof Smeyers

• Possessed Land: Towards a History of Exorcism in Belgium.

Friday, March 27

• Pierre Delsaerdt, 27/03/2026.

• Praying with Eyes Wide Open: The Function and Legacy of Hieronymus Natalis's Evangelicae historiae imagines.

Wednesday, April 1

• Laura Moncion

• Portrait of a Fifteenth-century Recluse and Mystic: The Life of Pirona, Recluse of Mechelen.

Friday, April 24

• Bram Caers, 24/04/2026.

• Pain as Propaganda: The Suffering Body in a Sixteenth-Century Catholic Martyrology.

Friday, May 29

• Verena Puth, 29/05/2026.

• Living Texts: Mystical Narratives through Ages of Reform (1450-1650).

Program 2025

Friday, May 16

• Dagmar Germonprez

Friday, April 24

• Lydia Shahan

Friday, March 21

• Hannah Johnson

• Queer Studies and Cognitive Linguistics: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Reading Twelfth and Thirteenth Century Mystical Texts

Friday, February 21

• Natalia Núñez Bargueño

• Overlooked contributions, stereotypical representations? Catholic Laywomen’s Organisations in the early Cold War international arena (1945–1962).

• Maite De Beukeleer

• Hidden in Plain Sight: The Auxiliaires de L’Apostolat Between Discretion and Presence (1917-1974)

Program 2024

Friday, March 15

• Lieven De Maeyer

• Writing Without the 'I': A Comparative 91�Թ��� of Automatism in Surrealism and in the Mysticism of Madame Guyon.

Friday, April 26

• Dominic Abbott

• ‘Quod excellentius est’: Duns Scotus’ Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception in its Christological Context

Friday, May 24

• Amanda Langley

• Anonymity, Humility, and the Gift of Revelation: The Unnaming of Agnes Blannbekin

Wednesday, June 19

• Virginia Blanton

• The (English) Birgittines Among Us: Syon Abbey in the Diocese of Cambrai

Spring Lectures 2023

Friday, April 28, 2023

• Michael Hahn

• Deification in Bonaventure and Angela of Foligno

Friday, May 26, 2023

• Kris Van Put

• Why Did Hadewijch Write the Visioenen? An Unconventional Reading

Spring Lectures 2022

Friday, March 4

• Mary Heimann (Cardiff University)

• Bible-smuggling behind the Iron Curtain

Friday, April 22

• Lieke Smits (Ruusbroec Institute, University of Antwerp)

• Devotion, Fiction, Play? Visualizing the Relationship Between God and the Soul in the Late Medieval Low Countries

Friday, May 6

• Sergi Sancho Fibla (Université catholique de Louvain)

• Female Mysticism within the Carthusian Cloisters. Texts, Reception, and Gendered Representations

Friday, June 3

• Sarah Joan Moran (Utrecht University)

• Heavenly Women: Patterns in Beguine Church Decoration in the Seventeenth-Century Southern Low Countries

Spring Lectures 2021

Friday, February 5

• Thor-Oona Pignarre-Altermatt (European University Institute, Florence)

• From the cell to the bedroom. For a rereading of the metaphor of the bedroom of the soul in the light of late-medieval devotional changes in the Low Countri es

Friday, March 5

• Wendy Wauters (KU Leuven)

• The Stirring of Sacred Space: The Experiential World of Late Medieval Churchgoers in Antwerp’s Cathedral of Our Lady

Friday, April 23

• Kristof Smeyers (Ruusbroec Institute, University of Antwerp)

• ‘Mysticking’, ‘magicking’: A Creative History of the Supernatural

Friday, April 30

• Tom Gaens (Ruusbroec Institute, University of Antwerp)

• Ruusbroec in Perspective: On "Looking" and "Adoring" in Late Medieval Painting

Friday, May 21

• Tijl Nuyts (Ruusbroec Institute, University of Antwerp)

• Remembering Hadewijch: Traces of a Middle Dutch Mystic in 'Belgian' Cultural Memory

Spring Lectures 2020

February 7, 2020

• Jan van de Kamp (VU Amsterdam)

• Religious Subcultures and Reading Culture: Heyman Jacobsz’s Sondaechs Schoole (1632) in the Dutch Republic and the Southern Netherlands

March 6, 2020

• Johan Serré (University of Antwerp)

• With and Beyond Meister Eckhart: Ernst Tugendhat’s Non-Religious Mysticism

Spring Lectures 2019

March 8, 2019

• Bert Tops (KU Leuven)

• 'Om ghereede te vindene alle stucken in geheel die Heylige Scrifturen': The Use of the Dutch-Language Vorsterman Bible of 1533-1534

• Renske Hoff (University of Groningen)

• 'Maniere om dit boeck te lesen': Reading Practices and Readership of Early Modern Bibles (Van Liesvelt and Peetersen van Middelburch, 1522-1546)

April 5, 2019

• Hannah Iterbeke (Museum Hof van Busleyden and KU Leuven)

• From thoofkijn van devotien to den gheestelijcken boomgaert: Devotional 'Horticulture' and the Sixteenth-Century Enclosed Gardens (Besloten Hofjes) from the Low Countries

May 3, 2019

• Dinah Wouters (Ghent University)

• How to Write Prophecy in the Twelfth Century: Hildegard of Bingen and a New Model of Allegorical Prophecy in Visionary Texts

May 24, 2019

• Barbara Tautz (Universität zu Köln)

• The quest of humility: the poetic struggle with God in Hadewijch and Kierkegaard's writings

June 14, 2019

• Leonardo Rossi (Ruusbroec Institute, University of Antwerp)

• Embodied, feigned, canonized holiness. Stigmatics in late modern Italy (c. 1800-1950)

Spring Lectures 2018

February 23, 2018

• Sander Vloebergs (KU Leuven/Ruusbroec Institute, 91�Թ���)

• Love Wounds: Mystical Women on Loving and Suffering

March 23, 2018

• Louise Nelstrop (Oxford University)

• Translating Models of Female Mysticism: Union and Deification

April 12, 2018

• Peter Jan Margry (Meertens Institute, KNAW)

• Religious Deviancy: Crafting Idiosyncratic Ways of Religious Experience and Ideology

May 25, 2018

• Johanneke Uphoff and Joanka van der Laan (University of Groningen)

• Laypeople and Religious Culture in the Late Medieval Low Countries

June 22, 2018

• Anna Dlabačová (Leiden University)

• Inspiring, Innovative, and Influential: The Illustrated Devotional Book from the Printing House of Gerard Leeu (Active 1477-1492)

Spring Lectures 2017

February 24, 2017

• Johan Oosterman (Radboud University Nijmegen)

• The Prayer Book of Mary of Guelders: Compendium for the Pious Life of a Childless Duchess

March 24, 2017

• Lieke Smits (Leiden University/Ruusbroec Institute, 91�Թ���)

• "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth": The Role of the Song of Songs in Interactive Engagement with Text and Image (1100-1500)

June 1, 2017

• Gert Gielis (KU Leuven)

• Storming Heaven: How Leuven Theologians Fought the Reformation (1519-1578)

June 23, 2017

• Andrea Grauss (Ruusbroec Institute, 91�Թ���)

• Mysticism in the courtroom during modernity

Spring Lectures 2016

March 18, 2016

• Marleen Cré (Lausanne)

• Devotional Compilations in Late-Medieval England: The Reading Author and the Writing Reader

April 22, 2016

• Kristien Suenens (Leuven)

• Veneration of the Blessed Sacrament: Female Devotion, Entrepreneurship, and Power in 19th-Century Convents

May 20, 2016

• Eva Vandemeulebroucke (Ghent)

• The Authority of a Cook: The Authorial Consciousness of the Groenendaal Lay Brother Jan van Leeuwen († 1378)

June 15, 2016

• Ad Poirters (Nijmegen)

• In the Spirit of Windesheim: The Restoration of Liturgical Manuscripts from the Soeterbeeck Convent by Rector Arnoldus Beckers (1772-1810)

Spring Lectures 2014

February 21, 2014

• Kris Van Put (Ruusbroec Institute)

• From Mengeldichten to Rhymed Love Letters: Towards a New Genre Definition of Hadewijch’s Rijmbrieven

March 21, 2014

• Walter Simons (Dartmouth College, Hanover)

• Beguina: Social Perception and Self-Perception of Religious Women in the Low Countries at the Dawn of the Beguine Movement, 1200-1250

April 25, 2014

• Ine Kiekens (Ghent University)

• 'Dat al clene is, dat ic uu scriven mach': The Middle Dutch Transmission of Excerpts from Vanden twaelf dogheden

May 23, 2014

• Clarck Drieshen (University of Leeds)

• Visionary Literature in Devotional Context: The Transmission and Functionality of Late Medieval Prayer Visions

Passion: Stories from the Heart

• February 14 to June 30, 2021

• St. Paul's Church, Veemarkt, 2000 Antwerp. The walking route is freely available via this link.

• Organization: the Religious Bodies team of the Ruusbroec Institute

• Passion: Stories from the Heart tells some of the many histories of our most intimate muscle. The heart pumps blood and oxygen. However, for centuries the heart has also been the throne of our passions and emotions. Moreover, it breathes life into Catholic symbolism, mysticism, and devotion. These two symbolic functions are addressed in two connecting parts: an exhibition in St. Paul's Church and an interactive walking route through the city center. The stories in the exhibition connect these Catholic meanings of the heart with the rich emotional life that developed around it in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Thanks to the support of Rome, this period saw a 'relaunch' of the Sacred Heart devotion along with a number of significant shifts in its emphasis (becoming more politically charged and demonstrative). The burning and pierced heart symbolized pain and love. From carefully crafted devotional cards and small objects of faith that were—sometimes literally—held close to the heart, to the many statues of Christ and Mary sharing their burning and pierced hearts, to the majestic, weathered flag of the Leagues of the Sacred Heart: the many objects brought together by Passion, often displayed for the first time, show how central a place the heart in all its various meanings occupies in Catholic culture.

Heritage Day: How Dark is the Night?

• April 24 and 25, 2021

• University Library, Antwerp and digital: click here!

• Organization: Special Collections and the Ruusbroec InstituteThe vast no man's land between dreaming and waking forms the foundation for our temporary exhibition. Will you also come and discover unique stories, books, and prints, selected from our rich collections? The night manifests itself in many guises. For some, the night leads to suspense and adventure, to mischief and secrecy; for others, it brings safety, security, and love. Let yourself be carried away by the many dimensions of the night.

Wonde(r) [Wound(er)]: The Fascination with the Suffering Body

• September 6 - October 31, 2019

• KADOC, Leuven

• Organization: the Stigmatics team of the Ruusbroec InstitutePain repels. Yet thousands of people in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Europe stood in long queues to see the contorted bodies of ecstatic 'stigmatics': women who bore the wounds of Christ. In Wonde(r), you discovered the stories behind the wonder of their wounds.

Binding Tension: Confrontations Between Bookbindings

• June 7 - July 7, 2017

• University Library, Antwerp

• Curators: Daniël Ermens, Jan Storm van Leeuwen, and Katja Clement

• Organization: Ruusbroec Institute, University Library, Belgian-Dutch Bookbinding Society, and Berchem Academy of Fine ArtsRemarkable historical bookbindings from the collections of the Ruusbroec Institute and the Special Collections of the University Library were displayed alongside modern bookbindings crafted by students from the Book Art department of the Berchem Academy of Fine Arts.

In 2015, the Ruusbroec Institute organized a series of activities to celebrate its ninetieth anniversary as a research institute: Ruusbroec Encounters. For each of these activities, the Ruusbroec Institute partnered with another research institute from within or outside the University of Antwerp. Together, they explored common ground between their respective fields of research.

Program

March 26, 2015 - Encounter 1

Institute of Jewish Studies (IJS)

• Between Christian Piety and Jewish Scholarship: The Worlds of Johannes Campensis (c. 1491-1538)

• Speakers: Theo Dunkelgrün

  Admired by Erasmus, printed by Dirk Martens, trained in Greek, Hebrew, and Latin at the Trilingual College in Leuven—where he himself would teach Hebrew from 1521 to 1531—the Hebraist and priest Johannes Campensis (c. 1491-1538) ranks among the most prominent Netherlandish Renaissance humanists.

  Despite his internationally renowned work, Campensis has received nowhere near the attention he deserves. Therefore, August den Hollander and Theodor Dunkelgrün called for renewed attention to the scholarly world of Campensis in a joint dialogue. Special emphasis was placed on the intersections between Christian piety and Jewish scholarship, as well as on the history of the Hebrew book—and books translated from Hebrew—in the Southern Netherlands during the sixteenth century.

May 8, 2015 - Encounter 2

Flemish Working Group for Book History (VWB)

• Devotion and Emotion: A New Perspective on Religious Imagery

• Speakers: Tine Van Osselaer, Herman Roodenburg, Evelyne Verheggen

  Following the Encounter, the library's new brochure was presented at 5:00 PM. The first copies were presented to representatives of the Jesuits in Flanders and the Netherlands and the Antwerp University Library.

October 30, 2015 - Encounter 3

Institute for the 91�Թ��� of Literature in the Low Countries (ISLN)

• Temptations: Mysticism and Identity in Modern Flemish Literature

• Speakers: Frank Willaert, Kevin Absillis and Marlou de Bont, Annette van Dijk, Veerle Fraeters, Kris Humbeeck

  This colloquium explored the ways in which the mystical tradition has continued to exert its influence in modern Flemish literature and examined the role played by the mystical tradition in constructing the identities of various actors in the literary field.

December 4, 2015 - Encounter 4

University Centre Saint Ignatius Antwerp (UCSIA)

• Mystical Love in Christianity and Islam: Traditions and Future

• Speakers: Rob Faesen, Lieven Boeve, Johan Bonny, Jonas Slaats, Asghar Seyed-Gohrab

  The fourth Ruusbroec Encounter was entirely dedicated to minne (mystical love), the life theme of Jan van Ruusbroec, whose passing is commemorated on December 2. We explored whether and how his medieval vision of mystical love can serve as an inspiration for today. Because the present and future are intercultural, Christianity was brought into dialogue with Islam.

  The first part of the afternoon focused on Christian mysticism. The speakers addressed the role of minne in Jan van Ruusbroec, the concept of love among contemporary postmodern thinkers, and the pastoral role of mysticism. The second part was devoted to an overview of mysticism in Islam and the role this mysticism plays in the current social and political context. The program concluded with a panel debate on the significance of mysticism in Christianity and Islam, both past and present.

Emeritus Celebration of Thom Mertens

December 20, 2018

The first part is a symposium on Jhesus collacien, a late-medieval sermon collection from Tertiary circles (1:00 PM–3:30 PM).

• Speakers: Sabrina Corbellini, Veerle Fraeters, Koen Goudriaan, Thom Mertens, Wim Hüsken.

  The second part is the emeritus celebration (4:00 PM–5:30 PM) followed by a reception.

Fragments of Heaven on Earth

April 26, 2017

Speakers:

• Peter Nissen: The embodiment of belief. On the study of devotional objects and lived religion

• Karen Bowen: Furthering Research in Devotionalia: The Electronic Catalogue of Devotional Prints from the Collection of Alfons Thijs

• Ingrid Falque: Functions of Religious Graphics – Prayer, Devotion, Meditation

• Evelyne Verheggen: Spiritual Pilgrimage: Relics since Early Modern Times – Production and Devotion

• Charles Caspers: Body and Feast. Relics as Constituents of the Liturgy

• Hans Geybels: Devotional images and imagination. A myriad of research fields

  The seminar Fragments of Heaven on Earth offered an interactive English-spoken training for 10 PhD students and postdocs with a research interest in devotional prints and relics. This hands on research training had two aims: (1) to encourage reflection on the historical function, value and provenance of devotional prints and relics, and (2) to generate research questions with relevance both to researchers and curators of devotional prints and relics.

Binding Tension: Confrontations with Bookbindings

June 16, 2017

Speakers:

• Daniël Ermens: The Researcher and the Bookbinding: The Risks of Unbound Loose Ends

• Marijn de Valk: Dilemmas in Book Restoration

• Jan Camps: Interplay Between Bookbinder and Bibliophile: A Dive into the Unknown

• Jan de Jong: Publisher's Bindings?

• Rens Top: The Role of Tradition

• Jan Storm van Leeuwen: Closing Remarks

  From five different disciplines, the speakers reflected on their approach to the bookbinding. Jan Storm van Leeuwen, former curator of historic bookbindings at the Royal Library in The Hague, concluded the afternoon. After the conference, attendees had the opportunity to view the exhibition during the reception.