The major stages in the history of the convent
of the Holy Spirit
Saint Esprit 31 March 1963
I. THE "OLD MONASTERY" (1234(?)-1690)
The Penitents of Saint Mary Magdalene
To this day, a district of the city of Luxembourg has retained the name of Saint-Esprit, the name of this "old" convent which, for nearly five centuries, dominated, from the top of a steep plateau, the Pétrusse valley on one side and that of the Alzette ("Grund") on the other.1)-2).
It seems certain3) that the nuns who formed the first community of this convent "of Scadeburch", under the direction of a prioress, had adopted the rule (established in 1227) of the Penitent Sisters of Saint Mary Magdalene.4) The foundation of the convent can therefore hardly be earlier than 1227, and the distant date of 1140 admitted by the author of the "Relation"5), probably has no other basis than the desire, common to almost all chroniclers, to "age" their establishments. The fact that at the Holy Spirit the rule of the Penitents was followed, reorganized on the basis
Located initially outside the walls, the Monastery of the Holy Spirit would therefore have begun its long existence in the 13th century, which our historians like to consider the heroic era of medieval monasticism in Luxembourg,³) and more precisely, during the era of peace and prosperity that was the reign of Ermesinde for our country.
We know that then, in less than thirty years, more than ten convents and hospitals were founded and richly endowed in our country by the great countess herself, by her sons or by her vassals: the Recollects of Luxembourg (around 1228); the Templars of Roth (around 1228); the Cistercians of Differdange (1235), Bonnevoie (before 1242) and Clairefontaine (before 1246); the Dominicans of Marienthal (around 1235); the Trinitarians of Bastogne (1237) and Vianden (1243); the Canons Regular of Saint-Augustin in Houffalize (around 1248) etc. 4) It appears that the convent of the Holy Spirit was founded above all for the education of young girls, as a counterpart to the abbey of the Benedictines who were responsible for the instruction of boys.