Stapelen Castle (Holland)

Stapelen Castle in Boxtel, in the Dutch province of North Brabant, is known as a monastery and headquarters of the Dutch Assumptionists.

The Assumptionist fathers sold the castle on 1 September 2018 and have now transferred it to the Eindhoven property managers Xander van Mierlo. It is not yet clear what function the castle will have. After 104 years the fathers sold the castle Stapelen, which has been in use as a monastery all those years. At the moment there are still about fourteen Assumptionist fathers in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands and abroad, the congregation of the Assumptionists is engaged in counseling, Catholic-inspired journalism, education, corporate apostolate and missionary work. The Dutch province of the Congregation has been part of the Congregation based in Paris for a number of years. The Assumptionists still own the buildings at Prins Hendrikstraat 43 and 45, which the fathers would like to demolish for the construction of apartments. It has also been agreed that the cemetery, located in the castle park. will be in use for at least another 50 years to be able to bury the Fathers there permanently. With the permission of the Bossche bishop, the fathers have withdrawn the chapel of Saint George in the castle from honorary service.

The address of the Stapelen Castle is not Prins Hendrikstraat 47 but Stapelen 1 in Boxtel.

The name of the moated castle is a mystery. Different etymological dictionaries give different meanings for the word stack. It could mean, among other things, foundation or depot, but also column or church tower. Stapelen was called de Stapelo in 1134, so the name is already old, but a good explanation seems to be hidden in the mists of time.

History
Stacking Castle was built around the 13th century by a member of the family of Randerode. The first mention of it dates from 1293 (see: list of lords and women of Boxtel). The manor of Boxtel was initially a loan from the County of Loon. At the beginning of the thirteenth century, Stapelen Castle came into the possession of Willem I van Boxtel (van Randerode), married to Aleidis van der Aa, widow of Hendrik van Cuijck, and later to her child Justina van Diepenbeek. He was knighted by the Duke of Brabant. Different sexes succeeded that of Van Boxtel. Van Merheim and Van Ranst were the successive owners of Stapelen. In the sixteenth century Stapelen came to the Van Horne family; this remained the case until 1763. In 1645 the castle was described by Filips van Leefdael as a large out casteel with wide, beautiful canals. After 1763 the estate passed to the Van Salm-Kyrburg family. Frederick III of Salm-Kyrburg, however, was guillotined in Paris in 1794 as a result of the French Revolution. The ancien régime was dissolved and Stapelen Castle was forfeited. In 1810 it was described as very large and of old-fashioned construction, and in 1815 the castle was sold. The castle was finally bought through various owners by a councilor from 's-Hertogenbosch, Hendrik Mahie.

He had the castle completely renovated in the neo-gothic style. This gave it a castle-like design that corresponded to a 19th-century ideal image. However, there was also criticism, as it was rebuilt in the then admired English style and thus acquired a look that did not correspond to what was customary for castles in the Netherlands.

After the death of her husband, the widow Mahie continued to live in the castle. She wanted to leave, but then the castle had to become a monastery. Advertisements were therefore placed in newspapers, to which the Assumptionist fathers responded. They moved into the castle around 1915 and it was therefore a monastery until it was sold in September 2018. Now it is privately owned, what the current owner has with it is still unknown.

Initially the castle also housed a minor seminary, but due to the large influx of seminarians, expansion was necessary and in 1927, close to the castle, a new building was placed in the castle garden, under the name 'Apostolic School St. Theresa', also known as called Mission House St. Theresa. It became an enormous building for this area, which, however, lost its function as a minor seminary around 1970. This building is currently in use as an apartment building.