Cambron Abbey

Cambron Abbey (French: Abbaye de Cambron; Latin: Camberona) is a former Cistercian abbey in Belgium, located in Cambron-Casteau in the municipality of Brugelette in Hainaut. It stands on the little River Blanche, a tributary of the Dendre, about 9 kilometres to the south-east of Ath. The site is now used as a zoo.

Twelve monks from Clairvaux arrived at Cambron on August 1, 1148. They were sent by St. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, at the invitation of Anselm of Trazegnies, lord of Péronnes-lez-Binche and canon and treasurer of the Collegiate Chapter of Soignies, who offered land on the banks of the Dender for the foundation of an abbey. Living conditions were rudimentary. However, the Cistercian Order had already become prestigious. A Cistercian, the abbot of Tre Fontaine, had just been elected as Pope Eugene III.

According to Émile Poumon, St. Bernard stayed in Hainaut in 1148, when the abbey was founded. St. Bernard visited Cambron in 1150, by which time the monks were facing significant difficulties. The endowment from Anselm of Trazegnies was contested by his brother Gilles of Silly. The abbey, however, managed to win the case. The first abbots were skilled administrators, as well as religious men, who brought together temporal competence and spiritual vigor. Fastré de Gaviamez, the second successor to St. Bernard, was an especially successful abbot.

Shortly after its foundation, the abbey grew substantially. It became one of the wealthiest monasteries of Hainault and variously founded, or was given the supervision of, several daughter houses: the abbeys of Fontenelle at Valenciennes (1212), Nieuwenbosch near Ghent (1215), Épinlieu at Mons (1216), Beaupré near Mechelen (1221), Le Refuge at Ath (1224), Le Verger at Cambrai (1225) and Baudeloo at Saint-Nicolas (1225).

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