St. Trudo's Abbey, Bruges

St. Trudo's Abbey, Bruges (Dutch: Sint-Trudoabdij) is a community of the Canonesses Regular of the Holy Sepulchre. It originated in Bruges in the 11th century, and between 1954 and 2013 was settled in Male Castle in Male, Sint-Kruis, Bruges, West Flanders, Belgium.

The origins of St. Trudo's Abbey are believed to go back to about 1050, when the hermit Everelmus settled near the entrance to the city of Bruges where the road to Ghent crosses the River Reie. There he built a small oratory and dedicated it to Saint Bartholomew. Like other hermits, Everelmus attracted followers, who gradually formed a community, which was referred to as servi Dei ("servants of God") in the charter of 1130 by which Thierry, Count of Flanders, gave them the piece of ground on which they lived. As the mixed community of the servi Dei or pauperes Christi monachis of the Eekhoute, as they became known, grew bigger it required more organisation. In about 1146 therefore they joined the congregation of the Canons Regular of Arrouaise. The Eekhoute was elevated to Eekhout Abbey, with Lambertus as first abbot.

The rule of Arrouaise prescribed that the female members of the community had to live separately, and from 1149 they occupied a property at Odegem (Steenbrugge) belonging to St. Martin's Abbey in Tournai. A church was attached to it which was dedicated to Saint Trudo, and for that reason the sisters adopted Saint Trudo as their patron. As St. Trudo's Priory they became a dependent priory of Eekhout Abbey. The abbey received Papal confirmation in 1180; the document contains the first reference to Canons Regular living according to the Rule of St. Augustine.

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