Anthony the Great (251-356) was the most famous monk who lived in the desert. Other monks came to live near him and small communities grew up. The first monasteries or cloisters (from the Latin 'claustrum', meaning 'wal' or 'enclosure') came into existence when influential monks brought these communities together to form walled complexes.
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For more than a century, the towers of the Trappist Abbey of Our Lady of Koningshoeven have formed a significant element in the landscape east of Tilburg. Anyone taking the back road from Tilburg to Moergestel passes by the monastery complex just outside the city limits.
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The “Desert Fathers” are monks who went to the deserts of Egypt, Palestine and Syria in the fourth and fifth centuries to live there in silence and prayer. Their spiritual wisdom is recorded in collections of short “sayings” and other texts. Here are a few selections.
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