frater Andreas Engels:frater Andreas - Fraters - CMM Brothers

charles van leeuwen
Remembering
Brother Andreas

Remembering
Brother Andreas
including texts from
Maximino Arts
Tharcisio Horsten
Amatus Hosemans
Paschasius van Loon
Modestus Spierings
Victor Zwijsen
introduced and annotated by
Charles van Leeuwen

© 2008 Brothers cmm and Charles van Leeuwen
Original title: Herinneringen aan frater Andreas (2007)
Translation by: Maastricht University Language Centre
Published by: Brothers cmm, Tilburg-Nairobi
Book Design: Brigitte Slangen, Nijmegen
Lithography: Fred Vermaat, Wijchen
Cover drawing: Brother Vincenzo de Kok
isbn 978 90 812137 21
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system and/or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission
of the publisher.
Contents
Preface
7
charles van leeuwen
Gentle and humble in heart
13
father victor zwijsen
He is beyond my admiration
38
brother modestus spierings
You should be in my place and I in yours
52
brother paschasius van loon
An ordinary life of extraordinary virtue
64
brother maximino arts
An inspiring role model
74
brother tharcisio horsten
A special person with special blessings from God
88
brother amatus hosemans
With love and meticulous punctuality
106
About the texts and illustrations
123
List of illustrations
124
Publications about Brother Andreas
126

Preface
This book brings to life memories of the Dutch brother and
teacher Andreas van den Boer (1841-1917). The cmm Brothers’
archives contain many texts in the form of letters or notebooks
with accounts of the ‘holy brother’ by people who knew him. We
have chosen but a few from the many stories. Together they paint
a very personal picture of Brother Andreas, who he was, what he
stood for and how he lived. The collected stories in this book were
written after his death by fellow brothers, students and colleagues.
The texts give a lively impression of the community in
which Brother Andreas lived and the school where he worked.
They contain small anecdotes one can still identify with today and
show what Brother Andreas meant to others. His fellow brothers
and students remain fairly matter-of-fact in their stories and are
not afraid of making critical remarks or qualifying their opinions.
So an image emerges of a very extraordinary man, but also a very
vulnerable one, an image that is much more human and probably
more recognisable than the idealised image of the heroic and exemplary
brother, which comes to us from official hagiography.
Brother Andreas brought a unique approach to religious life. He
identified with the Mercy in the brothers’ programme, and in his
own way contributed to its meaning and standing. He fulfilled
7

his potential; his life was dedicated to the upbringing and education
of children, to the care and attention of his fellow brothers,
and devoted to the congregation and the church. His life was perhaps
not spectacular and did not lead to spectacular results – at
least not at first glance – but if we read the stories about Brother
Andreas carefully, we find many extraordinary things. Many people
who met him experienced something they wanted to hold on
to and pass on.
on his own. He is always pictured between school children, fellow
brothers, family members and fellow villagers. Photographers
had to process the group photos and enlarge some parts of them,
because people wanted to have a personal portrait of the ‘holy
brother’, but in doing so they distorted reality. Is it not better to
depict Brother Andreas as a teacher among his pupils? Does it not
do more justice to his efforts on behalf of children? Is it not more
accurate to place Brother Andreas among his fellow brothers? In
this way it becomes clear that he undertook his mission together
with others and shared his passion with many other brothers.
Brother Andreas was not a man who fought a lonely battle, but
one who was part of a community and very dedicated to children.
For that authentic portrait we should, therefore, place Brother
Andreas amidst children and fellow brothers. That is why this
book is not just about Brother Andreas, but also about the people
around him: brothers, priests, children and parents.
8 9
More than ninety years have passed since the death of Brother Andreas
in 1917. During that time – almost a century – more than ten
biographies have been published, some of which are very voluminous
and detailed. As a result, there is a lot of documentation on
the life of Brother Andreas, from the box bed where he was born to
the cell where he slept, from the students he had to the lessons he
taught, and from the books he read to the jokes he told. However,
despite all the attention from historians and archivists, it is becoming
increasingly difficult from a modern perspective to fully
understand the world of Brother Andreas and imagine how the
brothers used to live. What moved Andreas and his fellow brothers?
What was it that made such an impression on the people surrounding
Brother Andreas? What did his example mean to them
during his life and after his death? This book aims to answer these
questions by referring back to the sources.
This book is not just about the story of Brother Andreas the individual.
On all his devotional pictures he is depicted alone, but the
surprising thing is, there are no photographs of Brother Andreas
This book is not just about the past either. The history of the
Brothers of Mercy is more than a collection of dusty brochures
and faded pictures. The story of Brother Andreas and his fellow
brothers continues today. All around the world there are people
devoted to works of mercy. They work in education and training
and apply themselves to the care of the sick and those discriminated
against. They look after forgotten people and offer help and
salvation where no one else intervenes. They pray and bring hope,
lay the foundations for communities and represent the church.
Brother Andreas still has brothers and sisters today whose life and
work is motivated by the same passion. When we talk about the

work, the belief, the ideals, the struggles and the miracles of
Brother Andreas, we do so to inspire the people of today. His zeal
and dedication have not lost any of their topicality and his work
must be continued.
One of the first biographies of Brother Andreas was written in
1922 by an Austrian priest, Father Theophorus Max, who had met
the brothers by chance when he accompanied a group of children
being cared for in the Netherlands after World War i. Father Max
was deeply impressed by what the brothers did for the children
and wrote his book in gratitude and dedicated it to the benefactors
of the Viennese and German children in Tilburg. It is perhaps
only a small point, but it aptly illustrates that we cannot separate
the story of Brother Andreas from the bigger story of Mercy to
which the brothers dedicated – and still dedicate – their lives.
This new English book about Brother Andreas is published on the
occasion of the 50th anniversary of Brothers cmm in Kenya. We
would like to dedicate it to all young cmm brothers, who are also
benefactors of children in many different countries, and follow
the example of Brother Andreas in their work, prayer and community
life. We hope they will recognise in the stories about a man
‘gentle and humble in heart’ (Mathew 11,29) their own passion,
inspiration and personal dedication, and thus feel encouraged to
continue sharing merciful love wherever they can.
Charles van Leeuwen
October 2008
11

Gentle and humble in heart
charles van leeuwen
Brother Andreas, or Jan van den Boer, was born into a simple
farmer’s family in Udenhout in the Dutch province of Brabant, on
24 November 1841, the youngest of seven children. During his
childhood, the family moved several times within the municipa -
lity as his father’s business prospered and expanded. Jan first lived
in Udenhout itself, later in the smaller villages Biezenmortel and
Helvoirt. As a farmer’s son he learned to work hard and was to distinguish
himself throughout his life by his inexhaustible zest for
work. His pious family also endowed him with a warm and deep
faith, which was never to leave him. He was a clever boy and loved
to read and study, and because of that was soon the odd one out in
the village. As a result, it did not really surprise anyone when he
went to the new teacher training college of the brothers in
Tilburg in 1855 and chose a future as brother and teacher at the
age of seventeen. In 1863 he took his eternal vows.
Brother and teacher
Not long before that, in 1844, Bishop Joannes Zwijsen had foun -
ded the Congregation of Brothers of Our Lady Mother of Mercy,
also called the Brothers of Tilburg after the place where they
star ted. Zwijsen hoped to found a religious working community,
13

14
which would serve a number of needs in his diocese. The primary
need was to service the great demand for Catholic education, but
there was also a need for other forms of education as well as care
for the poor and those discriminated against. The objectives were
comparable to those that other recently founded congregations of
brothers had set themselves. Zwijsen’s idea was not an original
one; communities of brothers of mercy were also at work elsewhere,
in several French, Belgian and Dutch cities. Some years earlier,
in 1832, when he was still chaplain in Tilburg, Zwijsen had
founded a congregation of sisters: the Sisters of Charity of Our
Lady Mother of Mercy. This congregation focused successfully on
local education and care of the sick, but was less successful at
working with older boys. It was thus quickly followed by the congregation
of brothers. Although it did not grow as rapidly as the
congregation of sisters, by 1859, the year when Jan van den Boer
became a novice and was given the name Brother Andreas, it had
more than one hundred brothers. They worked at a few schools in
Tilburg, but had also started some schools elsewhere in the
province of Brabant and even across the border in Belgium.
Brother Andreas trained as a teacher and was appointed at Huize
Ruwenberg, a new and large boarding school in Sint-Michiels -
gestel, in 1861. He was to work at this prestigious institute for
over fifty years and taught many children from influential
Catholic families. His work as a tutor and teacher was busy and
varied. Brother Andreas taught various classes, including the art
of handwriting and Dutch and later obtained additional teaching
certificates in French and German. He was good at languages and
he would use them extensively, not only in education. For example,
in his free time he translated a great many children’s books
from German and ensured that the level of French, one of the official
languages of communication in the congregation at the
time, was kept to a high standard. In addition to the children, he
also taught those brothers who were less familiar with these languages.
Besides education there were many other tasks that filled
a brother’s day, such as supervising the boys when they got up in
the morning, when playing in the court yard, during recreation
time and in the dormitories. In addition, there were always plenty
of household chores to do, and the celebration of Mass and
other daily religious practices.
At first Brother Andreas worked in primary education, but he was
soon entrusted with the care of the ‘Latinists’, boys in preparatory
training to become priests. The congregation had set up the Latin
class in the hope that some boys would opt to be trained as priests
for the congregation, because until 1916 the congregation had
priests as well as brothers. In practice this combination did not
work very well and was not permanently approved by the church
authorities. The idea was later dropped and the priests went to
work elsewhere. However, when Brother Andreas worked at
Ruwenberg, the seminary still existed. Between 1871 and 1900
Brother Andreas supervised various priest student classes, first as
a teacher and later also as their director. He found it easier to work
with boys aged between twelve and eighteen rather than with
younger children. His serious personality was better suited to
boys who were aware of their vocation.
15

Kind and devoted
In some ways Brother Andreas was an extraordinary brother. He
was meticulous in everything he did and he surprised everyone
with his amazing punctuality. He was always on time and adhered
to a strict religious regime. In his desire to follow up and
give meaning to the smallest regulation he had no equal. He was
a man of great composure who did not shy away from the more
rigorous aspects of religious life. That is how, for many brothers,
he became a model of religious obedience and a living example of
how to abide by the rules. But he was much more than that. He
was also a very social man, eager to help his fellow brothers and
loyal to his superiors. Despite being a little too virtuous and slow,
he was also happy, friendly and uncomplicated in his manner. He
never complained and did not back out of any duties. Thus he became
a highly esteemed fellow brother. But that was not all. He
was also a very popular teacher, which was curious, because he was
not very successful nor gifted at teaching. He did not have enough
natural authority and flair for that. He may not have been very
gifted, however, but he did have vision. He did not approve of the
accepted approach to teaching and abhorred hitting children or
imposing strict punishments. He invariably chose a gentle and
humane approach and entered into serious discussions with the
boys. Because of his kind-hearted and careful nature he knew how
to win the trust of boys and brothers who felt lonely in such a
large and strict boarding school.
So Brother Andreas was the personification of the key values of the
congregation. His humble and self-effacing approach to religious
life was an example to all. He also showed what it meant to be a
brother and to live in a community. And he was a man who put
the concept of mercy into practice; the mercy the congregation
carried in its name, but was not perceived by everyone in the large
and expanding educational system.
16 17
Perseverance
When Brother Andreas was seventy and in failing health, he was
transferred to a brother house in Tilburg. Despite having lived at
Ruwenberg for fifty years and having become one with the building
and the community, he accepted the transfer in 1912 in good
spirits and without complaint. Perhaps it was better for him, now
that he was getting old and infirm, to live in a smaller community.
He had a tubercular infection on his right shoulder, which was
getting worse. He suffered a lot of pain and lost almost all control
over his right hand. It is typical of the brother’s character and perseverance
that he taught himself to write with his left hand, with
a skill that would do credit to a handwriting teacher. His comment
on that was: ‘The Good Lord always gives us a second chance.
I can no longer write with my right hand, but I can still write with
my left. I can no longer write with a pen, but I can write with a
pencil.’
After a quiet old age Brother Andreas died quite suddenly in the
summer of 1917. He was seventy-five years old and caught a bad

cold. Until then he had been reasonably fit, but on a cold summer’s
day he had pushed himself too far by taking a long walk
from his community in Tilburg to his family in Berkel. He did not
spare himself and simply carried on, but paid the price with an infection
that would prove fatal. His condition deteriorated rapidly;
it was not an easy death. Moments of quiet and lucid prayer were
followed by hours of despair and religious anguish. The peaceful
conversations with the brothers who nursed him switched to
feverish death and inward struggle. It was to leave a deep impression
on the brothers who witnessed it. The once so quiet and
modest brother put up a bitter and heroic fight, until he finally
succumbed on the evening of 3 August 1917.
There are various accounts of his final moments. Some say they
were wretched, some say they were reconciled and radiant. His
fellow brothers were deeply moved by his death. Their dying
brother brought them face to face with eternity. They wanted to
pray for his salvation, but realised that he could perhaps better
pray for their salvation. They mourned his passing, but were also
thankful for such a glorious ascension. His death was not final;
the man already referred to as the ‘holy brother’ during his life
became even holier after his death. Many seemed to hold special
memories of his saintliness.
Holy brother
The children at school called him the ‘holy brother’. This was not
meant as a compliment. Brother Andreas, after all, was not good
19

at keeping order. As a teacher he was perhaps remarkable for his
piety, but he often floundered and embarrassed himself in front
of class. He was not the only brother given this dubious title of
honour. The students of Ruwenberg used the same nickname for
several confrères, sometimes mockingly or ironically and sometimes
with a glimmer of ad miration for their religious deportment,
which the children did sense, but could not place.
In the beginning Brother Andreas did not really mind his nickname.
He was a man of principle. That was the way he was. It was
important to him to carefully apply the school rules, to strictly interpret
the rules of religious life, to help his colleagues as much as
possible and to treat all students properly. That was not saint -
liness but meticulousness. The nickname ‘holy brother’ did not
even do justice to that precision. After all, looking for something
to hold on to is not the same as saintliness.
There was nothing Brother Andreas could do about it. The nickname
‘holy brother’ was to stick for the rest of his life. During a
celebration one evening, when fireworks were being shot into the
air, the boys joked that one day Brother Andreas would ascend
into heaven as quickly as the rocket shot into the air. And if the
brother accidentally knocked himself on a stovepipe and let out
an expletory Glory be to the Father, the boys saw it as a wonderful
illustration of his reputed holiness. Brother Andreas’s other unusual
characteristics, such as his shyness, his lethargy, his absentmindedness
and his obsession with time, were interpreted as aspects
of his proverbial holiness. Was Brother Andreas not always
21

lost in heavenly thoughts? Was it not a wonder that despite this he
always managed to be exactly on time? Did it not amount to a
superhuman achievement, complete control over time and a total
regard for colleagues and school order?
It became more embarrassing for Brother Andreas when his fellow
brothers started using the nickname as well. The community’s
superior Frumentius van Hulten once said in the chapter,
when he explained the rules: Take Brother Andreas, for example,
he is a ‘holy brother’ who applies the rules perfectly. After that
Brother Andreas felt that everyone was watching him. It made
him even more timid and nervous than he naturally was. In res -
ponse he applied the rules even more conscientiously than before.
He did not want to offend anyone and was afraid of not being
worthy of his fellow brothers or of setting them the wrong example.
The more he was used as an example – and Superior Brother
Frumentius had the habit of using him as a model brother all too
often – the more anxious and unhappy he felt. He dismissed every
compliment and developed a hearty dislike for his nickname.
Brother Andreas never lost his holy reputation. Children longingly
looked forward to meeting the ‘holy brother’ for the first time,
but were disappointed when they met him. Was that all? Was that
so ordinary and drudging teacher supposed to be the ‘holy bro -
ther’? The school children’s parents were curious too and watched
him when they visited the Ruwenberg Institute. They were surprised
at his simple appearance and retiring manner. The ‘holy
brother of Ruwenberg’ had conjured up very different images in
their imaginations! His fellow brothers were not unnerved by the
23

nickname ‘holy brother’ and were not afraid to comment on it,
as Brother Paschasius van Loon did in his memoirs: ‘Back then
people sometimes said: Brother Andreas is a holy person, but it
would be quite difficult if we had too many saints here, as it would
make a proper mess of things.’
His fellow brothers could not refrain from spying on him, testing
him or poking fun at him about his much-discussed holiness.
Whenever he heard the cursed word, Brother Andreas cringed in
fear. He did not want to hear it. It was a form of pestering against
which he could not defend himself. Perhaps it was even a form of
blasphemy, because it did not do justice to the holiness of the
Almighty and Merciful God, to the holiness of Christ and to so
many saints and blessed who really were holy. He tried to be even
more anonymous in the way he lived and withdrew into himself
more and more. But to no avail. He was and would remain the
‘holy brother’ to all.
In blessed modesty
We know quite a lot about the life of Brother Andreas. That is clear
from the many accounts of him. For some inexplicable reason
attention was repeatedly drawn to this inconspicuous brother.
Students, parents, fellow brothers – they were mesmerized by
him and could watch him for hours. Brother Andreas already had
a ‘reputation of holiness’ during his life, but from the stories we
know, we can deduce that his reputed holiness was also a subject
of discussion. Some people really saw something holy in him
25

while others did not see it at all, or only referred to it jokingly or
teasingly. He refused to entertain it himself. He was an ordinary
human and did his best to be an ‘ordinary’ brother. Brother Andreas
bore the nickname of ‘holy brother’ as a kind of cross. It was
a torment he would suffer for a long time and which would mark
him deeply for life.
He rejected any kind of personal adulation, as his fellow brother
Amatus remembers: ‘He scorned honour, wealth and worldly
pleasures. He laughed about honour. He did not like people to
honour him. Once I had to write an article for a newspaper. I do
not remember what it was about, but I had the chance to mention
Brother Andreas. I told him: ‘André, how about I give you a
mention in my article. He looked at me indignantly: “Mention
me! What good will that do? For God’s sake let me be free.” I heeded
his words so as not to hurt him.’ Others were less discreet
and eagerly passed on the stories about his exemplary life and his
reputed holiness, and in this way he became an icon of Ruwenberg.
Devotion
The nickname ‘holy brother’ would outlive Brother Andreas! His
death is followed by a piece of history which is difficult to trace.
Brother Andreas very quickly became a real holy brother to a wide
circle of people. Many invoked him in their prayers. The extra -
ordinary prayers answered and attributed to the intercession of
Brother Andreas were numerous. Several miracles did happen. A
27

devotion was born. His grave became a place of pilgrimage. The
modest and solitary brother became an icon.
The congregation and diocese realised that they had to respond to
the messages about miracles and inexplicable recoveries that were
reported after the death of Brother Andreas. In 1924 the brothers
established a Brother Andreas Bureau, which was given the task
of recording the accounts of miracles attributed to and stories
about Brother Andreas. The printing presses of the Roman
Catholic boys’ orphanage had to supply an insatiable demand for
devotional pictures, collectible medallions and souvenirs. People
also wanted to hear his life story, which is why several brothers
and priests wrote his biography. The brothers also organised
special evening prayers for Brother Andreas and, from 1930, pilgrimages
to his grave. So the veneration of Brother Andreas became
quite structured soon after his death. It all happened quite
quickly, and within ten years of his death there was a strong religious
devotion to him.
One thing is certain. Brother Andreas would not have thought a
process of beatification necessary. Had he known about it ninety
years after his death it would probably have made him just as unhappy
as when he heard himself called ‘holy brother’, a name he
felt he did not deserve. He would have dismissed it, saying: ‘I was
just a simple and ordinary brother; please leave me alone.’ If the
process of beatification, which started sixty years ago and concluded
only recently, were indeed to result in beatification, we
would have a controversial blessed, a blessed who did not believe
he was, nor wanted to be a blessed – a reluctant blessed. Brother
Andreas is not a spectacular world-shattering candidate blessed,
but a very simple man, an unpretentious blessed. As one of his
fellow brothers said about him, ‘As far as I know or have seen,
there was nothing special or any radiance apart from the silent
radiance that emanates from an ordinary life that is lived as vir -
tuously as possible’.
28 29
Nevertheless it would take until after the war before an official
beatification process could start. Between 1947 and 1948 a commission
of church authorities started collecting and studying the
many accounts and wonders. The process would continue in the
decades that followed and was finally concluded in 1982. Extensive
official documentation was brought together and scholars and cardinals
are now only studying one last wonder, a wonder that must
be officially recognised before Brother Andreas can be beatified.
Extraordinary charisma
Can we compare Brother Andreas van den Boer to the blessed and
the saints of his time? He was no scholar and Prince of the Church
like Columbia Marmion (1856–1923), no dynamic founder of orders
like Pierre Julien Eymard (1811–1868), and no inspiring missionary
like Damien de Veuster (1840–1889). He left no mystical
writings like Theresia van Lisieux (1873–1897); nor did he assert
his religious and political beliefs through martyrdom like Titus
Brandsma (1881–1942). Brother Andreas did not scale the heights
of those mentioned above. He was a sympathetic and perhaps

30
somewhat clumsy teacher, who led a sober and simple life. He was
a deeply religious man who accepted his limitations and tried to
make the most of them, and an unpretentious brother who perhaps
unwittingly wins first prize in beatification.
After almost a century this brings us to the question: how should
we judge the life of Brother Andreas and how do we explain his
saintly reputation? If, after decades of speculation, the beatification
that people have been waiting for finally comes to pass, what
are we to make of it?
Brother Andreas’s extraordinary charisma can clearly be found in
his simplicity. He was a straightforward, unpretentious man. We
can draw inspiration and encouragement from his simple way of
life and the way he constantly dedicated himself to the lot of vulnerable
people, because the secret to religious life is to be found in
the unfailing pursuance of such simplicity. Brother Andreas can
serve as an example for teachers, social wor kers and other workers
of mercy, to whom he seems to whisper: ‘What I could do as a simple
brother, you can do too, so just go on and do it.’
Brother Andreas’s extraordinary charisma can also be found in his
clear and determined manner. He was a caring brother and a kind
teacher. He exceeded others in his level of caring and kindness. He
empathised with children who struggled at school and tried to
give them extra support. He did not like to punish, but dealt
kindly with the troublemakers. He was quick to help people who
could not manage on their own. He paid special attention to chil-
dren and fellow brothers who felt lonely in the vast educational
system. His simple example offered gentle encouragement to fellow
brothers who may have had doubts. He was a man who carefully,
clearly put the ideals of mercy and brotherhood into practice.
Finally, Brother Andreas’s extraordinary charisma can also be
found in his silent life of prayer. People around him sensed his
zeal and inner strength. They felt his gentle compassion and
were touched by it. As Brother Exuperius said about him: ‘If you
saw Brother Andreas, you instinctively thought he was someone
who walked in God’s presence and if you met him somewhere,
es pecially during the silentium, you could not believe that he was
thinking of anything but God.’ We have no insight into Brother
Andreas’s inner self, despite the best efforts of the first biographers
to reconstruct his life of prayer. It is very clear, however,
that his life was firmly rooted in silence and prayer and from that
Brother Andreas drew strength to live his life as he did.
Champion of virtuousness
The oldest sources often present Brother Andreas as a champion
of virtuousness. He was a man of his time and lived strictly to the
rules of the congregation and the regulations imposed by the
church. Central concepts in his understanding of religious life
were order, obedience, servitude, brother love, kindness and mortification
of the will. His kindness and virtue were unsurpassed.
According to one of his fellow brothers: ‘If you wanted to please
31

him, you had to ask him a favour.’ Some of his fellow brothers
and students thought he was a bit soft because of this; others
sometimes complained that he grumbled a lot, was stiff and
old- fashioned. In their memories of Brother Andreas his fellow
brothers and students also mention his human side and weaknesses
and say that that was what they loved about him. Brother
Andreas was more than an exemplary brother. He exposed his
own vul nera bility and could therefore win the trust of other vulnerable
people.
So Brother Andreas projected the extraordinary charisma of the
community of brothers. He represented what we could call the
founding generation of brothers of mercy, the extraordinary first
group of brothers. He started teacher training college at the age of
thirteen, when the congregation was barely ten years old and had
only a few dozen members. He knew all the young and new brothers,
because they went to the teacher training college with him or
lived in the same mother house. He was assigned the task of educating
and training the first generations of student priests. He
acted under the authority of the founders of the congregation,
Msgr Joannes Zwijsen and Superior Franciscus Salesius de Beer.
He took part in the great adventure of spiritual discovery and new
undertakings of those first decennia. In Bro ther Andreas’s life
story we see the influence of the different religious values that
were present at the beginning of the congregation – values that
were essential at the time but still stand at the centre of every
Christian life. These are the values of brother love, merciful care,
simplicity, silence, devotion, determination, justice, prayer, faith
in God, community, obedience, enthusiasm, and so on.
33

However, the very strongly defined and somewhat dated depiction
of goodness and virtuousness may stand in the way of getting
to know Brother Andreas when viewed from a 21st century perspective.
One of his colleagues and fellow brothers who knew him
well, Brother Amatus Hosemans, indicates that it was no different
a century ago: ‘Most people who had close contact with Brother
Andreas were a bit wary of him at first. He was too meticulous for
them, too holy. Slowly, however, their silent admiration for this
man would grow, a reverence that would never leave them, not
even many years after they left the institute. Although at first
glance he did not appear to be the world’s greatest teacher, those
that came into contract with Brother Andreas were the most
deeply inspired and touched by him. One explanation for such an
extraordinary influence is that those that met him discovered this
simple man’s saintliness, which was drawn from sixty years of ascetic
life and fifty years of teaching. He was always punctual and
polite down to the last detail and dedicated himself to the task of
tutor and teacher in words and deeds, all of which was in effect directed
at God. He was a man who preferred to keep a low profile
and be true to himself in everything he did. Perhaps it was because
they understood that his heroic struggle to be faithful to a simple
life went beyond the simple things themselves and that his words
and deeds effectively only had one direction – they were directed
at God – and that his love of God and the desire to fulfil God’s will
took up his whole life. And so it happened that he, probably without
even knowing it himself, came to the fore and had an extra -
ordinary impact.’
35

Gentle and humble in heart
Maybe we can’t fully understand Brother Andreas’s extraordinary
charisma, how it originated and how it affected people around
him. But it certainly had to do with his religious lifestyle: his deep
‘love of God and desire to fulfil God’s will’ and his being ‘faithful
to a simple life’, as Brother Amatus characterises it. Perhaps by
referring to biblical terms we can come closest to the mysterious
radiance of Brother Andreas’s life. He identified with the ordinary
and needy people he worked for, and became one of them. Didn’t
Jesus say that the poor in spirit, the pauperes spiritu, would have part
in the Kingdom of Heaven? (Mt 5,3). And didn’t he invite many of
those poor, small and ordinary people to follow Him and make
the Kingdom of Heaven visible? Brother Andreas was one of these
ordinary but totally dedicated people following Jesus, he was
‘gentle and humble in heart’ (Mt 11,29). In his complete solidarity
with the small and ordinary children he cared for and the extreme
simplicity he strived after himself, he gave shape consistently and
wonderfully to a life according to the Gospel.
37

father victor zwijsen
First brother historian

father victor zwijsen (1858–1930) was the grandson of
Cornelis Zwijsen, the brother of the congregation’s founder,
Msgr Joannes Zwijsen. The young Zwijsen, named Cornelis Johannes
after both his grandfather and his famous uncle, was only
ten years old when he started at the Ruwenberg boarding school.
A few years later he joined the seminary of the congregation. In
1876 he entered the noviciate of the brothers, in 1879 he took his
eternal vows and in 1882 he was ordained priest. Because of his
background, his priesthood and his keen insight into people he
was predestined to hold a leading position in the congregation.
After a period as chaplain in ’t Heike in Tilburg – the same position
in which his uncle started his renowned ecclesiastic career
fifty years earlier – he was set to Grave, to become rector of the
brother house and the Saint Henry Institute for the blind in 1892.
Two years later he was posted to Curaçao, where he became rector
of Saint Thomascollege in Willemstad. After the college closed in
1909, he was called back to Tilburg and, because of his experience
in journalism and literary talent, was given a lot of editorial work
to do in addition to his pastoral work for the Saint Vincent
Church next to the mother house. He became editor in chief of
the Catholic children’s magazine De Engelbewaarder (The Guardian
Angel) and in 1912 took on the chief editorship of the national
Catholic newspaper De Tijd (The Times), a position he was, how -
ever, to resign from a year later. Either he did not feel at home in
Amsterdam, or the congregation’s polity did not see journalism as
a suitable occupation for brothers and priests. When the congregation
became a congregation of brothers on the authority of
Rome in 1916 and the priests had to leave, Zwijsen had to comply
too and start a new life. He became rector of the psychiatric hospital
Coudewater in Rosmalen, a job he combined with editorial
work for the Episcopal paper St.-Jansklokken, which he himself had
founded, and other writing. Under his new name, C.J. Zwijsen, he
published several studies on Spanish literature and a detailed bio -
graphy of Saint Francis De Sales (1920). The fact that he lovingly
recalls the first general superior of the brothers in the preface of
his biography, Father Franciscus Salesius de Beer, ‘whom I venerated
as a father’, even after his forced departure from Tilburg, ty -
pifies his lifelong solidarity with the congregation.
40 41
Zwijsen was the first father to understand the importance of a historiography
of the congregation. He wrote the chronicles of the
mother house from 1880 and probably also supplemented information
preceding that date. He was able to draw from personal
experience and family stories for his memories of the life of Msgr
Zwijsen, Archbishop of ’s Hertogenbosch (Herinneringen uit het leven
van Z.D.H. Msgr J. Zwijsen Aartsbisschop van ’s Hertogenbosch) written in
the 1880s, and was actively involved in the 50th anniversary of the
congregation in 1894. He not only published dozens of articles
about the congregation in daily papers across the Netherlands,
but with his memorial book Gouden Jubeljaar (Golden Jubilee) in
1894 he provided the first official history of the brothers. The following
text about Brother Andreas is a letter to the general superior
written in Coudewater on 18 March 1920.

He is beyond my admiration
there was no love for him in my young heart, I did not lack respect
for his virtuousness. Little things made that respect grow. For
example, once I happened to be close by and saw the good man al-
father victor zwijsen
most knock himself out on the corner of a hot stovepipe. There
was not a hint of him losing his composure. All I heard was a soft
‘Glory be to the Father’ pass his lips, which to me was a small sign
42 I was placed under the guidance of Brother Andreas at Ruwenberg at the young
of immense virtuousness.
43
age of ten and I knew him until I was sixty. I do not remember much from the
early years until I was placed under his special supervision during the foundation
of the Latin section of the teacher training college at Ruwenberg in 1871.
Twelve young priest candidates, including one boy from Germany, were consigned
to his care in a separate part of the old building. One of them, and not
one of the easiest, was the undersigned.
I do not like Brother Andreas
The first impression I had of him, which stayed with me for a long
time, can be summed up in the following words, which slipped
out and even reached the Very Reverend Superior General: Je n’aime
pas frère André, I do not like brother Andreas. Whose fault was it?
Now I am older and see things through different eyes, I do not
hesitate to say that it was my fault. After three years of having been
just an ordinary student at Ruwenberg, during which time I
could only have earned a small prize for good behaviour once, I
was placed under the onerous rule of a conscientious man. I was
not going to easily succumb to the straightjacket of duty as interpreted
by Brother Andreas. However, no matter how recalcitrant I
was, I never saw the good man lose his patience, and, although
God is calling us
At the end of recreation time he used to stand in the doorway of
the old building with the bell in his hand and say: Mes amis, Dieu
nous appelle, My friends, God is calling us. Sometimes we would
grumble, but the concept of performing one’s duty to God gradually
got through to us. A major part of his approach to upbringing
was dedicated to devoutness, and, to be honest, it saddened me a
great deal as someone who was anything but naturally devout. It
did not make it any easier when I sometimes heard others (who
should have said nothing) say that he was much too gracious, and
had raised us much too kindly.
Let’s press on!
During the first years of our residence at Ruwenberg we, the Latinists,
had no holiday, by which I mean that we did not go home.
That was very hard indeed! But then Brother Andreas did his best
to make our time more pleasant with all kinds of distractions, in
which he only succeeded part of the time, but mostly he did not.

Not surprisingly, holidays were later again reintroduced. On our
walks in the picturesque surroundings of Sint Michielsgestel the
sun, and in particular his watch, were our guide. His Allons serrer
(let’s press on), meant as much as: let’s make sure we’re back on
time, so that we don’t lose a minute’s worth of study. So, wandering
along unfamiliar roads or paths he did not know the length of
was out of the question. Sometimes, however, we did have the illusion
of being lost in the woods.
The sandman
The study period that followed was usually quite funny. We knew
very well how much trouble Brother Andreas had staying awake,
not only in the chapel, where he made incredible efforts to avoid
dropping off, but also during study periods. Whenever he fought
against the sandman, we (at least the undersigned) jumped at the
opportunity to grab forty winks too. If it got really bad and the
‘watchman’ was overcome at his desk, at least for a minute, we
sometimes got into mischief, like exploring the room behind the
classroom where the refreshments were kept. The lock on the
cupboard, however, never gave way. Such raids were always
doomed to failure anyway, because they always had to be aborted
when mind again triumphed over matter and the gruelling struggle
against sleep started again.
45

Almost saints
overflowed with tenderness. The way he told me the news and the
heartfelt manner in which he tried to comfort me, stayed with me
as the memory of a soft balm, which was poured over my emotional
soul.
In those days there were several duty masters who stood in for
Brother Andreas from time to time. Some of them were not well
suited to the job, which was no surprise, because no matter how
much people may look down on the post of duty master, it re-
After five years of humanities, what a pleasure it was for him to be
46 quires a considerable amount of tact and character insight to keep
able to offer the congregation its first born! The number had 47
control over such a troop of youngsters in their awkward years.
dwindled from twelve to six (one had slipped from his care
No matter how good their understanding, they are always full of
through death during his student years at Ruwenberg), but these
mischief and inclined to run riot at every opportunity. I am sure
six were and remained very dear to him. This is where my relation-
that he had reason to complain about more than one duty master,
ship with Brother Andreas ends. We stayed in Tilburg; he was
who was either too lenient or too strict, but he never said a word
made responsible for a new class of priest students at Ruwenberg.
in our presence, lest it would diminish the respect we should have
for them. On the contrary, he knew how to extol their virtue to
After that I hardly ever saw him, as our paths diverged.
such an extent that we started looking upon some of them as almost
saints. As a result, when we became their fellow brothers,
some were greatly disappointing. We had learned to look at them
in the light Brother Andreas shone on them, but in reality they
were different.
Rich vein
Tenderness
Nothing really stands out in my memory from those days. Everything
flowed along without fuss or drama. Of course there were
disappointments, perhaps on both sides, but nothing special
happened, otherwise it would have made a deeper impression on
me. Once, during my studies, my mother was seriously ill. I was
surprised that the man I had thought without compassion, now
The next time our paths crossed, although it was only on paper,
was when I was rector in Grave and had the opportunity to help
take over and edit De Engelbewaarder (The Guardian Angel). This
very popular children’s magazine had started life four years ear lier
in Maastricht at the Saint Paul’s print works. It found no success
until it was sold in 1892 for the formidable price of one Dutch
guilder to Mr Jozef Witlox in Grave, where it was to be edited from
then on. The Roman Catholic boys orphanage in Tilburg was to
be responsible for printing and running the magazine. For the
next ten years, however, its net profit was donated to the blind
boys institute in Grave. The children’s magazine received help
from all sides in the form of contributions. One of the first to

come forward was Brother Andreas, who opened a rich vein of
short stories and articles. I cannot say that all of the children’s stories
were noteworthy for their style. He did not always manage to
hit the right note, which is so essential to capturing a child’s interest.
So it happened from time to time, that stories were rejected
or simply not placed. That is not an easy task for the person
doing the rejecting, nor is it easy for the person being rejected.
Many would be deterred from writing by such setbacks, but not
Brother Andreas. He graciously accepted the comments from the
man, he himself had taught to write and compose, and always set
back to work with renewed vigour. He was not a genius at writing,
but a genius in virtuousness … like an immense fire that could not
be extinguished by the swirling winds of doubt.
Hero of modesty
Via the superiors of the congregation I, his former student, more
than once received extensive writings to read and assess, consisting
of dozens of notebooks. The assessments, which I submitted
in writing were sometimes less than flattering, but I never heard
him complain. That is quite remarkable, because pieces of writing
are like children – even if they are ugly and deformed, parents feel
protective towards them. The same applies to a brainchild. No
matter how far from perfect they are, as a rule their authors cannot
bear them to be meddled with, or even worse, shoved into a corner
and forgotten! Brother Andreas was the exception to that rule. He
had become one with Thomas à Kempis’s ama nesciri et pro nihilo
reputari (love to be unknown and thought of as nothing), perhaps
49

not without inner struggle and effort, but the outside world was
never witness to this. For me he was one of the heroic figures of
modesty, a virtue that was often praised, but rarely practised, especially
(and this is where I remorsefully point to myself with my
penholder) by them, who feel called to put pen to paper to inform
others. For him it was enough to have made the effort. Whether or
not the products of his pen could be used did not dishearten him,
or so it seemed, which is remarkable. To him God’s glory and the
salvation of others was what mattered most, the rest was incidental.
Youthful obstinacy
Now, finally, my young and rash Je n’aime pas frère André changed to
J’admire frère André (I admire Brother Andreas), and this admiration
grows stronger as the number that share his traits grow fewer. He
does not need my admiration, but let me rest it on his grave as
compensation for all the grief he no doubt suffered, often as a result
of my youthful obstinacy and rashness.
51

other modestus spierings
Housemate of Brother Andreas

54 brother modestus spierings from Oss (1852–1922) went
fact that he was a proficient teacher and valued his fellow brothers 55
to the brothers’ teacher training college and entered the con -
is illu strated by his being elected as member of the general board
gregation in 1871, after he had passed his auxiliary teaching
in 1902. He wrote several text books on history, such as Ons verleden
certi ficate. He was one of the few brothers of his generation who
en ons heden (Our past and present) and Onze Staatsinrichting (Our
was allowed to study for a teaching certificate, as the policy on
political system). These books were widely sold and were reprinted
studying at the time was still very reserved. The congregation’s
several times. In this way Brother Modestus met a need for school
polity made sure that the number of teaching certificates did not
grow faster than the number of schools to prevent unrest and
books with a Catholic outlook on Dutch history and society.
frustration among brother teachers. Brother Modestus passed his
In 1914 he was allowed to ‘rest’ in the brother community
teaching certificate in 1879, at the same time as his lower teaching
De Heuvel, the same house where Brother Andreas spent his last
certi ficate in French. He was to become one of the brother teach-
years. The two older brothers developed a friendship during those
ers involved in the development of education in the Dutch
years and often went for walks together during recreation time.
province of Brabant. He was sent from one school to the next to
The text published below was written during a retreat and dated
either set it up or consolidate it. As a result his career as a teacher
3 August 1919. Brother Modestus recalls his memories of Brother
and headmaster unfolded in many different places: ’s Hertogen-
Andreas as a housemate and writes about his friend and fellow
bosch (1872–1875), Tilburg ’t Heike (1875–1895), Reusel (1895–
1899), Tilburg St Denis (1899–1904) and Goirle (1904–1914). The
brother’s illness and death.

You should be in my place and I in yours
to the director of the boarding school, Brother Gregorius, that he
had hit a boy, to which the brother director responded by pointing
out the gentle Brother Andreas. ‘Yes, Brother Director’, was
brother modestus spierings
the answer, ‘but if we were all like Brother Andreas we would all
be saints, in which case you could close your famous institute.’
That is the way it was. This is a story I have heard told by Brother
56 I, the undersigned, now aged sixty-six, first met Brother Andreas in 1867 or
1868, when I was a student at teacher training college and Brother Andreas
Amandus.
57
supervised us for a number of months.
Short stroll
Kind and gentle man
I don’t remember anymore why we thought he was a holy man.
Perhaps it was because that is what we had been told. I found him
quite dry and did notice that he had a lot of trouble staying awake.
When supervising the table and the study room, he normally
paced to and fro at the back of the class. When His Reverence left
after a few months, he left no special impression other than that
he was a kind and gentle man. Whether he was kind and gentle by
nature, I do not know, but I never experienced him otherwise. I
often heard it said that he had no authority as a teacher and that
the boys in the lower classes ran riot. When I said that they would
not do that with me, that I would grab them by the collar and
throw them out if they tried, and that he should get angry now
and again, the answer was: ‘You would, but Brother Andreas
wouldn’t. He would never ever touch a child,’ and: ‘Absolutely
not. Oh no, he would rather pray than be angry.’ No wonder he
had no authority over the fledglings. A duty master once admitted
Let me show you the strength of his conscience. One day he asked
the superior, Brother Ignacio, for permission to go for a short
stroll on his way home from the mother house. The request was
granted. When he was gone, I said to the brother director that he
was not really going for a stroll, just taking the other way home,
whereupon he replied: ‘He asks permission for other little things
too.’ Brother Andreas sometimes went for a walk. One day I asked
him if he wanted to join me for an hour for a walk, but he said that
he had no time. No one was very eager to go that day, but I did find
someone. That evening Brother Andreas approached me to ask if I
had found a walking companion and whether I had had an enjoyable
walk. When he heard that everything was all right, he was as
happy as a child and added: ‘Good, but I should have gone with
you, because you once came for a walk with me when you would
rather have stayed at home.’

58
Trespassing
On one of our walks we came to a gate leading to farmland on the
other side of the railway. I said: ‘Go on, open it.’ Brother Andreas
may have been the oldest, but said nothing. One of the brothers
suggested that it might get us into trouble with the National
Railways. I resumed: ‘Come, it’s OK. It’s only a skip and a jump.
I wouldn’t worry about trespassing.’ That was too much for
Brother Andreas, who exclaimed: ‘Brother Modestus, how can you
say that?’ I was suddenly faced with a dilemma: brotherly love or
trespassing. ‘Oh Brother Andreas,’ I said, ‘The whole world belongs
to our Lord. Saint Paul says that we are God’s children and
therefore his heirs. We can safely cross the railway line.’ So we
crossed it. Brother Andreas replied: ‘All right then’, and crossed it
too. It is quite likely that he will have worried about the incident
for the rest of the day and perhaps even into the evening. In this
way I may have unintentionally got His Reverence into trouble
more than once, but never out of spite or anything like that, because
I held him in high esteem – higher perhaps than those who
thought of him as a bit slow and sanctimonious. I loved him very
much and had no trouble conversing with him during our walks.
He was a well-read man.
Novena
During the last years of his life he suffered with his right arm, his
shoulder, I believe. He even learned to write with his left hand because
of it. The brother director once proposed praying a novena
with him and another brother for a cure, if he was agreeable to the
idea. He did not have anything against doing it, but believed it
was better not to pray the novena, as it did not do him any harm to
suffer a little for Our Dear Lord. During Mass, when the brothers
made the sign of the cross the aching arm had to take part too, for
as long as possible. I often felt sorry for him. When he later re -
co vered, the arm was once again put to full service. Incidentally,
when he prayed, not even whilst performing the Stations of the
Cross, I never noticed anything unusual about him apart from his
profound devoutness. That seemed to be the maxim in his life:
Strive for perfection, but not to be special.
Last walk
About a month before he died he had a bout of diarrhoea – a cold
I believe. As everyone was familiar with his love of abstinence, and
his reputation for leaving everything to the superior, everyone
was surprised that the doctor was not sent for. He made a reasonable
recovery. Fourteen days before his death Brother Andreas
walked to Berkel near Tilburg, together with the brother director,
Brother Melchior and myself, to visit his brother Christ. On the
way the brother director asked him how he was and he replied
that everything was all right. We spent about an hour in Berkel.
The brother director settled his affairs and Brother Andreas
seemed to be in the best of health. His niece, who had been wedded
there and to whom the farmhouse belonged, remarked on
how fit and healthy he looked, as did her husband and his bro -
ther. He did indeed look well. Brother Andreas enjoyed a sand-
59

wich and smoked a cigar. When we were ready to leave for Tilburg,
his family did not want Brother Andreas to return on foot. The
carriage was brought round and they took us back to Tilburg. The
Wednesday after, Brother Andreas was to go to his other brother
on business in Helvoirt, together with the brother director. The
journey was postponed because of bad weather. The following
day, Brother Andreas became very ill.
Congratulations
The same doctor who had treated his arm was sent for. He said
that Brother Andreas was not to be transported to the mother
house. A brother from the mother house was to nurse him in the
brother house of the Sacred Heart at de Heuvel. The evening of
the next day Brother Andreas was given the last rites, which
caused general consternation. After receiving the last sacraments
with extreme devoutness and renewing his eternal vows, the
brothers congratulated him. He was in such good spirits that I
said: ‘Brother Andreas, in two days time you will be back at
school’, to which he answered: ‘Yes, yes, I do not believe that this
illness will kill me either.’ However, his condition did not improve;
it worsened.
Do not forget us
On Friday 3 August, I visited the patient before I went to school.
As I arrived I heard Brother Victorinus, the nurse, say to Brother
Andreas: ‘Today you are going to heaven.’ Brother Andreas was at
61

peace with that and requested that the brothers remember him in
tongue again and let out another scream, like someone who was
prayer. Brother Victorinus gave his promise and asked Brother
about to have something horrible put in his mouth. Then Bro ther
Andreas not to forget the brothers either. No, he would never forget
them. When I asked him a short while later how he was, he
Andreas was dead.
said: ‘Fine’, but added that he had so little faith in God. I said that
many saints, including Saint Alphonsus had felt the same, but
Invoking the deceased
62 that he should express his confidence in the Lord and in Our Dear
That same evening we started our annual retreat. We prayed for 63
Lady in his prayers as often as he could, and that he should not
Brother Andreas and invoked him. His father confessor said to
trust in himself, but in God and Our Dear Lady. (I do not know if
us: ‘It is all right to invoke him; I will do the same. Often, when
this was theologically sound.) I said that I would ask the boys at
Brother Andreas knelt at my feet in the confessional box, I
school to pray for him and he approved. As the day passed so the
thought that our roles should be reversed: You should be in my
hour of death drew closer.
place and I in yours …’
Loud scream
That evening at around eight o’ clock we all went to the sick room.
Brother Andreas was dying. His father confessor was sat at his bedside
and was saying some short prayers, which Brother Andreas
repeated. When his father confessor, the Reverend van Riel, chaplain
at de Heuvel, left him, Brother Plechelmus took over. Brother
Andreas repeated everything for as long as he could. He became
increasingly short of breath. Suddenly he opened his dying eyes.
I thought he was looking for someone and that he focused his
broken eyes on me, but I must have imagined it. His breathing
became more and more laborious. I was sat at the end of the bed,
together with Brother Salvius, when all of a sudden I saw him stick
out his tongue and Brother Andreas let out a loud scream. Then
he drew back his tongue. Shortly afterwards, he stuck out his
I will leave it at this, until I think of something else to write. These
memoirs were written during the annual retreat of 1919 (1–10 August).
Holy Brother Andreas, pray for me and protect me, my body and soul, although
I am not worthy. I often invoke him and would like to advise all
brothers to do so. ‘If y obtained anything special? No, did not ask
for it either.’ My poor soul is the main thing, but my worldly wellbeing
is commended to him too. He will continue to pray for me
until I and all his fellow brothers have joined him in heaven.

other paschasius van loon
Carpenter and duty master

66 When brother paschasius van loon (1859–1941) from
The last year of his noviciate (1890–1891), Brother Paschasius 67
Rotterdam entered the congregation of brothers in 1888, he be-
worked as a duty master at Ruwenberg under the guidance of
came a carpenter in the mother house. In 1891 he took his eternal
Brother Andreas. In a text written on 6 August 1919, in Willem-
vows in Tilburg. As a carpenter he was sometimes sent to other
stad, he recounts his experiences of working with Brother
communities for short periods to work. As a result he led a varied
An dreas. The skilled carpenter expresses a critical view on the fur-
life and travelled a lot. After all, the brother houses needed a lot of
niture at Ruwenberg and as a craftsman gives a respectful, yet
chores doing and they were happy to entrust this to the handy
matter-of-fact opinion of his fellow brother Andreas’s achieve-
Brother Paschasius. In addition to the mother house and other
communities in Tilburg, he spent periods working at Ruwenberg,
in Maaseijk, Willemstad (1891–1894) and Grave (1909–1919)
where he did carpentry, building and paint work. In 1919 he was
sent to Santa Rosa in Curaçao and in 1922 he was transferred to the
community in Paramaribo, where he died in 1941.
ments.

An ordinary life of extraordinary virtue
brother paschasius van loon
Wobble
I did notice that he often struggled to stay awake in chapel. He did
his best to fight it in any way he could. The students sat on the two
back benches of the chapel. Brother Andreas would sit in the side
passage on a wooden prayer stool and I sat behind the students’
benches. The prayer stools were made by our brother carpenter
who had a deserved reputation for making lopsided things. As a
consequence, the stools did not sit level and had a tendency to
wobble. Every time Brother Andreas started feeling sleepy, the
first thing he did was to lift his arms off the stool and sit up
straight. If that did not help, he lifted his feet from the ground
too, which – to our amusement – made him wobble gently.
68 As I have been asked to write down what I remember about Brother Andreas van
den Boer, I would like to do so for its own sake and for the edification of his fellow
brothers.
69
Any comments about my manner?
I was at Ruwenberg with Brother Andreas for a year, from 1891 to
1892. I was duty master for the priest students and Brother Andreas
was their director at the time. I believe that Brother Andreas
was someone who sought perfection by doing ordinary things
with extraordinary virtue. I cannot remember him doing anything
contrary to our rules or practices. In 1891 I took my vows
and went to Curaçao. When I said my farewells to Brother Andreas
he asked me whether I had any comments about his manner that
may have hindered me. I said the only thing I could think of was
that he had kept me waiting a while on a few occasions before
taking over supervision, but added: ‘I was only a trainee. You may
have done so on purpose at the request of the superiors to test me.’
He did not say anything, but laughed.
Counting words
You would expect someone like Brother Andreas to seize every opportunity
to learn spiritual lessons. Perhaps he did so for himself,
but it did occur to me that he rarely did so for others. If I or anyone
else expressed any inner thoughts on such occasions, then he
joined in wholeheartedly, but he was seldom the first to say anything.
Perhaps he was too modest for that. I sometimes felt secretly
amused when he was talking about things he was not very sure
about. He would continuously say things like ‘If I am not mis -
taken, it is like this’, or ‘It is so long ago, that I can no longer say
with certainty, but I believe it is like this.’ Then he would hold his
index finger in front of his mouth and count his words one by one
as if he was dictating a telegram and had to pay for every word.
How afraid he is again of lying, I would think to myself.

A bit narrow-minded
I do not believe he was a very emotional man. I always thought he
was a kind, gentle and serious man, even a little dry, but one who
forced himself to partake in ordinary life and conform to others
out of virtuousness. I remember him, for example, helping to perform
a puppet show with such gravity as if it was a very serious
matter. That is why the brothers and older boys enjoyed and appreciated
his contribution so much on such occasions. Another
incident I remember at Ruwenberg between Brother Andreas and
me was the time when I had started telling the students some of
the stories about the life of Saint Gerard Majella. They were very
interested and asked me to bring the book along and read from it,
which I did. When Brother Andreas joined them, they were still
enthusiastically talking about it. Later he approached me about it
and voiced his disapproval. What if reading that book made them
want to become Redemptorists? ‘But Brother Andreas,’ I replied,
‘Does it matter how good is done? Perhaps, if they were to become
Redemptorists, they could do more good than if they stayed with
us?’ But he could not accept that. ‘If they are here now to become
priests in our congregation, we should guide them in that direction.’
At the time I thought it was a bit narrow-minded, but it is
quite possible that his love for the congregation made him say it.
If we had many such saints
In 1900, I was back at Ruwenberg as duty master of the students.
Brother Andreas was a teacher there at the time; I believe he
71

taught German, the art of handwriting and perhaps some other
subjects, I am not quite sure anymore. He was always willing to
help me if I needed his help for anything. I was there with him for
three years, but just like I said about the year before my departure
to Curaçao, I never saw him do anything contrary to the rules or
customs of the congregation. Back then people sometimes said:
‘Brother Andreas is a holy person, but it would be quite difficult if
we had too many saints here, as it would make a proper mess of
things; this was a reference to the lack of authority he had over the
children, rather than his virtuousness. What beneficial influence
his punctuality and virtuousness had on the children, is hard to
tell. Only God knows the answer to that.
Students
As a person he did not achieve a lot. As mentioned above, I have always
heard that he had little authority over the children. He was
better with the older students who were a little wiser and respected
him because of his virtuousness. Furthermore, a large part of
his life as a brother was spent as a director to the students who
were trained for priesthood in our congregation. The courses
usually started with twelve or thirteen boys between the ages of
twelve and thirteen. They remained students until they were
eighteen or nineteen. Then they officially became brothers and
their student years at Ruwenberg were over. So they spent five
years under the directorship of Brother Andreas. I believe he was
there for six courses, which covers a time span of 6 x 5 = 30 years.
The results of these thirty years of work, at least for the congrega-
tion, were not what you can call brilliant. Many of the students
did not make it to the priesthood. Of those who did, three left the
congregation during his time as director, until finally all the others,
albeit at the request of Rome, left too. So I finish as I started by
saying: As far as I know or have seen, there was nothing special
about him but for the silent radiance that emanates from an ordinary
life lived with extraordinary virtue.’
72 73

other maximino artS
Education inspector

76 brother maximino arts (1876–1935) went to the Episcopal
Brother Maximino was also an education inspector, and in that 77
teacher training college run by the brothers in ’s Hertogenbosch
capacity he visited all the brother schools. That is how he knew
and entered the congregation in 1893. He completed the major
Brother Andreas, whom he had to inspect on several occasions. He
part of his noviciate in the new brother house in Zwolle, where he
is more capable than anybody else of describing Brother Andreas’s
took his eternal vows in 1897. As a teacher he did the rounds and
attitude towards education and what his didactic views were. It is
worked in various places: Ruwenberg (1897–1900), ’s Hertogen-
notable that as an inspector Brother Maximino passed critical
bosch (1900-1903), Oisterwijk (1903–1905), Zwolle (1905–1908),
judgement on the work of the teacher, but that as a fellow broth-
Tilburg (1908–1914), Zwolle again (1914–1917), Cuijk (1917–1919)
er he was very taken by Brother Andreas’s attitude and personali-
and finally again in ’s Hertogenbosch (1919–1935). He was an eduty.
In the following letter to the general superior of the brothers, a
cator at heart, who in addition to his teaching was also active in
letter which is not dated but was probably written in 1919, he in-
the Episcopal teacher training college and took on many other
sists that one should seriously look into writing a biography on
educational activities outside the scope of the congregation.
Brother Andreas. He suggests that the story should not just be
He worked at an adult education institute, the Volksuniversiteit,
limited to the facts of his life, but that it should also evoke the
where he gave classes to the unemployed, youth leaders and
prison warders. He had a heart condition and died at the relatively
young age of fifty-nine.
mind and spirituality of this extraordinary man.

An inspiring role model
brother maximino arts
Make children your equals
His ideals as an educator were at odds with the spirit of the time.
He did not believe in the maxim of simply giving children a happy
childhood. No, his idea of a harmonised and religious upbringing
also included motivating children to work hard and do well in intellectual,
moral and religious fields. He also expected good behaviour
from his pupils in almost all circumstances. I would not
want to claim, however, that this man, who appreciated his calling
to prepare young souls for the great struggle of life, was a good
teacher. He was probably too narrow-minded for that and had too
little understanding of how a child’s mind works. He could never
put himself in a child’s shoes. The big principle of Christian education
‘become as children’ in his devout heart assumed the
meaning: ‘make children your equals’. His mistake was that he
thought he could treat children as adults. When he was with the
children, the man was all seriousness, punctuality, sense of duty,
fear and formality. Anything that even hinted at jollity was unthinkable
and he would never stand for it in class. He could not
tolerate a lot from the children and he certainly did not understand
the art of turning a blind eye. I think he believed that every
youthful impetuosity that remained unpunished marked a
child’s soul. It always appeared to me that Brother Andreas clearly
lacked the pedagogic skills that would have enabled him to help
shape the children’s characters.
78 I would like to say a few words of reverence in memory of Brother Andreas. I do
not have sufficient time or information to write a full biography and will therefore
restrict myself to a few distinct characteristics. I would like to emphasise
those qualities I personally experienced in Brother Andreas in his capacity as a
teacher and educator.
79
Strong ideals
When I first met Brother Andreas, I was about twenty years old.
Although I had absolutely no experience or insight into human
nature, he came across very clearly as a compassionate man with
strong ideals. He saw it as his solemn duty to put those strong
ideals into actions wherever possible. He spoke to me alone on
several occasions and with his apostolic fervour and temperament
tried to convince me that all teachers should be filled with passion
and life when addressing young people, so that their spoken
words become revelations in their young hearts. He himself
approached young people with strict principles of godliness, virtuousness
and morality, accompanied by the burning desire to
impress all kinds of virtues on children’s hearts.

80
If only I could …
The strange thing is, however, that this lacklustre educator who
had nothing in common with children was in later years highly
revered by all his former pupils. There is no other explanation
than that he must have given them the impression of being an extraordinary
man through his way of teaching or in how he approached
them. He never referred to himself as an exceptional
teacher or even a good educator. He often said: ‘I do not have any
of the good qualities that are characteristic of a real teacher.’ Another
of his heartfelt regrets was: ‘If only I could teach myself how
to lead that full life and become more generous through the
awareness of my inner strength ... But I don’t know how.’ Despite
the fact that he did not know how, I would like to set this modest
brother as an example for all teachers. Among the famous educators
I cannot imagine a man from whom we can learn more than
from Brother Andreas.
Imperturbable good humour
Although he showed no talent for the heavy burden of work
which had been placed upon his shoulders and was stultifying to
so many, he carried the burden contentedly, even cheerfully. I
have seen him face restless, rebellious students with such a tired
and worrisome expression. However, as soon as he left the classroom,
all negative thoughts were dispelled from his mind and
everything seemed happiness and light. How did he so quickly regain
his inner strength and calmness of soul, which was so merci-
lessly disturbed by his small tormentors? Where did this sorely
tried man get his imperturbable good humour that made him
such an amiable character? I would like to take this opportunity
to take a closer look at a few of the idiosyncratic and engaging
characteristics that typify him. He realized few of his plans. Nevertheless,
when he was shattered at the end of a day’s teaching, his
stern face still beamed with a passion for work and he still spoke
fervently about expanding the Kingdom of God in the hearts of
the children.
Staying young and spirited
Brother Andreas’s life was difficult in other respects too, and not
only for him, but for us all: ‘Man’s life on earth is a struggle.’ Show
me a teacher who has not experienced moments of great depression.
Oh, how mysterious life sometimes appears to all impulsive
and thoughtful characters. How difficult it is to express what goes
on in the depths of our soul during life’s struggles. How numerous
are those who see their sombre pessimistic moods as a dark
shadow upon their lives? Despondency and disappointment
gnaw at their life force. Such people need an example to help them
become strong and stay young and spirited, as we all do. It is possible
to stay young and spirited. I know men with wrinkly faces,
with youthful smiles and a twinkle in their eye. Those are the men
and women that children are attracted to, because they recognise
something within them. Brother Andreas stayed young too. At
the age of seventy he still wanted to study child language and life
so that his writing would appeal to children. Although he did not
81

82
have the talent to be a children’s writer, his last story in De Engelbewaarder
(The Guardian Angel) was considerably better than his earlier
children’s stories. In one sentence: The life of Brother Andreas
is the antithesis of the dejection and fear many a teacher is burdened
with. Our profession lends itself to dissatisfaction. Every
student makes his or her demands on a teacher, and every teacher
will have felt at some time or other that there are students who do
not or cannot respond to his or her guidance. That is why I believe
that all educators are sometimes despondent, or that they have
days or even weeks when their spirits are in danger of sinking.
An inspiring role model
Every profession that is seriously pursued, not only the teaching
profession, has its difficulties, and that is why almost every person
occasionally becomes disconsolate and low-spirited. What a
heartening role model Brother Andreas could therefore be to
everyone. What a great and useful piece of work would be performed
by him who succeeded in capturing the essence of this exemplary
man in a book. He is already a friend to many, but if there
were to exist a correct portrayal of him, then he would become a
good friend to many more. People could then reach out to him in
the face of adversity. One could invoke his intercession to help follow
his example, and in many a man’s heart he would bring patience,
relief, hope, composure and peace.
Balance in work and life
We all feel that we must go through a considerable struggle before
we can achieve a balance in our work and lives, and we long for a
living example. Brother Andreas is that example. He never lost his
composure, even in the most difficult circumstances when all his
efforts ended in utter failure. Whatever happened, he always retained
his self-respect and did his duty. It is precisely this characteristic
that shows the influence fundamental principles had on
him. His sense of duty was so powerful, that it not only allowed
him to control all his actions and thoughts, but it also allowed
him to master his innermost impulses. I noticed more than once
that his inner balance was never upset, even when a carefully prepared
lesson that required immense effort to teach turned out to
be totally unsuccessful. So, when the tormented man emerged
from a classroom exhausted and he heard someone praise the congregation
or a confrère, then you could see the reflection of inner
joy on his face that sometimes shines through the eyes of excited
children’s faces.
In search of an authentic portrayal
People here in ’s Hertogenbosch have wanted a good biography
for some time now, but add that the biography must follow the
right path. The path does not start at birth and work its way
chronologically through to his death, listing items and life events
of greater or lesser importance. That is just a peripheral path. People
do not want a chronicle of his life; they want to know about
83

the man. They want a biography that clearly puts across his inner
and external struggle, his aspirations and his deeds, so that the
meaning of his life is made clear to all his devotees. In this way we
are put in touch with the man himself, and only in this way can
we be influenced by his purifying and edifying personality. Such a
biography, they add here in ’s Hertogenbosch, must come more
from the heart than the head, not to view the brother through
rose-tinted glasses, but to accurately depict the struggler, the
fighter and the man of deeds. I think that you will probably agree
with the ’s Hertogenbosch confrères on this point. They see
Brother Andreas as a sufferer who has found solace, a fighter who
has triumphed. That is why he can become our life’s consoler, the
one who gives us the strength to fight, and who inspires and motivates
our selfish hearts.
Difficulties
I have let some of the confrères of my community read what I have
written here. They believe that I should have provided more details.
My answer to this was that I was not privy to many details,
and that I did not think that details were that important. The future
biographer must penetrate Brother Andreas’s character and
realm of thought with heart and soul and only record those details
that influenced the deeper foundations of his character and
the formation of his spiritual life. Only then would I expect a good
biography to enlighten our spirits, tired and weary through misfortune
or failed efforts, like a breath of fresh air. If anyone has the
right to say to us: ‘Do not be afraid of difficulties’, it is Brother
85

Andreas. I believe I can still hear him say: ‘It is good for our state of
mind and spiritual growth, if our work is a heavy burden.’ I hope
that his next biography will reflect his strength and give us the
key to mastering our deepest fears and desires.
87

other tharcisio horsten
General superior and historian

other tharcisio horsten (1879–1952) from Tilburg
was very focused on language and literature, just like the brothers
Andreas and Amatus. He started his noviciate in 1896, as the old
era was coming to a close. The first general superior, Father Franciscus
Salesius De Beer retired in 1900 and died a year later. The
renowned director of the teacher training college, Brother
Xaverius Dijkhoff, who had led the school for thirty years, retired
in 1897. Like many of his fellow brothers, Brother Tharcisio became
a teacher, but also continued to study. He achieved his lower
teaching certificate in French in 1900, his lower teaching certificate
in English in 1904 and his teaching certificate in 1906. From
that year onwards he taught at the brothers’ teacher training college,
first in Tilburg, later also in ’s Hertogenbosch and from 1914
in the mother house in Tilburg. He made a name for himself by
writing a Catholic history of literature for secondary schools, Stemmen
van verre en dichtbij (voices from near and far) in five parts
(1915–1919) and was involved in the new training institute Rooms-
Katholieke Leergangen in Tilburg and ’s Hertogenbosch, an initiative
which would develop into the Catholic University of Nijmegen in
1923. Everything seemed to point to Brother Horsten, with his
strong interest in literature and history and his friendships with
Catholic literary scholars like L.C. Michels and Father Maximilianus
van Dun, also taking the path of humanities. Life, however,
decided otherwise. In 1926 he was elected general superior, a position
he would hold for twelve years. Although he continued to
read and write a lot during his time in office, so much so that he is
often depicted with a book in his hand, he did not have time for a
serious book project until after he left office, in 1938. He then
started two important projects: He became the editor of and main
contributor to the new and informative Brothers’ periodical Heden
en Verleden (Present and Past), and he started to write an official history
of the congregation, a project he just managed to finish despite
the war years and his quickly deteriorating health. The last
of the three volumes of De Fraters van Tilburg (The Brothers of
Tilburg, 1844–1944) was published in the year of his death, 1952.
90 91
Of course, the brother history written by Horsten also had to include
a chapter about Brother Andreas. However, as a historian,
Horsten believed that he did not have to write about any subjects
that had been described elsewhere. This is why he did not write
about the life of Brother Andreas, which had been covered by
various authors, but primarily about what happened after his
death. The text written by Horsten, therefore, does not contain
many personal memories about Brother Andreas. It does, how -
ever, provide a lot of information on the development of the
Brother Andreas devotion. From his various viewpoints as a historian,
an involved fellow brother and a responsible former general
superior, Horsten describes how the devotion grew steadily and
was increasingly structured by the brothers. He completed his
story in 1944, when preparations were being made for the process
of beatification, which would eventually start after the war in 1946
(to be fina l ised only in 1982).

A person with special blessings from God
brother tharciscio horsten
whom no one ever saw break any of the many religious rules and
regulations, who never sought anyone’s attention, whose guise
had nothing that could attract attention, a man absorbed in God,
who never meddled in the outside world except when obedience
obliged him to do so, who always had the air of being very strongly
aware of living in the presence of God, was laid to rest in the
graveyard of the mother house, it was not the end. There were
brothers who had died before and after him who were revered by
their contemporaries, lived saintly lives and one who died a holy
death, and yet they did not endure beyond the grave. The miraculous
thing was that for Brother Andreas it was a beginning.
92 On 3 August 1917, the first Friday of the month, Brother Andreas van den Boer
capped his devout life with a venerable death. Brother Andreas was born on 24
November 1841, and died famous and holy in Tilburg in the brother house of
the Sacred Heart of Jesus at almost 75 years of age, 58 of which he spent in our
congregation. He worked at Ruwenberg for many years in education, including
the training and formation of future priests for the congregation, whose leader
93
he was from 1871, until he was replaced in 1900. He spent the last years of his
life in Tilburg. He did not accomplish any remarkable achievements during his
life, except that he trod the path to sainthood with conviction and dedication.
In moments of need
Miraculous
During his life many of his fellow brothers already regarded him
with silent devotion as a special person blessed by God. When
Brother Andreas gave his holy soul to God on the first Friday of
August 1917, and the press published the news of his death in a
short article, many in the congregation and many of his former
students, especially from Ruwenberg, were convinced that hea -
ven had gained a holy intercessor. The miraculous thing was that
when this quiet and modest man, who was so friendly and yet so
deadly serious, who always averted his gaze, but was at the same
time talkative and far from stiff, always calm and composed,
Brother Andreas had always wanted privacy, and he never thought
that anyone ever saw anything special in him. However, the Father,
who can see into the soul, started to reward. God inspired
faith in the hearts of many in and outside the congregation, who
had known Brother Andreas and had admired his devout life in
silent devotion. They started to invoke Brother Andreas in moments
of need, which is only human, and their prayers were
heard. They said that their prayers were answered because of the
intercession of Brother Andreas. Who started it, and where and
how? Nobody knows, but we can confidently say: It is the Lord’s
will and it is wonderful. Brother Andreas became a never-ending
source of inspiration. He, who had always avoided people and
rumours, was suddenly the centre of devotion, and the circle of
devotees continued to expand. The brother house in Tilburg kept

on receiving reports of prayers being answered. It became a neverending
stream. It soon required some organisation, which is why
in 1924 the Brother Andreas Bureau was established in the mo ther
house to deal with everything that was related to Brother Andreas.
It received and processed correspondence, stored any gifts received,
and upon request published any prayers that were
answered in De Engelbewaarder (The Guardian Angel).
Under lock and key
The most assiduous promoter for the devotion to Brother Andreas
was Brother Dorotheus van Santvoort, also sometimes referred
to as the ‘Apostle of the Prayer Association’ and who looked
after the Brother Andreas cause until his death on 10 June 1923
with unparalleled enthusiasm. He quickly succeeded in interesting
the ecclesiastical authorities – in particular the vicar-general
of the diocese of ’s Hertogenbosch, Msgr Pompen, who always
took a lively interest in anything concerning our congregation –
in the remarkably busy and growing devotion to the recently deceased
Brother Andreas. As early as 17 July 1919, Msgr Pompen
wrote a letter to the brothers, in which he asked all the brothers to
write down what they remembered about Brother Andreas. To
ensure that the accounts were systematic (as if required for a future
process), Msgr Pompen’s circular letter gave a detailed list of
points the accounts had to include. Further instructions were
that everything that had belonged to Brother Andreas had to be
collected, such as clothes, books, writings, utensils, etc. It all was
to be kept under lock and key and now resides at the mother
house.
95

Diocesan investigation
More than one hundred written accounts about the virtues and
holy life of Brother Andreas were received. Because of the nature of
these accounts and the increasing number of prayers being heard,
it was decided to ask Msgr F.A. Diepen, bishop of ’s Hertogenbosch,
to set up a Diocesan investigation to officially look into the
heroic virtues of God’s servant. However, Msgr Diepen believed
that it was not yet the right time to start the Episcopal process.
That is why the case of Brother Andreas was officially put on hold.
Events, however, continued to take their course.
and paint the portraits of Brother Andreas we have today. Those
who knew Brother Andreas well, however, agree that there is
something missing in these portraits. Perhaps they are missing
the fundamental truth that nobody can put into words, the reflection
of his calm, happy and inward-looking soul on his face, or
something in his appearance as a whole. The pictures based on
these photographs or the painted portraits are usually accompanied
by a piece of material worn by Brother Andreas and distri -
buted free of charge by the Brother Andreas Bureau. The prayer
printed on the back, asking for help ‘through intercession of your
faithful servant, Brother Andreas’s, has been approved by the
church authorities.
96 97
Biographies and prints
Many, especially those who did not know Brother Andreas personally,
wanted to know more about the holy man; they wanted a
bibliography. Brother Frumentius van Hulten, who had known
Brother Andreas for years at Ruwenberg and had been his supe rior
for some, complied with this wish. He wrote a book published in
1921: Frater Andreas. Een levensbeeld (Brother Andreas: An impression
of his life). Many people wanted to have a picture of Brother Andreas.
But this was difficult, because there were no pictures of
him. One of the books that Brother Andreas had often read stated
that the desire to be photographed only betrays one’s vanity. That
is why Brother Andreas was never photographed alone. Some
group photographs did, however, exist at Ruwenberg. These were
taken on festive occasions when Brother Andreas simply complied
with his superior’s wishes, and later used to create the pictures
A border of flowers
The Brother Andreas Bureau also had collectible medallions with
effigies of Brother Andreas and larger plaques made, which could
be purchased. The circle of devotees continued to expand. There
were pilgrimages to his grave to seek help or give thanks in prayer.
People put flowers on his grave or hung flowers on the simple
burial cross. Sometimes a devoted, thankful hand would arrange
a border of flowers around the grave. A woman in Breda who
passed her teaching exams went straight from the examination
hall to the station, took the train to Tilburg, looked for the bro -
ther house and when taken to the grave knelt on the ground and
prayed for a long time. Then she stood up, picked some flowers in
the garden of the monastery, laid them around the grave, knelt
once more, put her hand on the earth that covered the body and

then made a large sign of the cross. Then she went back to the station
and travelled to her mother to tell her the good news ‘that she
had passed her teaching exams thanks to the intercession of
Brother Andreas. This is one of hundreds of examples…
found shelter and care in the Netherlands during and after the
1914–1918 war thanks to the help of the RC Housing Committee.
This priest also heard about Brother Andreas and started studying
his life. He believed that he was doing his fellow-countrymen and
women and the German-speaking Catholics a great service by
describing the life of Brother Andreas to them. In 1922 Frater M.
Andreas von Tilburg was published, dedicated to the benefactors of
the Viennese and German children in Tilburg. The detailed bio -
graphy was translated into Dutch in 1925. Below is an extract of
the preface by vicar-general Msgr J. Pompen: ‘…It is very remarkable
that the quiet life of Brother Andreas immersed in God makes
such an impression in a time when the spiritual life of so many
people is weakening by the day and religion is limited purely to
outward appearances. Luckily the core of the religious population
still understands that such a private life, such an internal life as
Brother Andreas’s ennobles and sanctifies man and is therefore
most agreeable to God. How else can we explain the large number
of recoveries and extraordinary events that are attributed to
prayers answered by Brother Andreas? Father Max also heard
about the prayers that were answered. After thoroughly studying
Brother Andreas’s way of life, he came to the conclusion that if
judged correctly, Brother Andreas must be the right man in our
time to serve as an example of charity, simplicity, love of work and
a life of prayer. Inspired by this, he also decided to introduce the
Germans to the “secrets of the internal life” of Brother Andreas,
which everyone could adopt to achieve the same spiritual nobility,
the same happiness and peace and the same sanctity”…’
Young women of South America
98 99
Thanks to the publication of the prayers that were answered in
the magazine De Engelbewaarder, Brother Andreas became known
in Belgium, Indonesia, Dutch Guiana and Curaçao and there are
stories about prayers being answered from those countries and
regions too. From Curaçao the devotion spread to different republics
in South America. On Curaçao, the Sisters of Roosendaal
have a Spanish boarding school for wealthy young women (comparable
to our former Colegio Santo Tomas). These students are
mainly from Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Quito and Peru. The sisters
teach the young women of South America about the devotion
to Brother Andreas, which is why pictures or plaques of the simple
Brother Andreas can be found in many grand houses in those
South American countries and why young women and children
carry a medallion of Brother Andreas in their bags or wear it
around their necks.
General example
In 1922 the devotion to Brother Andreas was extended. At the time
there was a Viennese priest in Tilburg, Father Theophorus Max,
responsible for the children from Austria and Germany who

Steady growth of devotion
The devotion expanded rapidly and took on new forms. On 3 August
1930, on the anniversary of Brother Andreas’s death, the first
pilgrimage visited his grave. It consisted of eighteen people from
the city of Bergen op Zoom… On Sunday, 30 July 1939, the pilgrimage
paid its tenth visit. As always, prayers were said at the
grave and the pilgrims paid homage in the chapel of the brother
house by lighting candles. They visited the Brother Andreas Bureau,
where devotional pictures were handed out and they could
buy plaques and collectible medallions. In its tenth year around
eighty people made the pilgrimage from Bergen and many other
places – clear evidence of the steady growth of the devotion to
Brother Andreas. That is why the case of Brother Andreas was put
to Msgr Diepen again in 1932 and the request to take measures to
establish a Diocesan investigation was repeated. Msgr Diepen,
however, remained wary of getting involved. The bishop was of
the opinion that the case was not yet ready for official consideration
and wanted to wait until stronger evidence was available.
A stomach relic
A very extraordinary thing happened in 1937 concerning the recovery
of Father Aloysius van den Heuvel in the Trappist
monastery in Tilburg. In his account Father Aloysius relates that
he had been suffering stomach problems for some time. In February
1937 the problem became quite alarming. Father Aloysius
started vomiting blood, and was rushed to St Elisabeth Hospital
101

in Tilburg. ‘After thorough observation and examination it was
decided that there was nothing they could do’ and after four
weeks of treatment in hospital, the patient was brought back to
the monastery. ‘Tests had revealed that I had cancer and, according
to the doctors, only a few weeks to live. But things turned out
very differently. On the twenty-fifth anniversary of my ordination
I was incredibly lucky to be reading Mass again, and in July 1937
I was discharged from the sick ward and returned to our normal
way of life.’ Father Aloysius attributes his extraordinary story to
the intercession of Brother Andreas: ‘I had often been told about
the many prayers that had been heard through the intercession of
Brother Andreas. That is why I put my faith more into the help
I hoped to get from him. I also used to wear, and still do to this
day, a devotional picture with a relic of Brother Andreas on my
person close to my stomach. I prayed with unfaltering faith to
God’s servant. Others in and outside the Trappist monastery
prayed with him, and the result has amazed everyone to this day.
I am therefore convinced, as is everyone else, that it was Brother
Andreas who brought about my totally unexpected recovery.’
Highest point of glory
Does God have plans for our humble, holy fellow brother? Who
knows! The fact is, that now, more then twenty-five years after his
death, the devotion and faith continue to grow and more and
more people are looking to Brother Andreas for support in their
hour of need. Not a day goes by without the Brother Andreas Bureau
having proof of that, although, since the De Engelbewaarder is
103

no longer printed (because of the shortage of paper these war
days) we no longer have a way of publishing the prayers that have
been answered and thankful devotees are forced to make do with
the advertisement columns of a daily newspaper. Since 1942, the
twenty-fifth anniversary of the holy death of Brother Andreas, his
case has constantly held the attention of the congregation’s polity.
The approaching centenary of the congregation naturally
caused attention to be focused even more strongly on the fellow
brother through whom the congregation achieved its highest
point of glory. It was the right time to finally deal with the Bro ther
Andreas case. While the congregation’s polity was preoccupied
with those thoughts and plans in 1944, Providence directed circumstances
in such a way that the path to be followed in the
Brother Andreas case was indicated by friends in authority in
Rome. That is how in 1944 the first definite and official step was
taken on the path that would lead to setting up a Diocesan investigation
and the ecclesiastical process in Rome, to honour God
and for the glorification of his servant Brother Andreas.

other amatus hosemanS
Colleague, fellow brother and confidant

Of all fellow brothers, brother amatus hosemans (1865–
1946) from Tilburg was probably the one closest to Brother Andreas
and as fellow teacher and housemate also shared many
things with him. Amatus had been sent to the Ruwenberg boarding
school at an early age and knew Brother Andreas as a teacher
and duty master. In 1882 he started his noviciate in Tilburg and in
1884 he returned to Ruwenberg, but as a duty master and teacher.
It was a period when Ruwenberg was undergoing changes and
those in charge wanted to introduce a new and less severe climate.
Brother Andreas and Brother Amatus were two of the brothers responsible
for the actual implementation of this policy. Amatus,
like Andreas, was one of the brothers who continued studying
and he passed his lower teaching certificate in French in 1888, his
lower teaching certificate in English in 1892 and his teaching certificate
in 1894. He was one of the most prominent teachers at
Ruwenberg and was also director for some time. In 1902, on the
occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the school he wrote a very
lively chronicle about life at school. His career as a teacher would
also lead him to other brother schools: ’s Hertogenbosch (1892),
Tilburg where he became director of the brothers’ teacher trai -
ning college (1906–1912), ’s Hertogenbosch (1916) and finally
Zwolle where he became director of the ulo (advanced primary
edu cation, 1914–1943). Brother Amatus held an executive post as
first brother elected in the board between 1908 and 1912, a period
in which the congregation was strongly divided internally. Amatus
was rewarded for this membership in the board by a demotion
to the remote city of Zwolle, far from the administrative centre of
the Tilburg mother house. At the end of the war Brother Amatus
returned to the mother house in Tilburg, where he died in 1946.
Amatus Hosemans wrote well and was prolific with a vast body of
works besides the above-mentioned chronicle about Ruwenberg.
Like so many other brothers, he usually published under a pseudonym.
The fact that he had at least ten different pen names and
signatures for his publications in magazines and newspapers,
school books, translations, poems and plays typifies the productivity
and the creativity of this man. As mentioned, Brother Amatus
Hosemans was Brother Andreas’s friend and confidant. That
was not just because their classrooms were next to each other, but
also because they had both studied French and shared a great interest
in languages and literature. They were more than good colleagues
and literary friends; they were also of the same mind as far
as religion was concerned. That is how – through his own writings
and because he was able to give the early biographers extensive
first-hand information – Brother Amatus became a key witness to
the life of Brother Andreas. Published below are parts of the
chronicle of Ruwenberg, which he re-edited during the war years
(and part of which was published posthumously in the brother
magazine Heden en verleden [Present and Past], 1953), with excerpts
from a letter written to the general superior, dated 11 August
1944, in answer to a long list of questions. The fragments that
most strikingly portray the life of Brother Andreas, are presented
together as a new text.
108 109

With love and meticulous punctuality
the last detail and dedicated himself to the task of tutor and
teacher in words and deeds, all of which was in effect directed at
God. He was a man who preferred to keep a low profile and be true
brother amatus hosemans
to himself in everything he did. Perhaps it was because they understood
that his heroic struggle to be faithful to a simple life
went beyond the simple things themselves and that his words and
110 Shall I tell you something else about Brother Andreas? There is a whole biogra-
deeds effectively only had one direction – they were directed at 111
phy about him. I was the one who provided most of the information to Father
God – and that his love of God and the desire to fulfil God’s will
Max, the biographer, when he spent a few days with me in Zwolle. I think it is
took up his whole life. And so it happened that he, probably with-
time to put the record straight about his reputation for punctuality. I would like
out even knowing it himself, came to the fore and had an extra -
to talk about some exaggerations regarding his punctuality, which some people
invented to diminish his reputation. No one can have a higher opinion of Bro -
ordinary impact.
ther Andreas than I, who was lucky enough to enjoy his trust. He came to me,
who was so much younger and had been his pupil, with all kinds of things.
Watching
Too meticulous, too holy
Most people who had close contact with Brother Andreas were a
bit wary of him at first. He was too meticulous for them, too holy.
Slowly, however, their silent admiration for this man would grow,
a reverence that would never leave them, not even many years
after they left the institute. Although at first glance he did not
appear to be the world’s greatest teacher, those that came into
contact with Brother Andreas were the most deeply inspired and
touched by him. One explanation for such an extraordinary influence
is that those that met him discovered this simple man’s
saintliness, which was drawn from sixty years of ascetic life and
fifty years of teaching. He was always punctual and polite down to
I had lessons from Brother Andreas as a boy of twelve. He taught
me the basics of French. As a child I saw him cultivate every virtue
I expected to see in a real brother: friendliness, patience and devotion.
I admired the friendly patience he had with a fellow student,
who always claimed that he had learned his lessons, but never
knew anything. I later shared life with him at Ruwenberg for
twenty-two years and never noticed anything in him that was
contrary to the virtues which the Holy Rules demand from us. He
cultivated both the divine and the cardinal virtues in a heroic way.
I often watched him to see if he made any mistakes. I even tried to
test him to see if I could get him to break any of the rules, such as
the rule of silence by showing him a book and asking him what he
thought about it. I could not get him to speak a single word. I had
to be satisfied with a friendly nod.

The burdens of his post
evening before, because there was a certain flaw in him proposing
it himself. The welfare of the young most certainly allowed him to
He accepted the strictness of religious life and the burdens of his
post with love and the most precise punctuality. The burdens of
rise above that.
his post stemmed from the lack of authority over the children of
the institute. He did, however, exercise authority over the stu-
How to remain patient
112 dents who were being trained as priests for the congregation. The
If you wanted to find a substitute at Ruwenberg, if you were 113
children of the institute knew that he was a saint and revered him
otherwise engaged, you went to Brother Andreas, because he was
as such. Nevertheless – o âge sans pitié – in class they were trouble-
usual ly prepared to help. ‘If the brother director agrees, I would
some, garrulous and difficult, especially with Brother Andreas.
be pleased to help’, was his standard answer. It did not matter
Although they would respectfully listen to him admonishing
whether he was asked to supervise the playground or the class-
them in his mild-mannered way, they would not fear any severe
room; it was all the same to him. As he had no authority, he noted
punish ment from him. Brother Andreas regularly carried that
the pupils’ shortcomings on a slate, in French of course, for the
burden – a terrible burden for those speaking from experience –
class brother to find, who would then have to deal with the pupils
without getting angry or losing his temper.
concerned. Jansen n’entre pas bien. Willems parle. Martens n’est pas attentif
pendant la prière, Bakker is fidgeting (Jansen’s participation is inadequate,
A certain flaw
Willems talks too much, Martens doesn’t pay attention during prayer). Appa -
rently he did not know what ‘fidgeting’ was in French, until I
When I succeeded Brother Tharcisius in the classroom next to
looked it up and wrote ‘to fidget = frimiller’ on the slate. After that
Brother Thomas’, Andreas was teaching German there. In the
he would write N.N. frimille. We would laugh and say: ‘He knows
winter of 1890–1891 things were very tense. There was a lot of un-
how to remain patient and will go straight to heaven. We get
rest. One evening one of the students held up a small red flag,
angry on his behalf and will later go to purgatory.’ We were always
which was greeted with general laughter. I jumped from my desk
glad to have him supervise our classrooms, because then he would
and placed myself in front of the window in the door. Of course,
all fell quiet immediately. The following day Brother Andreas approached
me. If I had no objections, he would ask the brother
director if we could swap lessons – I could take over his class and
he would teach my boys. He must have thought about it the
surely pray for our pupils, as they were his then too.

Punctuality test
For a long time he took over my class at Ruwenberg at around
seven o’ clock, because I had to join the boys in the refectory at half
past seven. After that I usually accompanied them to the recreation
room. Every afternoon he asked what time he should be
there, because I did not always finish teaching at the same time.
The pupils often spoke about Brother Andreas’s holiness and one
day I decided to put his punctuality to the test together with the
boys. The boys were to specify a different time for every day of the
week and we would see if Brother Andreas would keep to it. Of
course, I do not remember exactly which times were given, but it
went something like this: On the Monday I asked Brother Andreas
to be there at five to seven, on Tuesday at three minutes past
seven, on Wednesday five past, etc. In the afternoon I would use
some pretext to synchronise my watch with Brother Andreas’s,
and the boys were given the time too.
The first evening, the classroom door opened precisely on time
and in walked Brother Andreas. A stifled laugh from the boys: it
was true. The second day he arrived on the dot again. This time
they looked more serious: that was astonishing. On the third day
it was the same again. The pupils gasped in amazement and
would do so every day, because no matter how much I varied the
time – one day even to half a minute – Brother Andreas always appeared
at the specified time. That is how precise he was with
everything a superior, or someone he regarded as his superior,
would ask of him.
115

116
Forbearing demeanour
Everything he said and everything he did – his whole manner –
was proof of the extreme care he took to preserve purity. His eyes
were usually downcast and his demeanour forbearing. He would
never cross his legs – at most he would sit with his feet crossed. He
was very reserved but friendly towards people of the opposite sex.
He never physically touched anyone. Once, when Father Bolsius
S.J., a former pupil, embraced him (a greeting which was not common
in the Netherlands) in the presence of his confrères, he was
startled and too embarrassed to know what to do.
The simple truth
He was totally uncomplicated, and in his work only sought God
with whom he was totally absorbed. He was completely truthful,
so that no one ever doubted anything he said. His love of the truth
sometimes made us laugh. A story told during recreation time
might have gone as follows: ‘Last week Tuesday I bumped into
Father Superior in Torenstraat in ’s Hertogenbosch. Did I say
Tuesday? I meant Wednesday.’ The story went on, but was interrupted
by: ‘I do believe I was right in the first place. It was Tuesday.’
That is how it went. As a result, his narrative style was sometimes
quite boring. I once heard a general superior, Father
Drabbe, say: ‘If I was given different accounts on a matter during a
visitation, I would question Brother Andreas about it. If he had an
answer, it was always the simple truth.’
The holy liar
His constant praying and the devotion with which he received the
Blessed Sacraments helped him to avoid making any mistakes and
improve anything he considered to be wrong about himself. He
was so critical of himself, that he accused himself of all kinds
of wrongs every week in the Confession Chapter (a chapter where
brothers could publicly confess their sins). We could not understand
what he could possibly accuse himself of. With reference to
these chapters he was sometimes called the ‘holy liar’.
Honouring
He scorned honour, wealth and worldly pleasures. He laughed
about honour. He did not like people to give him honour. Once I
had to write an article for a newspaper. I do not remember what
it was about, but I had the chance to give Brother Andreas a
mention. I told him: ‘André, how about I give you a mention in
my article. He looked at me indignantly: “Mention me! What
good will that do? For God’s sake let me be free’. I heeded his
words so as not to hurt him.
Totally engulfed
He brought honour and tribute to all the secrets of our Mass.
There was something very special, for example, about the tone of
his Gloria Patri (Glory be to the Father). Christmas was a very special
celebration for him, because of his devotion to the Mystery of the
117

118
Incarnation. His extreme gratitude for this and for Mary’s part
was also apparent in his religious fervour when he prayed the
Angelus Domini. The way he knelt before the Most Blessed Sacrament,
his most respectful demeanour in the chapel, his modesty,
in short, his total engulfment in prayer after Holy Communion
and during Mass was proof of his deep veneration for it. He also
enjoyed talking about the greatness of this Blessed Sacrament, not
only in class during religious education, but also during recrea -
tion. His mind was always focused on God. He was so inwardly
focused, that during silentium he did not notice what was going on
around him. If he was somewhere quiet, you could hear him praying
to God under his breath. His whole appearance expressed this.
If you bumped into him in the hall or in the garden, you could feel
that he was busy with God.
Kindergarten
He worshipped all saints as and when they were commemorated
during the Ecclesiastical year. He wrote a novena book, with novenas
for various saints. He translated Kindergarten, by Father Mätt ler,
about the lives of young saints, from the German to encourage
children to worship saints. He also wrote many articles for the
magazine De Engelbewaarder (The Guardian Angel) to propagate
devoutness among children. He had a vehement desire to spread
our sacred faith. Some of his favourite literature included the annals
of missionary work and other books on the same topic. He
would often talk about missionary work to groups of brothers,
who would listen with the greatest interest, because he was an in-
spiring storyteller and loved to share his enthusiasm for missionary
work with his listeners. Whenever we saw it we said: ‘They
must be talking about Catholic missionary work!’
Quiet reading room
No matter how seriously Brother Andreas took life, he was always
good-humoured during recreation, never loud or exuberant, but
certainly cheerful. He was very pleasant to chat to. If we had permission
to smoke, he joined in, probably so as not to be the odd
one out, although I am convinced that he probably would rather
not have smoked. He knew and enjoyed telling interesting
proverbs and amusing anecdotes. Once when he was supervising
the students in the reading room, who were sat working quietly,
there was a sudden commotion. The duty master looked at the
student on the corner of the first bench. He in turn looked round
at the student on the second bench, who looked round at the
third, etc., until the student on the last bench looked round at the
statue of the Sacred Heart, which was stood against the back wall,
and pointed at it accusingly. Brother Andreas blushed a little, as if
his respect for the Sacred Heart had faltered for a moment.
His lips remained sealed
If he was in the reading room, then silentium was maintained out of
respect for him. Only because we revered him. We were convinced
that he would never tell on others. We never did anything badly
wrong, nor did we do anything that could lead to negative conse-
119

quences. As a result he was not forced to impose the rules and he
was happy with that. Blessed confrère, pray for us. I contributed
to your holiness, by putting you to the test from time to time, to
see whether you would do anything wrong. ‘Is it a good book,
Andreas?’ He would nod his head in affirmation, but his lips
remained sealed when talking was not strictly necessary. Say,
Andreas, why don’t you perform a great miracle, so that we can
build an altar to you?
121

About the texts and illustrations
The text by Brother Tharcisio Horsten is a slightly abbreviated chapter
from his history De Fraters van Tilburg (The Brothers of Tilburg), 1844–
1944 (Tilburg, 1946–1952), part 3, pp. 50–59. The other texts are handwritten
texts from the archives of the Brother Andreas Bureau, at
Gasthuisring in Tilburg. The file numbers are 10.2.5 (Victor Zwijsen),
10.3.4 (Paschasius van Loon), 10.3.5 (Modestus Spierings), 10.3.17
(Maximino Arts) and 12.8 (Amatus Hosemans) respectively. The text
by Brother Amatus is supplemented with excerpts from the chronicles
of Ruwenberg (1852–1887 and 1901–1902, five typed notebooks), which
is in the Ruwenberg section of the Brother Archives in Tilburg.
The purpose of this publication is to introduce Brother Andreas and
the sources about his life to a wider public. It is not the intention to
give a full and critical account of these sources. Some of the texts have
been slightly modified where they might have been ambiguous and
lead to misunderstanding. Spelling and punctuation has been mo -
dernised. Subheadings have been added to the texts to make them
more accessible, which meant that some of the original paragraphs
had to be changed. To prevent duplication, the texts of the Brothers
Modestus, Tharcisio and Amatus were slightly abbreviated.
123

124
List of illustrations
Cover drawing: portrait of Brother Andreas by Brother Vincenzo de
Kok (1911–1997)
p. 2 Brother Andreas by Carl Itschert (1876–1936), oil painting from
photograph, 1921
p. 6 The box bed in which Brother Andreas was born
p 10 Brother Andreas on an old school photograph, 1879
p. 12 Four devotional pictures of Brother Andreas
p. 18 The house in Udenhout where Brother Andreas was born
p. 20 The interior of the parental house of Brother Andreas and
Brother Andreas with his family, 1906
p. 22 An aerial photograph of Ruwenberg, c. 1950
p. 22 The façade of Ruwenberg in c. 1900
p. 24 The dormitory at Ruwenberg
p. 24 The dining hall at Ruwenberg
p. 26 The schoolyard at Ruwenberg, with Brother Andreas on the
right
p. 32 The mother house of the brothers in Tilburg. Drawing from
1894
p. 34 Brother Andreas’s cell in the De Heuvel community
p. 36 Brother Andreas on a school photograph
p. 38 Father Victor Zwijsen
p. 44 Group photograph of the student priests with Brother Andreas
and Rector Zweers
p. 48 Group photograph with twenty-two of the twenty-eight priests
who had to leave the congregation in 1916. Many had been
taught by Brother Andreas. Father Victor Zwijsen is the fourth
from the left on the first row.
p.50 The schoolyard at Ruwenberg, with Brother Andreas on the
right
p. 52 Brother Modestus Spierings (left on the first row next to
Brother Andreas) on a group photograph of the De Heuvel
brother community in c. 1916–1917
p. 60 The farm in Biezenmortel where Brother Andreas grew up
p. 64 Brother Paschasius van Loon
p. 70 The chapel in Ruwenberg
p. 74 Brother Maximino Arts
p. 86 Brother Andreas’s handwriting, initially with his right hand
and later with his left hand. A text about a brotherly reprimand.
p. 88 Brother Tharcisio Horsten in Manado
p. 94 Brother Andreas’s grave with a rose bush in flower in c. 1930
p. 100 A prayer to Brother Andreas around a sick bed, photograph c.
1950
p. 102 A meeting of the Diocesan investigation, 1946
p. 104 Group photograph of the student at Ruwenberg in 1907
p. 106 Brother Amatus Hosemans
p. 114 Brother Andreas and Brother Amatus during the Jubilee of
Ruwenberg in 1902
p. 120 Procession during the translatio in 1968, when Brother Andreas’s
grave was moved from the garden to the chapel of the mother
house of the brothers in Tilburg
p. 122 The occasion was also used to inspect the mortal remains before
returning them to a sealed coffin
125

126
Publications about Brother Andreas
Several biographies have been written about Brother Andreas, the
most recent being in Dutch: Frater Andreas van den Boer (Andreas Bureau,
Tilburg 1998, 238 p.), written by Brothers Ben Westerburger and Toon
Wouters. The book can now only be found second-hand and describes
the life and experiences of Brother Andreas in an accessible way. It also
contains an important list of sources and draws on many well-known
as well as unknown accounts by fellow brothers, students, family
members and acquaintances. There are two English books. The life of
Frater Andreas van den Boer. Positio super virtutibus (Roma 1993, 1011 p.),
written by Ben Westenburger and offering a very comprehensive do -
cumentation. A slightly older English-language biography is Brother
Andreas van den Boer cmm. The mercy brother without frills. (Mosocho Kenya,
1991, 133 p.), written by Brother Anthony Koning. But both English
books are difficult to be found, which is the reason of this new publication
in English. Apart from English, there are still publications in
Indonesian and in German: Seorang Frater cmm yang sederhana berbelaskasih
dan kudus (Seri Spiritualitas cmm, Yafa Indonesia, 1996) in Bahasa
Indonesia by Brother Pieter Jan van Lierop, and Frater M. Andreas von
Tilburg. Ein Lebensbild (Tilburg 1922), 286 p., by Father Theophorus Max
scj, the first extensive biography which was very influential and had
several editions.
Nice pictures and objects from his life can also be seen at the exhibition
about the history of the cmm Brothers in the generalate
of the brothers in Tilburg. The exhibition was prepared by Brother
Caesarius Mommers and Carine van Vugt in 1994. Finally, there is the
Brother Andreas website (fraterandreas.nl), which was created by
Charles van Leeuwen and Paul Simons in 2006 at the request of the
brothers.
Much has also been written about the history of the Brothers cmm.
The main publications in English are by brother Anthony Koning, In a
Worldwide Brotherhood inspired by Mercy. The Brothers cmm 1844-2002 (Tilburg
2004, 228 p.) and by Joos van Vugt, Brothers at Work. A history of five Dutch
congregations of brothers and their activities in Catholic education, 1840-1970
(Nijmegen 1996, 126 p.).
For those interested in further reading in Dutch, there are still some
older books. First of all the bestseller Enigen uit velen. Fraters van Zwijsen
in 22 portretten, edited by Joep Eijkens (Tilburg 1994), which paints
a lively picture of the congregation, including a portrait of Brother
Andreas. An essential source is Frater Andreas. Een levensbeeld (Tilburg
1921), 76 p., by Brother Frumentius van Hulten, which is the first
biography with a classical and long-lasting portrayal of the ‘holy
brother’. A partly fictitious life story, easy reading for a wider public,
is offered by Sister M. Emerentia OP, Geluk dat in stilte groeide. Een verhaal
van de levensopgang van een Brabantse jongen (Tilburg 1951, 155 p. Merito -
rious, but with not much new information is Frater Andreas. Kort bericht
over een man die geruisloos door het leven ging (Tilburg 1972, 52 p., by M. Van
Delft cssr. The special issue of the brothers’ magazine Ontmoetingen 27
(September 1968) is very valuable, it opens up new perspectives from
many different authors and paints a modern picture within the framework
of the resourcing of the congregation’s spirituality. The above
shows that people from different cultures and religious backgrounds
have contributed to the historiography of Brother Andreas.
127