12mo. 150,(6) p. Calf 12.2 cm (Ref: A. Welkenhuysen, 'Benedicti Regula belgice, over bibliografie van Benedictus-vertalingen en oude drukken van de 'Regel' in het Nederduits', in Zetesis, Album amicorum, door vrienden en collaga's aangeboden aan Prof. Dr. E. de Strycker, Antw., Utrecht, 1954, p. 396-415, especially p. 412-415; Bibl. Cath. Neerl. Impr. 1954, p. 469, no. 1528'; not yet in STCV) (Details: Back with 3 raised bands. Gilt floral motive in the 4 compartments. Engraved printer's mark on the title, depicting the radiant dove of the Holy Ghost amidst clouds) (Condition: Upper corners of the boards abraded. Front flyleaf removed) (Note: Benedictus of Nursia, ca. 480 - ca. 550 A.D., is the Father of western monachism. In 519 he founded on the Monte Casino the Archabbey of the Benedictine Order. Wanting to reform monasticsm he composed ca. 540 his Regula monachorum(Rules for monks), in which he expressed his Ora et Labora-spirituality in 73 chapters. Until this day this Regula exercises influence. 'The Rule is marked by prudence and humanity, and leads by observance and obedience to the perfect following of Christ. It is safeguarded and applied by a patriarchal abbot, chosen by his monks, with full authority, who is directed to take counsel and to care for the individual. The chief task and central act of the community is the Divine Office (opus Dei) which with private prayer, spiritual reading, and work fills the day. All monks must renounce private ownership, though the monastery may own property; the regime is austere but not exacting' (L. Dysinger, St. John's Seminary, Camarillo, online article). The first translation of the Regula into Dutch dates from 1373, (OiN p. 122). The oldest printed Dutch translation appeared in Bruges in 1625, and was produced by Hendrik vanden Zype, since 1616 abbott of S. Andries neffens Brugghe, primarily, it seems, for the female followers of Benedictus in Bruges. There was in that time an open conflict in Bruges between the bischop and the abbess of the Benedictinesses. The aim of this translation seems to have been to put the Benedictinesses of Bruges in their place. In the dedication of the1625 edition we are told that it was made ad utilitatem et commoditatem Religiosarum Benedictinarum. In 1629 a new updated version of this translation was published in Douai (in the North of France), a catholic bulwark of the Contrareformation against the spreading of the protestantism in the Low Countries. This edition was probably also produced for the Benedictinesses, but now of Douai, for on the title is a citation of the Church Father Athanasius, Logos sôtêrias pros tên parthenon. A new translation of the Regula appeared in 1694 in Antwerp. The Flemish latinist Andries Welkenhuysen has compared the translation of 1625 with the one of 1694 and concluded that the translation was not new at all, but that the anonymous Religieus van de Abdije van S. Salvator, der Ordere van Cisteaux (Cistercian monk of the Abbey of S. Salvator) mentioned on the title simply made an aggiornamento of the edition of Bruges. This edition of 1694 was used for a second edition which was published by the widow Vander Hey in Antwerp in 1768. There is no date on the title. Welkenhuysen finds, that this second edition is, apart from some orthographica identical with that one of 1694. It even repeats the approbatio of 1694 at the end. The date of publication of this second edition is between 1747, the year that Coenraad Ignatius vander Hey died, and his wife took over, and 1772, the year the widow died. Welkenhuysen has compared all the books printed by the widow vander Hey concerning (the wear of) the typeface, the printer's mark, and the bibliographic address. He found that the widow used the copper engraving of the printer's mark of this book, the dove of the Holy Ghost, only for 3 books, 2 times in 1756, and 1 time for this undated book. The exact same wording of the imprint, 't Antwerpen, by de Wed. vander Hey, op de Meir, in den H. Geest' occurs only once, in an edition of 1768. Therefore Welkenhuysen dates this book ca. 1768. This book seems to be rare. We located only one copy in a Dutch library (erroneously dated 1694), a copy in the University Library of Gent and 2 copies in the University Library of Leuven. There is not yet a copy recorded in STCV or Beledimar) (Collation: A-F12 G6) (Photographs on request)