Erfgoed Delft

Martijn Gijsbrechtszoon together with Wermboud van Boskoop from Utrecht persuaded the sisters to join the Third Order (or Franciscan movement of Tertiaries), take their professions and to choose a mother superior to lead them. Wermbout van Boskoop was one of the leaders of the Tertiaries. Tertiary monks (brothers) and Tertiary nuns (sisters) lived in religious communities without the strict rules and judicial organisation of formal monastic institutions. The sisters took their veils and professions in Utrecht on Saint Dominic's day (5 August) 1400. Profession is the public declaration of vows. The implementation of the Third Order was a method for the Church to accommodate the strong growth of religious lay communities of men and women within the church hierarchy. The nuns were now the responsibility of the church's Utrecht chapter. The nuns chose Alijd as their first Mother Superior. By this time a house located on the present Prinsenhof site was purchased. In 1401 the nuns gained permission from Duke Aalbrecht to consecrate a chapel.