Send Gift Baskets to Dilbeek, Belgium

Saint Alena, a martyr, and daughter of a lord of Dilbeek in the 7th century, lived in both Dilbeek and Forest (Vorst). Her life’s historical facts, however, are disputed. Dilbeek and its neighboring villages were part of the pagus Bracbatensis during Carolingian times. It was integrated into the Landgraviate of Brabant by the counts of Leuven around 1085 after being ruled by the Lords of Aa in Anderlecht. Dedelbeccha’s first mention dates from 1075, while Bigardis, later known as Groot-Bijgaarden (in French Grand Bigard), dates from 1110. By 1125, nuns under the leadership of Saint Wivina had founded a religious community at Bigardis, originally a dependency of Saint Bavo’s Abbey in Ghent. Dilbeek remained an independent parish until the French Revolution when the landgraviate became the Duchy of Brabant.

Its parishes belonged to the sea of Cambrai until 1559 when they were transferred to the archbishop of Mechelen. In the 16th century, the Lords of Gaasbeek also ruled Dilbeek, Itterbeek, and Sint-Martens-Bodegem. As a result of the wars between Catholics and Protestants that followed, Groot-Bijgaarden Abbey was destroyed. During the French regime in the 1790s, the buildings were finally dismantled and sold.