Story
In 1231, Count Otto II of Ravensberg and his wife Sophia from the House of Oldenburg-Wildeshausen donated their Bersenbrücker possessions to the order of the Cistercians to build a women's monastery. The foundation deed states:
“....In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity. Otto, by the grace of God, Count, and Sophia, Countess of Ravensberg....wish...to publicly announce that, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we....our property in Bersenbrugge, namely the church with its assets and all accessories, furthermore We also donated the adjacent (main) farm in the same village with a mill, two allodens, farms, serfs, meadows, fisheries, forests, pastures and everything else that belongs to the farm in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ and his glorious birther , the Virgin Mary, the local patron saint,...that...a monastery of the Cistercian order, namely a women's monastery, was built there.