In 1739, Brussels Martinus Regaus entered the Benedictine
Abbey in Affligem. In 1746 he was appointed librarian and in 1763 he was appointed
as provost Beda Regaus by Archbishop von Frankenberg.
Since 1559, the archbishops of Mechelen had been appointed as
abbot of the abbey and the provost assumed authority in the abbey.
He spent 3 years on the organization and study of the archives, which resulted in his
historical and religious works that are still consulted for historical research into the
abbey.
In 1768, under the influence of provost Beda, the community decided to have a plan
for a new abbey drawn up in classicist style by L.B. Dewez,
the most prominent 18th-century architect in the Austrian Netherlands. A gigantic rectangle with four courtyards that enclosed the church on three
sides with a front facade that was 120m long with 41 windows on the
first floor in the north facade. The shell was largely finished when
the resources were exhausted and the French Revolution finally put an end to
the construction activities.
At the time of the expulsion on 11 November 1796, the community consisted of 33 religious.
The buildings, possessions and land were seized and sold.
In the abbey, the oak prayer chair and the table
on which he celebrated Holy Mass are still from provost Beda. His
gravestone is on the back wall of the abbey cemetery.