Evarist Deconinck Takes Over The Mont Des Cats Cheese Factory

In 1934, the monks of the Abbaye Sainte Marie du Mont des Cats sold their Belgian property in Watou to Evarist Deconinck. The site had been used as a refuge and cheese-making operation after anti-clerical pressure in France had pushed the Mont des Cats community across the border into Belgium. Deconinck continued and expanded the cheese business under the St. Bernard name. The site later became central to the history of St. Bernardus: after World War II, the monks of Saint-Sixtus Abbey at Westvleteren licensed Deconinck to brew and market their beers, and the St. Bernardus brewery developed next to the former cheese workshop.