In 1877, the abbey founded a "Broederschap van O.-L.-Vrouw van het Heilig Hart" ("Brotherhood of Our Mother of the Holy Heart"), linked with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Issoudun. This brotherhood would give a new élan to the abbey and define its status and works until today. Membership soared, with 60,000 in 1879 and 100,000 in 1883, reaching 400,000 by 1894. In 1881, a first press was bought to print the magazines and leaflets for the Brotherhood. In the meantime, the judicial status of the abbey was still unclear, and in 1887 the abbey was sold to the Countess of Merode, and most of the ground to her father. In the years before World War I, the abbey prospered and grew through the Brotherhood and the printing activities, with some of its magazines printed in more than 100,000 copies. The abbey was now the largest employer of the region, and built social houses for its employees in 1899 and created a cooperative dairy in 1907 and a bank in 1911.