In 1410, the Crosiers' general chapter ordered the destruction of its records and decisions from the time of its foundation.
The reason for this radical act is recorded to have been a thorough reformation of some sort, but it left the Order's modern historians with only fragments and clues to their Order's first two centuries, and the tradition summarized above.

The principal source of information about the origin of the order is in the Chronicon Cruciferorum of Henricus Russelius, Prior of Suxy.
Their own sources, and mention of them in non-Crosier sources, usually call them "the Brethren of the Holy Cross," and the French and English words used for them, Croisiers and Crosiers, are derived from the French "croisé", one of the words used for a crusader, and meaning "marked with a cross."

Only one of their five founders for whom they have a name is the group's leader, and that only in its Latin form, Theodoricus (or Diederick) de Cellis, which first appears in a short history of the Order published in 1636.
While Rusellius does not mention Theodore's parents, there are biographies from the 17th century that say he was the son of Walter de Beaufort and Oda de Celles, guardians of the abbatial church of Celles near Dinant during the latter half of the 12th century.

There is no record of the presence of the Crosiers at Huy until the 1240s, and only in 1322 did Clairlieu become the site of a magnificent church dedicated to the Holy Cross instead of the small chapel of St. Theobald.

The new institution soon extended to France, the Netherlands, Germany, and also to England.
Because they were established in the early 13th century, they were contemporaries of the Dominicans and Franciscans, they were frequently misidentified as friars and were often confused with other religious orders known as Crosiers who identified themselves with the Holy Cross.
So, for example, there was a very old tradition that Bishop Albert of Prague took several Crosiers with him to Livonia, but these were in fact members of the Bohemian order of the Holy Cross.
In England, too, they and an Italian order of the Holy Cross were both identified as Crutched Friars, and so the location of their houses and their activities are often mistaken for each other.

One tradition claims that Theodorus de Cellis assisted St. Dominic in his preaching to the Albigenses of southern France; a Crosier presence in that area is reliably recorded from early in their history.
 A similar tradition places Crosiers in the train of the French king St. Louis IX of France in 1248 during his crusade; he did enable the Crosiers to build their Paris monastery in 1254.

The Order flourished in the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, and at its greatest extent had about ninety houses scattered across northern Europe.
But those in England and in parts of the Netherlands and Germany were suppressed during the Protestant Reformation, and almost all of those that survived, notably in France and the Southern Netherlands, including the ancient motherhouse at Huy, were suppressed in the dissolution of monasteries and convents after the French Revolution.
In 1794, the area west of the Rhine river fell to France.
Along with other abbeys in French controlled areas, the Crosier monasteries were abolished and the monks were forced to leave.

By 1840, only two Crosier houses remained, both in North Brabant, the Netherlands: that of St. Agatha, outside Cuijk, and that in Uden.
They seemed likewise doomed to extinction by the decree of King William I of the Netherlands, which forbade religious houses in his realm to admit novices.
When King William II lifted his father's ban on 14 September 1840, only four elderly Crosiers remained: the youngest around sixty and the oldest, Father William Kantor, the only Crosier able to remember his Order as it had been before the Revolution.
 Thereafter the Order slowly began to recover.
 In second half of the 19th century, the Crosiers returned to their Belgian birthplace, and even made an effort to transplant the Order outside Europe to the United States when their
In 1410, the Crosiers' general chapter ordered the destruction of its records and decisions from the time of its foundation. The reason for this radical act is recorded to have been a thorough reformation of some sort, but it left the Order's modern historians with only fragments and clues to their Order's first two centuries, and the tradition summarized above.
The principal source of information about the origin of the order is in the Chronicon Cruciferorum of Henricus Russelius, Prior of Suxy. Their own sources, and mention of them in non-Crosier sources, usually call them "the Brethren of the Holy Cross," and the French and English words used for them, Croisiers and Crosiers, are derived from the French "croisé", one of the words used for a crusader, and meaning "marked with a cross."
Only one of their five founders for whom they have a name is the group's leader, and that only in its Latin form, Theodoricus (or Diederick) de Cellis, which first appears in a short history of the Order published in 1636. While Rusellius does not mention Theodore's parents, there are biographies from the 17th century that say he was the son of Walter de Beaufort and Oda de Celles, guardians of the abbatial church of Celles near Dinant during the latter half of the 12th century.
There is no record of the presence of the Crosiers at Huy until the 1240s, and only in 1322 did Clairlieu become the site of a magnificent church dedicated to the Holy Cross instead of the small chapel of St. Theobald.
The new institution soon extended to France, the Netherlands, Germany, and also to England. Because they were established in the early 13th century, they were contemporaries of the Dominicans and Franciscans, they were frequently misidentified as friars and were often confused with other religious orders known as Crosiers who identified themselves with the Holy Cross. So, for example, there was a very old tradition that Bishop Albert of Prague took several Crosiers with him to Livonia, but these were in fact members of the Bohemian order of the Holy Cross. In England, too, they and an Italian order of the Holy Cross were both identified as Crutched Friars, and so the location of their houses and their activities are often mistaken for each other.
One tradition claims that Theodorus de Cellis assisted St. Dominic in his preaching to the Albigenses of southern France; a Crosier presence in that area is reliably recorded from early in their history.  A similar tradition places Crosiers in the train of the French king St. Louis IX of France in 1248 during his crusade; he did enable the Crosiers to build their Paris monastery in 1254.
The Order flourished in the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, and at its greatest extent had about ninety houses scattered across northern Europe. But those in England and in parts of the Netherlands and Germany were suppressed during the Protestant Reformation, and almost all of those that survived, notably in France and the Southern Netherlands, including the ancient motherhouse at Huy, were suppressed in the dissolution of monasteries and convents after the French Revolution. In 1794, the area west of the Rhine river fell to France. Along with other abbeys in French controlled areas, the Crosier monasteries were abolished and the monks were forced to leave.
By 1840, only two Crosier houses remained, both in North Brabant, the Netherlands: that of St. Agatha, outside Cuijk, and that in Uden. They seemed likewise doomed to extinction by the decree of King William I of the Netherlands, which forbade religious houses in his realm to admit novices. When King William II lifted his father's ban on 14 September 1840, only four elderly Crosiers remained: the youngest around sixty and the oldest, Father William Kantor, the only Crosier able to remember his Order as it had been before the Revolution.  Thereafter the Order slowly began to recover.  In second half of the 19th century, the Crosiers returned to their Belgian birthplace, and even made an effort to transplant the Order outside Europe to the United States when their 
Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross