Sacred Heart (La Croyère)
Rue Parmentier 25
7100 La Louvière
Church | 1902 | | Catholic Church
Map
Opening hours
01 January - 31 December
Mon 9.00 - 18.00
Tue 9.00 - 18.00
Wed 9.00 - 18.00
Thu 9.00 - 18.00
Fri 9.00 - 18.00
Sat 9.00 - 18.00
Sun 9.00 - 18.00
Religious offices
Saturday 6.30 pm
Description
Right in the heart of the working class area of La Louvière and close to the steel works, this church was built in 1905 when parish activity was very active. The church hall and the vicarage frame the church.
Inside, one notes above all the originality of the multi coloured stained glass windows. They depict unusual individuals such as Pope John XXIII, Father Damien, a mother, a beggar, Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, a deacon and Saint Ephrem, models of Christian life, which are different from those normally seen elsewhere. There is also an astonishing brass tabernacle encrusted with coloured enamel and a copy of the Virgin of Good Hope depicting the mother breast feeding the child.
Photos
Remarkable elements
The stained glass windows
The church is remarkable for its many colourful and original stained glass windows depicting well-known and lesser-known saints. Father Jérôme Deknudt, of the Premonstratensian Order, parish priest from 1958 to 1968, had these stained glass windows installed. Ahead of his time, he was one of the first to honour John XXIII, initiator of Vatican II, and Father Damien, long before his canonisation. They are depicted surrounding Saint Joseph above the entrance porch.
Tabernacle
It was also Father Deknudt who acquired this astonishing tabernacle made of brass inlaid with coloured enamels.
Shrine of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque
Margaret Mary Alacoque was a propagator of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The shrine contains some relics of the saint, which were authenticated in 1947. It is currently located in the sacristy.
