Saint Catherine

Statue of Saint Catherine

The statue of Saint Catherine dates from the end of the 16th century and is attributed to the Mechelen sculptor Thomas Hazart. St. Catherine is a mythical figure from Roman times. According to legend, she refused to renounce her Christian faith, on which the Roman emperor sentenced her to death. She was tied up between the spokes of a wheel, which was then quickly turned around, after which death would normally follow. Legend has it, however, that it was not Catharina who broke, but the wheel. They then proceeded to decapitation, but something unique happened there too: milk flowed out of the wound, which drove out the plague in the city.

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Chapel and altar of Saint Joseph

Remarkable in the St Joseph's Chapel with its stone vault is the baroque altar in white and black marble from ca. 1650 - pay particular attention to the two twisted columns - is by Lucas Faydherbe (1617-1697). It is the oldest altar we know of his. The original painting by Jacob Jordaens has been replaced by a 19th-century "Flight to Egypt" by Jos Paelinckx (1781-1839). Joseph plays a central role in this story, one of the few times in the gospel.

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Pulpit

The pulpit (1774) is a work by the Malinois Pieter Valckx (1734-1783), based on a design by Theodoor Verhaegen (1700-1759). The Holy Family seeks shelter under a thatched roof, in the ruins of a temple. Jesus sits on the globe between Joseph and Mary, holding a cross in his arms. Angels and clouds hover between the tree branches that form the sounding board. They were angels who broadcast the Good News at Christ's birth. Also on the pulpit the Good News was proclaimed.

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Confessionals

The church contains a beautiful series of confessionals from the fourth quarter of the 17th century, all by Nicolaas Van der Veken (1637-1709), a pupil of Lucas Faydherbe. Their symbolic language is mostly classical: it is about sins and their redemption. The sculpture was recovered from elsewhere in the church and only used for confessionals in 1817.

Note: Nicolaas Van der Veken also made the wooden statue of the Holy Family (1659). The head and hands of the statue are polychrome and finely finished, in contrast to the rather roughly worked bodies. The intention was to dress the figures.

Cave of Lourdes

In 1858, in a cave in Lourdes, the Blessed Virgin appeared to Bernadette Soubirous, then 14 years old. Shortly afterwards dozens of surrogate caves were built in Flanders, in the open air and in churches. The clergy strongly stimulated Marian devotion in that period, among other things with the dogma of the Immaculate Conception from 1854: Mary was conceived by her parents free from original sin. The popular devotion around the Blessed Virgin, which in the 19th century mainly 'appeared' to simple people (the poor, children, simple-minded people, etc.), was used in the church's struggle against 'modern progress' and against disbelief. This cave of the Katelijnekerk was consecrated on 11 February 1937.

The Chapel of Anthony

Like Saint Joseph, Anthony also has a chapel in the church, but it is much more recent: it dates from 1834 and stands symmetrically across the street. Her altar and stained-glass windows are dedicated to the saint. Anthony of Padua (Lisbon, 1195 - Padua, 1231) was a Franciscan from the time of the founder of the order, Francis of Assisi. There are all kinds of wonderful stories about him: a count would have seen him one night with a child in his hands, enveloped in rays of light (hence the statues of Anthony with the child). One day Antonius' Bible would have been stolen and returned to God by the thief after a prayer. Hence Antonius' help is called upon to find lost objects.

Heilige Katharina / Chormädchen – Kampagne 2021

Beyond this statue, no fewer than 12 rose windows in the central nave are dedicated to Catherine's torture on the wheel, as well as a large rose window on the main façade.