Vilvoorde: An old treasure amidst decay

Vilvoorde, a town of some 40,000 people north-east of Brussels, has several claims to fame. 

As a postcard for post-industrial decay.

When in 1931 Renault located its first auto assembly plant in this municipality, it promised jobs and plenty of them for workers and suppliers. The unexpected announcement by the company's chief executive officer of the closure of manufacuring in 1997 brought the dream to a crashing halt. 3,000 workers lost their jobs, as did 1,500 employees in direct supply firms. Although, the Paris stock market reacted with glee, elevating Renault's stocks by 13% in a single day, Vilvoorde went through a massive tailspin from which it has not recovered.

As a place where Protestants cherish their martyrs. 

An Englishman, William Tyndale, Oxford scholar and Bible translator was strangled here and burnt at the stake in 1536. 

In 1596, Anna Utenhoven, an Anabaptist, was buried alive for heresy - the last such victim in the territory of today's Belgium. 

As an execution ground for opponents to the Spanish Crown.

In the 16th century, the powerful and feared Duke of Alba, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, one of the most brilliant generals ever, had two nobles executed here for treason. Lord Anthony van Stralen, a mayor of Antwerp, and Lord Jan van Casembroot, a governor of Oudenaarde, were beheaded in 1568. These actions contributed to the black legend of the so-called Spanish Fury. 

 

As "the n°1 provider of Belgian jihadis," so says POLITICO. And "which at one time boasted the highest per capita rate of Western foreign fighters in Syria," that's according to the New York Review of Books.

 

And as the site of what is considered the oldest - 800-years-old - Carmel in Western Europe.

None of these reasons endear  Vilvoorde to visitors.

However, I do hope the photos of the Carmelite monastery do convey the tranquil beauty of this gem. 

It is worth visiting, at least as a short respite from the hustle and bustle of the town, if not for a longer contemplation of the immutability of certain aspects of our universum.

 

The church of Our Lady of Consolation (Onze-Lieve-Vrouw ten Troost), holding a miraculous statue of the Virgin, has for centuries been a place of pilgrimage.

 

 

For this reason it has been raised to the status of a basilica.

The church's baroque interior is snow-pure white, sparsely, but beautifully adorned with the prominent markings of the Carmelite tradition.

Mary and Jesus, with the scapular. Also the Discalded Carmelite emblem.

Due to the clausura, I could not visit the monastery itself, but, apparently, the gardens are open to visitors once a year. 

Today, the community of nuns is composed of several nuns - Filippino and Belgian. 

Erasmus in Anderlecht

This year Europeans commemorate a number of historical milestones, starting with the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, which set the integration of Europe in motion. 

Another less noted marker, however, is the 30th anniversary of the ERASMUS program.  

The program is named after Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536), a Catholic clergyman-turned critic of the Church, who has become best remembered as a widely-travelled humanist scholar in the Renaissance period.

A woodcut of Erasmus (author's collection)

Through his travels to England, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, he contributed to fostering a pan-European scholastic space rooted in  then a single European language of culture and scholarship - Latin. The flow of his thoughts was accelerated at the time thanks to the invention of the printing press. Much like the e-mail today cuts distance. 
Erasmus, not without a reason, is thus considered one of the first true Europeans.  

Erasmus is also a backronym, as it stands for the European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students. It is the European Commission-financed tool to allow university students to study for a period of time in another EU member state. The assumption is that this would  enrich the beneficiary's European identity. Much like the extensive travels by Erasmus left their mark on the places he visited.

One such place is Brussels.

A wonderful museum in Anderlecht, in Erasmus' time a village on the outskirts of Brussels, immortalizes his 5 month-stay here in 1521. What is special about the museum is that it is inside the very house where he lived, studied and worked.  This lends it an incredible authenticity.

As the museum booklet reminds: "The house dates back to the middle of the 15th century. ... Adrian of Utrecht, who was a private tutor to King Charles V and later became Pope Adrian VI was a resident of this house early in its history."   

This was a chapter house of the Augustinian canons, an order of which Erasmus was also a member, which opened its doors for fellow Augustinian friars. He lived here as a guest of Canon Pierre Wychman, a respected fellow in his own right. 

From his colloquies and letters, we learn that Erasmus loved the rural setting of the Brabant. "A city dweller turned country-dweller, I lead a rather pleasant life," he wrote in one of his letters. "I would be dead by now had I not left the stench of the city" - he was referring to Brussels five centuries before the levels of pollution reached peak levels in modern-day capital of Belgium...

Such was his fondness for this country retreat that he extended his stay from 3 months to 5 months. The rural air apparently relaxed Erasmus, embroiled in disputes with fellow professors at Louvain University, where he taught. 

There may have another reason for his delay in further travel - the security environment. Erasmus confided: "I was about to leave, since my stay in the country had strengthened me somewhat, when I was diverted from my plans by a horrible war which was spreading and worsening by the day." I am not an expert on Erasmus, but this could have been a reference to the Gouelders Wars (or the Frisian peasant rebellion?). Anyway, this conflict as well as the wars spurred by the Reformation must have dispirted Erasmus, a believer, much as he was, in tolerance and pacificism.

Erasmus did depart eventually on 28 October 1521, for Basel.  Even though, he grew very fond of the Basel scholarly community ("No one is ignorant of Latin; none of Greek; most of them know Hebrew," he stated) it is said that he often expressed nostalgia for Brabant, and a few days before his death Erasmus wrote: "If only Brabant were nearer."

The house in Anderlecht would over time host other renowned guests, including Mercator, the brilliant cartographer, but those who started to flock here as early as the 17th century were only interested in seeing the place where Erasmus stayed.  

The 19th century did not treat the house well. Following the dissolution of the monastic orders, the house turned into an ordinary middle-class home. So many alterations and additions were made that by the beginning of the 20th century it lost virtually any trace of its original design. Then, in the 1930s, a man with a passion, a love of history and local connections entered the stage - a municipal official Daniel Van Damme. He convinced the local government to buy the property much to the displeasure of the public decrying the waste of resources (sounds familiar?). The restoration helped bring back the original building to its minute meticulous details. It was  opened with much fanfare in September 1932 in the presence of the Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Brabant, Leopold and Astrid, mindful as they were of the incredible importance of this piece of Belgian heritage.

In Praise of Folly (author's collection)

Since then, thanks to "the harmonious blend of furnishings, paintings, sculptures" - the museum managers and supporters ("The Friends of the Erasmus House") succeeded in bringing "the great humanist to life". The house is filled with period furniture, art and possesses a lovely library with, of course, the works of Erasmus, the majority published in his time and after his death, and in many languages attesting to the spread of ideas in his time.

Colloquies (author's collection)

 

Some manuscripts and parchment-bound incunabulae lie about by a Gothic chimney in Erasmus' study, which has a feel as if the scholar has only been here yesterday.


If you love leather-bound old tomes, as much as I do, you'll be suitably impressed. 

There's much to recommend in this museum, not only for bibliophiles.  There's many paintings to admire by such masters as Hieronymus Bosch, Franz Franken II, Hans Holbein, or from the workshop of Rogier Van der Weyden and Hugo van der Goes; also many drawings by Albert Dürer.


The first room on the ground floor, called Chambre de Rhétorique, features - appropriately - a painting of Pope Adrian VI. The glass cases hold letters from Emperor Charles V and the King of France Francis I, both receptive to Erasmus' works, as well as some letters by Erasmus himself (one of... 3,000 he would write!). The walls of the second room, the refectory, are covered with Cordoba leather from Spain, a clear reminder of the heritage of the Spanish Habsburgs. 

And everywhere the walls are adorned by Renaissance engravings.  

I should mention the lighting - it is sparse, creating sombre (Gothic) atmospherics.



 And for the wary traveler - rest awaits in a beautiful little garden. Etched into the little pond is Erasmus' own admission:  Civis mundi sum, communis omnium vel peregrinus magis ("I am a citizen of the world, my homeland is everywhere, or, rather, I am a foreigner to everyone"). It sure sounds comforting to some and subversive to others.  




 Tout ensemble, the Erasmus House is a feast for the aesthete as much as it is a paradise for an historian.

The Miracle at Bois-Seigneur-Isaac

When you reach the village of Bois-Seigneur-Isaac, you will find yourself enchanted.  

The scenery is delightful. Across the road from the abbey you'll notice a charming palace that belongs to an important family - the Snoy. 

Château de Bois-Seigneur-Isaac

The current owner's father, Count Jean-Charles Snoy et d'Oppuers, a former Secretary General of the Belgian Ministry of Economic Affairs, was one of the negotiators and signatories of the 1957 Treaty of Rome, and from 1968 till 1972 a Minister of Finance.

All''s quaint: the cows are grazing, the birds are chirping - a typical countryside...

... and there's the Abbey. 

A gateway to the Abbey

Its origins date back to the 11th century. The Loord Isaac planted a wood in the area which gave this settlement the name: "Lord Isaac's Wood". In the shade of a lime tree he also placed a statue of the Virgin Mary.  In 1096 he accompanied Godfrey de Bouillon on the First Crusade, and was taken prisoner by the Saracens. He prayed to Mary for deliverance and She responded: "How can you leave me in the open air exposed to rain and snow and dare to ask me to help you?" Isaac promised to build a chapel, if freed. At that instance, the chains which kept him prisoner broke and the door to the dungeon swung wide open. He was free. Following his return to the Bois, in 1100 he built a wooden chapel dedicated to our Lady of Grace and Consolation, whose statue has been venerated ever since. 

Church interior today

When in 1336 an epidemic struck the residents of a nearby Ittre, the statue was carried in procession through the parish - and the epidemic subsided.

Lord Isaac's castle and the chapel in the Middle Ages

However, the fame of this place of worship owes to the miracle of the Eucharist which took place here in 1405.

On Tuesday before the Pentecost, the lord of the manor, Jean du Bois, had a series of visions. At midnight, a man of about thirty illuminated by light appeared to him, covered with wounds. He said: "Look, how cruelly I have been treated. I pray you, have pity on me, find me a doctor capable of healing me and do me justice." The knight was struck with fear and helplessness, for there was no way he could find a doctor at that hour. The vision repeated twice. On the third apparition, accompanied by his brother, Jean had the courage to ask the Visitor: "Supposing I was able to find this doctor, where could I send him?" He heard the Christ say: "Take the key to the chapel and go there. You will find me there and will know who I am."   

Jean went to the chapel and saw above the altar Christ on the cross bleeding from his wounds.


At the same time, the parish priest of Haut-Ittre, which  had within its jurisdiction Bois-Seigneur-Isaac, Pierre Oste, was awakened suddenly by a voice telling him: "Get up, Sir Peter, and go and celebrate the Mass of the Holy Cross in the chapel of Bois-Seigneur-Isaac." He did so the very next morning - 5 June.

A painting above the main church altar

 
When Father Pierre, celebrating the mass, tried to pick up the consecrated Host, not only could he not part it from the corporal, but he noticed drops of blood dripping from it and spreading over the corporal.

This affected him profoundly. As  the priest was near fainting, Jean, who was present, calmed him down: "Do not fear, this miracle comes from God." And he promptly recalled his visions.

 

 The Blood continued to flow for five days until Tuesday after Pentecost, leaving a mark on the corporal the thickness of a finger, three fingers wide. It dried up only after the feast of Corpus Christ on 18 June.

Told of the account by many who had witnessed it the Bishop of Cambrai, Pierre d'Ailly, decided to open an investigation.

Pierre d'Aily,  Vrais portraits et vies des hommes illustres, André Thévet, 1584

A future cardinal Pierre d'Ailly (1351-1420) was a Chancellor of the University of Paris and one of the leading theologians at the Council of Constance. In other words, he was not a man who might easily be swayed or tricked.  He ordered rigorous tests to determine the causes of the phenomenon. Even though repeated and rigorous attempts were made with soap, water or wine to remove the stains of Blood from the corporal during the two years it was under his care, they all failed.

The Corporal stained with Christ's Blood

On 16 June, 1410, the bishop granted an indulgence of 40 days to those who visited the Chapel  at Bois-Seigneur-Isaaac. 

Reliquary of the Eucharistic Miracle

Then, three years later, on 3 May, he allowed the corporal to be venerated as a relic and established a procession in honor of the miracle, along with a public display of the Holy Sacrament.

An exhibit in the Abbey museum

So many pilgrims  started visiting the small chapel that more clergy was brought in to serve them. Thanks to a donation from William II, the Marquis of Namur, who participated in the first procession in 1414, it was possible to lay the founding stone for a monastery in 1416. Completed in two years, it was put under the care of the Augustinians.

At the end of the 18th century, the Abbey fell victim to the order of the enlightened despot Emperor Joseph II to close down religious houses deemed "unproductive" to society. The monks received an eviction notice on 17 April 1784.  

Refectory today

They were lucky, though. They appealed successfully, pointing out to the village school they founded, and were allowed to stay - at least for a while. As is the common history of many Belgian monastic institutions, the French Revolution proved more destructive, and the place was closed down in 1796. Not for long. The Concordat of 1801 returned the Abbey to the Catholic Church.  

 

 The secularisation of the 20th century threatened to bring the place down for good.

In the 1920s and 30s, some 50,000 pilgrims would still visit the relic of the Lord's Blood. Starting in the late 1940s, however, the numbers dwindled, meanwhile the Premonstratensian monks, who took over the Abbey, were also facing a drop in vocations, so by 2009 a decision was made to close it. 

The rescue came from an unexpected direction.. the Middle East. Just as the death sentence was being pronounced, on 24 May 2010, the Lebanese Maronite monks came to the Abbey. 

One of the exhibits in the Abbey museum

They brought with them for veneration a relic of their revered Saint Charbel (1828-1898) - a Lebanese hermit, credited with many miracles. 

 Thus began a new chapter in the life of the Abbey, now known as the Monastery of Saint Charbel. 

Incredibly, the early Christian hermitage traditions of the Holy Land gave the dying old monastic establishment of the Holy Roman Empire a a new lease of life.

Today, the tradition of pilgrimages has been restored (toute proportion gardée), with pilgrims flocking to the Abbey every second Sunday of September.   

As to the venerated statue of the Virgin Mary today the original rests in Ittre, while Bois-Seigneur-Isaac retains an old copy. 

And by way of a post scriptum: ever mindful of the utility of monastic houses, Joseph II would be happy to know that parts of the Abbey have been turned over for shelter by the refugees.
 

Additional Reference: 

Deike and Ean Begg, In Search of the Holy Grail and the Precious Blood: A Traveller's Guide,  New York: iUniverse, Inc., 2008. 

Traces of the past in the woods of Tervuren

Tervuren Park is one of the favourite spots for the residents of Brussels. The combination of water, forests and a grand edifice of the Africa Museum renders it an oasis of rest. Those exploring the area will find here the remains of a majestic castle that once stood here. Originally the residence of the dukes of Brabant in the XIV and XV centuries, it became one of the country residences of the Sovereigns of the Spanish Netherlands the Archduchess Isabel Clara Eugenia (1566-1633) and her husband the Archduke of Austria Albert VII  (1559-1621).

Tervuren castle, Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625)

 But as you venture further into the forest, lacking in the knowledge of the history of the area you are unlikely to find other traces of the Infanta's heritage. These traces are very faint. But, it is rewarding to discover them - little, fading glimpses of the past; reminders of historical changes that  have transformed Belgium's landscape over the centuries.

I suppose not many people walking through the part of Tervuren Park, called Bois des Capucins, or Kapbos, ask themselves why it is called the Capuchin Forest.  Fewer still venture off the Kapucijnendreef or the Drève des Capucins. If you come across what appear to be a line of red bricks beneath your feet, you may like to exit the pathway and explore the land around you.

Covered under a  canopy of grass you'll discover remains of what appear to be either foundations or ground-level chambers of buildings that once stood here.

  

They are the faint remains of the Capuchin Monastery. (I was only able to find these  ruins thanks to modern and older maps, as well as GPS.) 

Built in 1626-1627, the Capuchin monastery did not last long. Like many monastic institutions on the territory of  the Habsburg Netherlands, it fell victim to the decree by the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II that contemplative monasteries, which he saw as "unproductive", had to close down.  The anti-clerical fury of the French Revolution that swept across the Austrian domains dealt a final death blow. As a result, by 1798 the Capuchin monastery ceased to exist. An expert in ecclesiastical architecture, Joris Snaet of the Catholic University of Leuven, writes that the monastery was "completely destroyed.“ While at it, Joseph II also took the trouble to demolish the castle of Tervuren. 

Joris Snaet's study, entitled "Isabel Clara Eugenia and the Capuchin Monastery at Tervuren” (in Cordula van Wyhe, ed., Isabel Clara Eugenia: Female Sovereignty in the Courts of Madrid and Brussels, 2011) has helped me piece together the story of this place.

As Snaet writes: “the monastery was Isabella’s last great monastic foundation. She assisted at the laying of the first stone of the monastery [on 25 June 1626, together with Archbishop Jacobus Boonen of Mechelen] and at the consecration of the church. The monastery was intended primarily as a seminary for Capuchin novices. A small hermitage was specially constructed for her in the garden.” Thus, there was a royal connection between the archducal castle, one of three (also the Coudenberg Palace in Brussels and Mariemont) favored by Archduchess Isabel and the monastery. Isabel would often retire here for a few hours or days of  spiritual retreat or in preparation for religious feasts. Her withdrawal became more frequent after she became a widow. According to Snaet, the "Tervuren monastery was one of the rare Capuchin monasteries in the Southern Netherlands to be located outside the walls of a city.” This owes exactly to the patronage by the court in Brussels. 

We learn from Snaet that the monastery “is one of two Capuchin foundations, the other being the one in Brussels, established in 1587, to which Antonius Sanderus dedicated a chapter in his famous Chorographia sacra Brabantiae (see an engraving, which appeared in this book, by Lucas Vorsterman, the chief engraver for Rubens). The fact that this celebrated Flemish historian would devote a chapter to it attests to the importance this monastery once had.

The founding of this institution enjoyed the support of several esteemed Belgian families. At its consecration were such distinguished individuals  as “the Duke and Duchess of Aarschot, the Prince of Chimay, the Count and Countess of Gamalerio, the Count of Bugnon, the Count of Destaires, the Count of Roeulx, the Countess of Grimbergen and many others. All had made donations to the monastery.”

The monastery was dedicated to ‘Saint Francis in the Desert.’ St. Francis is the patron saint of – among others – the  environment. He is also considered a model for interreligious dialogue. He gained such a reputation due to his meeting with the caliph of Egypt. Admittedly, Francis wanted to convert him to Christianity, but,  unlike the warring Crusaders, he approached the caliph non-belligerently. The two had a dialogue. We know thanks to researcher Eelco Diederik Nagelsmit that Franciscan spirituality was widespread in the XVII century Flanders [Venite & videte: art and architecture in Brussels as agents of change during the counter reformation, c. 1609-1659, Universiteit Leiden, 2014].   

 This Capuchin monastery holds another interesting connection to Belgian history. In 1626, 1627-1630 and 1633-1635 its superior - and probably also its architect - was Carolus of Brussels van Arenberg. 

Portrait of capuchin friar Carolus van Arenberg by Paulus Pontius after Abraham van Diepenbeek

As the son of Anne de Croÿ, 5^th duchess of Aarschot (1563-1635), he came from one the finest Belgian families. After 1633, Carolus was suspected of “quietly supporting” his brother Philip, duke of Aarschot, in the Conspiracy of the Nobles to overthrow the Spanish rule. As a consequence, in 1637, he was expelled from the Spanish Netherlands, and allowed to return only in 1643 (meanwhile, his brother had died in detention in Madrid in 1640).    While Carolus eventually reconciled with the Spanish crown, he remained deeply attached to the sovereignty of his family. The first superior of the Capuchin monastery might therefore be considered a Belgian patriot.

Capuchin monastery at Tervuren, Lucas van Uden (1595-1672)

Post scriptum: With the help of a Flemish friend I wrote to the municipal authorities at Tervuren suggesting that an information board be installed near the site of the former monastery. Such boards are found for instance at Rouge-Cloitre and Groenendael. I did not receive a response. This is regrettable. Unlike quite a few other remaining abbeys in the Sonian Forest all we have to show for the Capuchin monastery today are the few and far between traces of its foundations. However, I consider its imprint in Belgium's historical memory to be no less illustrious.