Saint Paul’s, the Antwerp Dominican church, a revelation
How history can be read from one monument...
| GENERAL HISTORY | SAINTThis is a title that the Church bestows on a deceased person who has lived a particularly righteous and faithful life. In the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Church, saints may be venerated (not worshipped). Several saints are also martyrs. PAULS’S CHURCH HISTORY | ||
| R O M A N S | Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem | 4 BC | |
| Saul’s birth (‘Paul’) | 8 | ||
| Jesus crucified in Jerusalem the apostles spread Jesus’’ message | 33 | ||
| Saul (Paul) persecutes Christians, on his way to Damascus he converts to Christianity | ca. 37
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| Paul dies a martyrSomeone who refused to renounce his/her faith and was therefore killed. Many martyrs are also saints. in Rome | ca. 65 | ||
| edict of Milan: freedom of worship for Christians | 313 | ||
| M I D D L E
A G E S | missionaries in the Low Countries | 7th century | |
| raids by the Vikings | 837 | church in the borough devoted to Saints Amand and Eloy | |
| Dominicus de Guzmán | 1171-1221 | ||
| 1183 | church in the borough devoted to Saint Walburga | ||
| foundation of the Dominican Order | 1216 | ||
| 1243 | Dominicans settle in the Prekersstraat (Preacher’s street) | ||
| 1256 | Dominicans move to Hugo Nose’s plot | ||
| 1262-1276 | construction of first conventComplex of buildings in which members of a religious order live together. They follow the rule of their founder. The oldest monastic orders are the Carthusians, Dominicans, Franciscans, and Augustinians [and their female counterparts]. Note: Benedictines, Premonstratensians, and Cistercians [and their female counterparts] live in abbeys; Jesuits in houses. church in gothic style | ||
| 1276 | church consecrated by Albertus Magnus o.p. | ||
| 1444 | construction of a covered market mainly for jewellers and silver smiths | ||
| E A R L Y
M O D E R N
E R A | Christophus Columbus in America | 1492 | |
| ca. 1512 | start of the present Saint Paul’s church (Domien de Waghemakere?) | ||
| Martin Luther proclaims his theses in Wittenberg | 1517 | churchyard gate at Veemarkt – Zwartzustersstraat | |
| CouncilA large meeting of ecclesiastical office holders, mainly bishops, presided by the pope, to make decisions concerning faith, church customs, etc. A council is usually named after the place where it was held. Examples: the Council of Trent [1645-1653] and the Second Vatican Council [1962-1965], which is also the last council for the time being. of Trent | 1545-1563 | ||
| 1549 | naveThe rear part of the church which is reserved for the congregation. The nave extends to the transept. of the first convent church pulled down | ||
| 1550 | covered market pulled down | ||
| founding of the Antwerp diocese | 1559 | ||
| 1565 | founding of the Brotherhood of the Sweet Name of Jesus | ||
| Iconoclast Fury | 1566 | interior destroyed | |
| naval battle at Lepanto: Ottoman Turks defeated | 1571 | consecrationIn the Roman Catholic Church, the moment when, during the Eucharist, the bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Jesus, the so-called transubstantiation, by the pronouncement of the sacramental words. of the church by Godfried van Mierlo o.p. founding of the Brotherhood of the Rosary | |
| Calvinist Rule in Antwerp | 1577-1585 | ||
| 1579 | convent partly requisitioned, Dominicans expulsed | ||
| Catholic worship ‘suspended’ | 1581 | church requisitioned by Calvinists: ‘purification’ of the interior | |
| 1583 | convent is parcelled out: laying of two streets | ||
| Farnese reconquers Antwerp for Spain’s lawful authorities | 1585
| Dominicans return, church is consecrated again for Catholic worship | |
| 1605 1616-1662 | reconstruction of the cloisters
| ||
| ca. 1609 | The ecclesiastical dispute of the Holy SacramentIn Christianity, this is a sacred act in which God comes to man. Sacraments mark important moments in human life. In the Catholic Church, there are seven sacraments: baptism, confession, Eucharist, confirmation, anointing of the sick, marriage and ordination. and Nativity (Peter Paul Rubens)C | ||
| 1615-1620 | Cycle of Paintings The Mysteries of the Rosary | ||
| 1616 | Vision of Saint Dominic (Peter Paul Rubens) | ||
| ca. 1618-1634 | (further) construction of transepts and choirIn a church with a cruciform floor plan, the part of the church that lies on the side of the nave opposite to the transept. The main altar is in the choir. | ||
| ca. 1632-1638 | choir stallsA series of seats, usually in wood, along the long sides of the choir. These seats are reserved for those who pray and sing the choir prayers. (Jean de Jupploye?) | ||
| 1650 | altarThe altar is the central piece of furniture used in the Eucharist. Originally, an altar used to be a sacrificial table. This fits in with the theological view that Jesus sacrificed himself, through his death on the cross, to redeem mankind, as symbolically depicted in the painting “The Adoration of the Lamb” by the Van Eyck brothers. In modern times the altar is often described as “the table of the Lord”. Here the altar refers to the table at which Jesus and his disciples were seated at the institution of the Eucharist during the Last Supper. Just as Jesus and his disciples did then, the priest and the faithful gather around this table with bread and wine. of the Rosary (Sebastiaan de Neve) | ||
| 1654-1655 | choir screen, altar of the Holy Cross, altar of Saint Dominic (Pieter I Verbruggen) | ||
| 1654-1658 | organ (Nicolaes Van Haegen) | ||
| 1655-1657 | communionThe consumption of consecrated bread and wine. Usually this is limited to eating the consecrated host. rails (Sebastiaan de Neve) | ||
| 1656 | altar of the Holy Sacrament (Pieter I Verbruggen) | ||
| 1657-1659 | confessionals and wainscoting (Pieter I Verbruggen?) | ||
| 1662 | western corridor of the cloisters | ||
| 1670 | bishopPriest in charge of a diocese. See also ‘archbishop’. Capello consecrates the high altar (Pieter I and II Verbruggen) | ||
| 1665, 1671-1672 | paintings series Naval battle of Lepanto (Jan Peeters) | ||
| 1679 | lightning destroys roofs, crossingThe central point of a church with a cruciform floor plan. The crossing is the intersection between the longitudinal axis [the choir and the nave] and the transverse axis [the transept]. tower, façade, vaultings | ||
| 1680-1682 | construction of Baroque tower (Nicolaes Millich) | ||
| 1684 | confessionalA piece of furniture that was especially designed to facilitate the sacrament of confession, especially by avoiding that confessor and penitent come face to face. To the left and right are kneeling pews for penitents; in the middle is a small booth where the confessor sits. Both are separated from each other by a partition with a grid, so that the confessor can hear the penitent, but cannot see him / her. (Willem I Kerricx) | ||
| 1688 | pillar throne for Our Lady’s statue (Willem I Kerricx) | ||
| 1697-1707 | Calvary | ||
| until 1741 | Calvary garden | ||
| 1700-1720 | apostleThis is the name given to the principal twelve disciples of Jesus, who were sent by Him to preach the gospel. By extension, the term is also used for other preachers, such as the Apostle Paul and Father Damien (“The Apostle of the Lepers”). statues (Michiel I van der Voort) | ||
| 1720-1722 | choir organ (Jean-Baptist Forceville) | ||
| 1783 | Joseph II of Austria requisitions Our Lady of the Rosary by Caravaggio | ||
| Joseph II of Austria: prohibition to bury inside churches | 1784 | Stuivenberg graveyard for the Saint Walburga parish | |
| Joseph II of Austria: abolition of brotherhoods | 1786 | ||
| L A T E
M O D E R N
E R A | French Revolution | 1789 | |
| Southern Low Countries occupied and
| 1794 | 1794 church silver is sold for war taxes and Rubens’, Van Dyck’s and Jordaens’ works are requisitioned for the Louvre | |
| annexed by France anti-Catholic legislation | 1795 | ||
| sept. 1796 | convent abolished, church closed | ||
| churches nationalized by the French | 1797 | ||
| (3-5) 1797 | convent and church bought by ex-prior Cornelius Peltiers | ||
| concordat Pius VII – Napoleon Bonaparte | 1801 | ||
| Antwerp diocese abolished | 1802 | City takes over the church as a parish church | |
| 22/04/1803 | fatherPriest who is a member of a religious order. Alexander Stordeur o.p. appointed as first parish priestA priest in charge of a parish. | ||
| 22/08/1804 | City buys the church as a parish church | ||
| Early 19th cent. | baptistery in the Calvary garden | ||
| Dutch Rule | 1814-1830 | ||
| Napoleon defeated at the battle of Waterloo | 18/06/1815 | ||
| Stolen paintings return from Paris | 1815-1816 | most paintings return from Paris | |
| 1816-1817 | ramshackle Saint Walburga Church is pulled down. | ||
| 1817 | Prior Peltiers offers the convent to the committee of church wardens | ||
| Indepence of Belgium | 1830 | ||
| Bombarding of Antwerp by the Durch | 27/10/1830 | stained glass windows destroyed by bombardment | |
| 1833 | choir screen pulled down; Holy Cross altar moved | ||
| 1834 | communion rails re-arranged; wainscoting Sweet Name of Jesus; confessional Willem I Kerricx removed to the southern transeptThe transept forms, as it were, the crossbeam of the cruciform floor plan. The transept consists of two semi transepts, each of which protrudes from the nave on the left and right. | ||
| ca. 1850 | closed corridor of the cloisters arranged as wedding chapel A small church that is not a parish church. It may be part of a larger entity such as a hospital, school, or an alms-house, or it may stand alone. An enclosed part of a church with its own altar. | ||
| 1854 | allotment of convent garden: Sint-Paulusstraat | ||
| 1859-1862 | gate Sint-Paulusstraat | ||
| 1865 | ‘lion gates’ (Jean-Baptiste van Rooy, Gerard Van der Linden) | ||
| 1874 | pulpit (Jean-Baptist de Boeck and Jean Baptist van Wint) | ||
| 1888-1889 | Stations of the Cross in the cloisters (Jean-Baptist de Boeck and Jean Baptist van Wint) | ||
| 1895-1901 | restoration of roof and façade: gable | ||
| First World War | 1914-1918 | ||
| 1916 | parish priestIn the Roman Catholic Church, the priest is an unmarried man ordained as a priest by the bishop, which gives him the right to administer the six other sacraments: baptism, confirmation, confession, Eucharist, marriage, and the anointing of the sick. Van Bostraeten imprisoned | ||
| 1939 | listed as a monument | ||
| Second World Ware | 1940-1945 | ||
| 1943 | two bells stolen | ||
| P R E S E N T
E R A | 1955 | orchestra masses start again | |
| Antwerp diocese founded anew | 1961 | ||
| 1968 2/3 april | fire destroys convent, tower and church roofs | ||
| 1977-1982 | restoration of the tower (Louis Williame) | ||
| 1987-1988 | restoration of the roof(Louis Williame) | ||
| 1991-1993 | restoration of the exterior (Louis Williame) | ||
| 1994-1998 | restoration of the interior (Rutger Steenmeijer) | ||
| 1998 | cloisters and presbytery are sold | ||
| 2001 | treasury is opened |
