Saint Paul’s, the Antwerp Dominican church, a revelation
The 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.
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 of the Sweet Name of Jesus
Further decoration for the devotion
to the Holy Sacrament
The sculpture “The scourged Christ”
(Cornelius Struyf, ca. 1740/43)
Cornelius Struyf seems to have been an early member of the brotherhood of the ‘Sweet name of Jesus’ and was buried in this church. The life-size sculpture in white Carrara marble (ca. 1740-1743), which contrasts with the black marble frame, must be seen as a late Baroque counterpart of Rosa of Lima (Artus II Quellinus, ca. 1660-1670).
After he had been scourged, Jesus was mocked as ‘King of the Jews’ (Mc. 15:16-20), and for this occasion he was given ‘royal attributes’. The cane (with reed mace) with which he was hit on the head, has been given to him by the soldiers as a sceptre in his tied wrists. On his head a crown of thorns has been put, but the purple mantle is not to be seen. He only wears a loincloth. Jesus barely leans against the short baluster, to which according to tradition he was pinioned during the flogging. The suffering of the ‘humiliated Jesus’, as is mentioned in the caption, especially speaks from the resigned expression of the face; His impotence all the more from the cuffed wrists. The quiet rendering of the draped waistcloth also contributes to a subtle sensitivity. However true to life the representation of the body may be, there is a lack of twitched muscle tension suggesting pain.
In 1908 in its turn this statue was given a counterpart, to the right of the Holy Sacrament 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.. The neo Baroque pillar statue by Jan Gerrits testifies of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, which is so typical of the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. On the marble console Reverend FatherPriest who is a member of a religious order. Georges Van Alcken has been honoured with a portrait in bas-relief, because he had been assistant 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. of the parish for sixty years.
Painting “Supper at Emmaus”
(Erasmus Quellinus, 1703)
In 1803, after the concordat between Pius VII and Napoleon, the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament and the Brotherhood of the Fortnightly Last Rites were transferred from the former parish church 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. Walpurga’s to the new parish church Saint Paul’s. Due to lack of a better place they hung their altarpiecePainted and/or carved back wall of an altar placed against a wall or pillar. Below the retable there is sometimes a predella. of The Supper at Emmaus, attributed to Erasmus Quellinus (1703) high up against the wall of their new chapel.
Maybe they brought the late 18th century tabernacleA small cupboard in the choir or in a specially designated chapel in which the consecrated hosts are kept. along too. It contains a revolving drum on which also the scene of the supper at Emmaus is to be seen, at the moment the disciples recognize Jesus at breaking the bread. It more looks like a scene in a polychrome wooden doll’s house. As permanent acolytes two angels flank the Sacrament with swaying censers.
The pews of ‘the Sweet Name of Jesus’
(Jean de Jupploye and workshop, 1635-1651)
Within the brotherhood of the Sweet Name of Jesus arose a separate division of ‘the Bachelors’. In 1635 they commissioned early Baroque pews and panelling at Jean de Jupploye. After his death the work was continued by i.a. Erasmus Quellinus, but it was only finished in 1651 (by Peter I Verbruggen and Artus I Quellinus). It was partly moved to the opposite Northern 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. in 1833 and at this occasion the seats were removed. The cartouches and friezes have been decorated full of fantasy, which invites being explored thoroughly at the spot.
The group of statues of ‘the Sweet Name of Jesus’
with the Holy Family
(Artus I Quellinus, 1644)
Because on the altarpiece only the devotion for the Holy Sacrament was represented, they wanted to stimulate the devotion for the Sweet Name of Jesus with a separate group of statues against the neighbouring first pillar of the Southern transept. Artus I Quellinus realized this commission in 1644. It is striking how elegantly and delicately the hands and faces have been sculpted and how most plastically the abundant draping of clothes has been worked out. In the centre there is the blessing child Jesus. Mary helps him carry the globe, which is still too big for him. To fortify the commitment of the two persons who flank the infant Jesus, Quellinus has put these adults lower. To Jesus’ right there is a middle-aged man, his foster father Joseph. To His left there is Anna, His grandmother. A few angels crown the Saviour properly with a laurel wreath, as a sign of victory over evil.
The group of statues of Saint Hyacinth
(Sebastiaan de Neve, 1649
The Dominican Hyacinth saved the Holy Sacrament and a statue of Our Lady, not without risk. Quite exceptionally for Counter Reformation times he is not holding a monstranceA decorated glass holder on a base, in which a consecrated host can be placed for worship. In general, there are two types of monstrances: the ray monstrance and the tower monstrance, with the name referring to the shape of the object. The tower monstrance is very similar to the reliquary, which was very popular before the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament became widespread. but a ciboriumA covered vessel in the shape of a cup that is used to keep consecrated hosts in the tabernacle and to distribute them at communion.. Our Lady as an attribute is used by Sebastiaan de Neve (1649) to present the saint to the infant Jesus.
