{"id":48701,"date":"2021-08-01T11:50:57","date_gmt":"2021-08-01T09:50:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/topa.be\/st-andries\/beschrijving\/sak-the-choir-stalls\/"},"modified":"2021-08-02T18:29:24","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T16:29:24","slug":"koorgestoelte","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/topa.be\/en\/st-andries\/beschrijving\/koorgestoelte\/","title":{"rendered":"SAK The choir stalls"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Antwerp's St Andrew's Church, a revelation.<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The choir stalls and the 36 saints<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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By analogy with monasteries and chapters, parish churches provided choir stalls to clergy and church officials for the performance of sections of the Liturgy of the Hours. The figures on the handles, the inlaid rims and the reliefs above the bottom row seats are all characteristic of sixteenth-century Mannerism, while the gigantic claws that function as plinths of the wainscoting are typical of High Baroque.<\/p>\n

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Following the dissolution of St. Salvator\u2019s Abbey \u2013 also called \u2018Abbey of Pieter Pot\u2019, after its founder \u2013 the so-called Relics of 36 Saints found refuge in St Andrew\u2019s in 1802. These 36 small panels with the saints\u2019 depictions (by Theodoor Boeyermans, 17th<\/sup> century) embellish the panelling of the choir stalls (K) (2 x 14) and of the brotherhood stalls in the aisles (B) (2 x 4). Each caption notes the saint\u2019s respective feast day as marked by the Church, which corresponds to the person\u2019s dying day, if the latter is known.<\/p>\n

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These are the 36 saints (if their dying day is unknown, the saint\u2019s feast day is mentioned):<\/p>\n

Saint Adrian<\/strong>, martyr, Roman officer (\u2020 304), (8 Sept.)<\/p>\n

Saint Agatha<\/strong>, virgin martyr, Sicily (3rd<\/sup> century), (5 Feb.)<\/p>\n

Saint Agnes of Rome<\/strong>, virgin martyr, Rome (\u2020 304), (21 Jan.)<\/p>\n

Saint Alexius of Rome<\/strong>, ascetic, Rome (\u2020 417), (17 July)<\/p>\n

Saint Anselm of Canterbury<\/strong>, doctor of the Church, archbishop of Canterbury, (\u2020 21 Apr. 1109)<\/p>\n

Saint Augustine of Canterbury<\/strong>, \u2018Apostle to the English\u2019, archbishop (\u2020 26 May 604)<\/p>\n

Saint Barbara<\/strong>, virgin martyr, (\u2020 306, Heliopolis, Egypt), (4 Dec.)<\/p>\n

Saint Bartholomew the Apostle<\/strong>, disciple and martyr, Armenia (\u2020 ca. 70), (24 Aug.)<\/p>\n

Saint Benedict of Nursia<\/strong>, founder of a religious order, Monte Cassino (\u2020 21 Mar. 543\/7)<\/p>\n

Saint Blaise<\/strong>, martyr, bishop of Armenia (\u2020 316) (3 Feb.)<\/p>\n

Saint Catherine of Alexandria<\/strong>, virgin martyr, Alexandria (4th<\/sup> century), (25 Nov.)<\/p>\n

Saint Cecilia<\/strong>, virgin martyr, Rome (\u2020 230), (22 Nov.)<\/p>\n

Saint Christina of Bolsena<\/strong>, virgin martyr, Tuscany (\u2020 304), (24 July)<\/p>\n

Saint Cunera<\/strong>, virgin martyr, companion of Saint Ursula, (12 June)<\/p>\n

Saint Dorothy<\/strong>, virgin martyr, Rome (\u2020 303), (6 Feb.)<\/p>\n

Saint Giles<\/strong>, hermit, abbot Provence (\u2020 721), (1 Sept.)<\/p>\n

Saint Elizabeth of Hungary<\/strong>, Thuringia, (\u2020 19 Nov. 1231, Marburg)<\/p>\n

Saint Felicitas of Rome<\/strong>, martyr, Rome (\u2020 162), (23 Nov.)<\/p>\n

Saint Gertrude van der Oosten<\/strong>, Delft (\u2020 6 Jan. 1358)<\/p>\n

Saint Hathebrand<\/strong>, Frisian monk, (\u2020 1198), (30 July)<\/p>\n

Saint Hyacinth of Poland<\/strong>, Dominican, (\u2020 1257, Krak\u00f3w), (16 Aug.)<\/p>\n

Saint Ignatius of Antioch<\/strong>, bishop and martyr, (\u2020 110, Rome), (1 Feb.)<\/p>\n

Saint Ivo of Kermartin<\/strong>, jurist, Britanny (\u2020 19 May 1303)<\/p>\n

Saint Josaphat<\/strong>, Indian prince, ascetic (27 Nov.)<\/p>\n

Saint Juliana of Li\u00e8ge<\/strong>, virgin, prioress (\u2020 1258), (5 Apr.)<\/p>\n

Saint Lutgardis of Aywi\u00e8res<\/strong>, virgin (\u2020 16 June 1246)<\/p>\n

Saint Margaret of Cortona<\/strong>, penitent woman, Tuscany (\u2020 22 Feb. 1297, Cortona)<\/p>\n

Saint Mary of Egypt<\/strong>, penitent woman, Transjordan desert (5th<\/sup> century), (9 April)<\/p>\n

Saint Rabanus Maurus<\/strong>, first abbot of Glanfeuil Abbey in Saint-Maur-sur-Loire (\u2020 15 Jan. 584)<\/p>\n

Saint Moses<\/strong>, Arab hermit in the Sinai desert, martyr (\u2020 ca. 395), (28 Aug.)<\/p>\n

Saint Paulinus of Nola<\/strong>, bishop (\u2020 431), (22 June)<\/p>\n

Saint Pelagia<\/strong>, penitent woman, Antioch (5th<\/sup> century), (8 Oct.)<\/p>\n

Saint Placidus<\/strong>, Benedictine monk, martyr (6th<\/sup> century, Messina), (5 Oct.)<\/p>\n

Saint Roch<\/strong>, Montpellier, pilgrim (\u2020 1327), (16 Aug.)<\/p>\n

Saint Scholastica<\/strong>, virgin and abbess at Monte Cassino, (\u2020 543), (10 Feb.)<\/p>\n

Saint Thecla<\/strong>, virgin martyr, Seleucia (1st<\/sup> century), (23 Sept.)<\/p>\n

In those splendid processions of yore, the relics were carried along in a huge portable case, including a monumental silver shrine (by Jan Verschuylen, 1845) with extra \u00a0poles for no less than 16 men; for a long time, the men who carried the shrine would come from the gendarmerie in Korte Vlierstraat. For the yearly celebration, this shrine carrying the 36 small panels was placed in the centre of the church on a huge pedestal, constructed for the occasion. Now, the relic shrine is at the back of the south aisle.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Eight more saints<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Sainthood has remained an all-time human ideal to be attained; thus, eight photographs of more recent saints were added to the 28 small Baroque paintings in the choir stalls. At the north side, we note the confessors:<\/p>\n

Mother Teresa<\/strong> (1910\u20111997), founder of the Sisters of Charity and Nobel Peace Laureate of 1979.<\/p>\n

Don Bosco<\/strong> (1815\u20111880), patron saint of youth, founder of the Salesian Society<\/p>\n

Thomas <\/strong>More<\/strong> (1478\u20111535), humanist, philosopher, author of a. o. Utopia<\/em>, chancellor of England, beheaded by Henry VIII because of his Catholic beliefs.<\/p>\n

Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer<\/strong> (1902-1975), founder of the lay movement Opus Dei.<\/p>\n

At the south side, we recognize people who have paid for their engagements with their deaths, sometimes as martyrs:<\/p>\n

Saint Damien De Veuster<\/strong> (1840\u20111889), missionary, \u2018Apostle of the Lepers\u2019 on Molokai (Hawaii).<\/p>\n

Edith Stein<\/strong> (1891\u20111942), Carmelite nun of Jewish origin, killed in a concentration camp.<\/p>\n

Maximilian Kolbe<\/strong> (1894\u20111941), Friar Minor, who volunteered to die in place of a family father who had been sentenced to death at Auschwitz concentration camp.<\/p>\n

Mother Mary of Jesus<\/strong> (1841\u20111884), founder of Daughters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, with a monastery in Merodelei in Berchem (Antwerp). She was murdered.<\/p>\n

\u2026 and a mirror<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Finally, a mirror aims to show you the 37th<\/sup> saint. Who, you wonder, could that be? Look hard, you might see a candidate\u2026 \u201cI? \/ Me?\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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