{"id":48705,"date":"2021-08-01T12:07:05","date_gmt":"2021-08-01T10:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/topa.be\/st-andries\/beschrijving\/sak-the-venerable-chapel\/"},"modified":"2021-08-02T18:31:22","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T16:31:22","slug":"venerabelkapel","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/topa.be\/en\/st-andries\/beschrijving\/venerabelkapel\/","title":{"rendered":"SAK The Venerable Chapel"},"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 Venerable Chapel<\/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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Full of light and warmth, the south side symbolizes God\u2019s reviving and permeating love. As such, the south sides of Gothic church buildings often host devotions of Jesus\u2019s sacrifice of love \u2013 like those of the Holy Cross, and of the Holy or Venerable (i.e. honourable) Sacrament. This traditional symbolism has been upheld in the Venerable Chapel as well. The chapel was only constructed after the reconstruction of choir and transept in 1666-1683. The fraternity of the Holy Sacrament, the so-called \u2018Venerable Chapel\u2019, which took the initiative to build the chapel, existed already at the time of the church\u2019s consecration in 1529, and is still active today.<\/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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The Altar of the Holy Sacrament <\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Originally, the altar of the Holy Sacrament in the south aisle was decorated with a traditional Last Supper triptych (ca. 1589-1596). The triptych was painted by Ambrosius I Francken , a parishioner of St Andrew\u2019s. Once the Venerable Chapel\u00a0 had been completed, a fashionable portico altar was constructed. Instead of adapting the old retable, the triptych was sold to the chapel wardens of the Holy Sacrament in the nearby church of St George, who settled for this cheaper and less fashionable painting in keeping with their financial situation. The artwork was confiscated in 1794 and finally ended up in the stock of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp.<\/p>\n

The newly finished Venerable Chapel was completed with a painting of the same subject by Pieter Ykens (1687). This painting was done on canvas, and measured to fit the new altar frame in its dimensions, form and composition. Oddly enough, the painting stresses the announcement of the betrayal, rather than the institution of the Eucharist. Perhaps an allusion to the believer\u2019s integrity, necessary to receive communion?<\/p>\n

Jesus and the disciples are gathered around the table. Jesus (far left) is conspicuously dressed in traditional red (originally imperial purple); therefore, and by exception, John (to Jesus\u2019 left) is dressed in a blue tunic. The artist has painted John, with his head on Jesus\u2019s shoulder, sitting up instead of lying close to the breast of Jesus<\/em>, as stated in the Bible (Jn 13:23). When Jesus had dipped a morsel of bread in wine, he offered it to Judas with both hands, thus singling out his traitor: \u201cIt is he to whom I shall give this morsel when I have dipped it.\u201d<\/em> (Jn 13:26a) Seated in the middle of the foreground in front of Jesus, the traitor is depicted with a (full) red purse (Jn 13:29) and dressed in his characteristic yellow coat. He looks up in astonishment, and underlines his sanctimonious question with a gesture: \u201cIs it I, Master?\u201d<\/em> (Matt 26:25) The disciples look on in silence; tensions are high. Three floating angels are holding the cross, as a sign of things to come and, at the same time, as a triumphal sign of faith. A beam sprouts from a golden triangle containing the Hebrew tetragram for God \u2013 not as a source of light, but as a sign of divine Providence.<\/p>\n

The construction of the altar has been attributed to Lodewijk Willemssens (after 1679 \u2013 before 1687). Sitting on a throne in the altar crowning, God the Father holds a sceptre in his right hand while leaning on a globe. After all, Jesus\u2019s love was \u2018begotten of the Father\u2019 (according to the Creed), and this inexhaustible love \u00a0is made tangible in the sign of broken bread, during the sacrament of the Eucharist. This Holy Sacrament is held up into the air by each of the figures seated at both ends of the altar crowning. The left figure triumphantly displays the consecrated host above the chalice, thus showing the sacrament as it is experienced during the Eucharist. The figure on the right shows us a large consecrated host as an object of veneration, held in a monstrance. From the Council of Trent (1545-1563) up until the 1960\u2019s, the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament was practiced on Sunday afternoons, and on the afternoons of other festive days.<\/p>\n

Hidden behind the nineteenth-century tabernacle, the predella area displays a scene set in marble, depicting the first miracle of \u2018Feeding the Multitude\u2019<\/em>. In \u2018Feeding the Five Thousand\u2019, featuring five loaves of bread and two fish, a young man kneels before Jesus and offers him a plate with two fish. The sculptor has chosen to adhere to John\u2019s gospel narrative (Jn 6:1-15), in which two disciples come forward. Jesus tests the first disciple, Philip, with the question: How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?<\/em> (v. 5) The disciple Andrew, who has brought the young man to Jesus, is standing in the centre behind the seated Jesus. The grand gesture made by the church\u2019s patron saint renders him even more conspicuous. This movement demonstrates either Andrew\u2019s feelings of powerlessness – what are these (five barley loaves and two fish) for so many?<\/em> (v. 9) \u2013 or Jesus\u2019s order to distribute the loaves and fish (v. 11). Some of the disciples distribute the bread. The men who sat down <\/em>(v. 11), among whom are mothers and children, take the bread and eat it. As this altar of the Holy Sacrament underlines the bread\u2019s sacramental significance, the twelve baskets of leftovers that were collected afterwards \u00a0have not been depicted here.<\/p>\n

Four semi-elevated white reliefs with small angels stand out against the black marble frame provided by the two column bases. Each of these angels personifies one of the three theological virtues, here connected \u00a0with the sacrament of the Eucharist. \u00a0Exceptionally, the angels\u2019 biblical order is respected, thus denying Love its traditional place of honour. Two of the angels have been given butterfly wings instead of bird feathers.<\/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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\"\"<\/a>On the left:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n