{"id":49802,"date":"2021-08-03T20:51:53","date_gmt":"2021-08-03T18:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/topa.be\/sint-carolus-borromeus\/beschrijving\/scb-facade\/scb-facade-a-message-for-public-advancement\/"},"modified":"2021-11-20T19:33:12","modified_gmt":"2021-11-20T18:33:12","slug":"algemeen-nut","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/topa.be\/en\/sint-carolus-borromeus\/beschrijving\/voorgevel\/algemeen-nut\/","title":{"rendered":"SCB Fa\u00e7ade – A message for public advancement"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The Antwerp jesuit 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 fa\u00e7ade<\/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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Attention! Attention! A message for public advancement<\/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 Baroque fa\u00e7ade does not call attention to itself. It proclaims a message of a higher level. Before you enter the church, it is important to know how to read this front message.<\/p>\n

In the church \u2013 and also in the Church \u2013 everything has to do with Jesus. He \u2013 the Saviour, the Redeemer, the Messiah \u2013 is symbolised by the big gilded cross on top. That Jesus was prepared to give Himself so much as to die on the cross, was stressed in some sketches by Rubens, in which life size angels occur on the fronton. At the far left and right an angel holds an instrument of Jesus\u2019 passion in his hand: the right one three nails of His crucifixion, the left one the lance His heart was pierced with to ascertain death. A third angel would support the cross on top of the fa\u00e7ade. However, they remained but sketches.<\/p>\n

This Jesus has been sculpted plastically once (by Hans van Mildert) as a child standing on His mother\u2019s knee. He blesses the world, starting with the passers-by on the church square. The gaze of the Madonna enthroned follows this blessing. Because Jesus and Mary are not an ordinary \u2018mother and child\u2019 their dignity is accentuated by an elegant canopy, of which the sideways hanging curtain is held up by an angel. In the 17th<\/sup>\u00a0century the rumour went that this Jesuit\u2019s Madonna could look over the roofs into the Town Hall.<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 gospel is universal and is passed on from generation to generation by all possible means. The first ones to contribute to this were the four evangelists. Initially their life size statues in their niches formed an X-formation in relation to the Christ monogram in the centre.<\/p>\n

Originally the main responsible of the Twelve, Peter, and this other great apostle Paul, also in niches, flanked Jesus\u2019 name in the central escutcheon. Both apostles are often named in one and the same breath, such as for instance in\u00a0St.-Pieter en St.-Pauwelstraat<\/em>\u00a0(Saint Peter and Paul Street) nearby. The Roman Catholic Church is pre-eminently the apostolic church, as it is formulated in the Profession of Faith.\u00a0 This means that its existence and functioning are rooted in the mission of the 12 apostles and in the apostolic succession of popes. The devotion and the mission of Jesus\u2019 apostles, the first\u00a0companions of Jesus<\/em>, do form an important keynote for the spirituality of Ignatius, the founder of the order.<\/p>\n

Although the six life size statues were hurled down during the French Revolutionary Rule, the corresponding symbols in relief remained in the fa\u00e7ade. But the two evangelist symbols at the ground floor were an easy prey for destructiveness. Unfortunately, the 19th<\/sup>\u00a0century restorers interpreted the damaged winged heads of Mark\u2019s lion and Luke\u2019s ox as angels\u2019 heads. And because angels do not belong to the evangelists Mark and Luke, the new statues of the evangelists were put next to the central medallion on the first floor and consequently both apostles came to stand next to the main porch. The result of this confusion is to be seen till today. A 17th<\/sup>\u00a0century etching shows that there is no doubt that the apostles Peter and Paul used to be at the first floor. They can clearly be recognized by their attributes: the keys and the sword. Also, the evangelists Mark and Luke on the ground floor can be identified because of their writing pose. The 19th<\/sup>\u00a0century restorers could easily have avoided their mistake by poring over this etching, which was commonly known.<\/p>\n

The four evangelists can be identified by their personal attributes on their bases. Except for Mark they all hold something that refers to writing in their hands. Their current position is as follows:<\/p>\n