Church of Saint Joseph, Waterloo
Encyclopedia
Waterloo, Belgium
Waterloo is a Walloon municipality located in the province of Walloon Brabant, Belgium. On December 31, 2009, Waterloo had a total population of 29,573. The total area is 21.03 km² which gives a population density of 1,407 inhabitants per km²...
dedicated to Saint Joseph
Saint Joseph
Saint Joseph is a figure in the Gospels, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ ....
.
Origins
A forest chapel dedicated to saint AnneSaint Anne
Saint Hanna of David's house and line, was the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ according to Christian and Islamic tradition. English Anne is derived from Greek rendering of her Hebrew name Hannah...
was burned down shortly before this church's construction. The inhabitants of Waterloo wished to rebuild it but were prevented from doing so by financial difficulties. The wood-producers in the area paid a tax - every hundredth denier - on their sales to raise money, but even after 20 years the total sum raised was not enough.
The new governor-general of the Spanish Netherlands, Don Francisco Antonio de Agurto
Francisco Antonio de Agurto, Marquis of Gastañaga
Francisco Antonio de Agurto y Salcedo, first Marquis of Gastañaga was a Spanish nobleman, viceroy and governor of Basque origin. He became first Marquis de Gastañaga in 1676 and was Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands between 1685 and 1692...
, marquis de Gastañaga, then intervened. The marquis decided that building a new chapel on the site dedicated to saint Joseph (a spiritual model to Agurto's sovereign Charles II
Charles II of Spain
Charles II was the last Habsburg King of Spain and the ruler of large parts of Italy, the Spanish territories in the Southern Low Countries, and Spain's overseas Empire, stretching from the Americas to the Spanish East Indies...
) would be a good way of remedying the sickly Charles's continuing and desperate sterility (despite his two marriages he had produced no heir). The ceremony of laying the first stone took place on 26 June 1687, in the presence of the Archbishopr of Mechelen. Like all buildings of this era, the edifice's architecture (attributed to the Wallonian architect Philippe Delsaux) borrows from the language of French Baroque classicism
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
- a rotonda, a dome and above all a colonnaded portico refer to classical antiquity and give the edifice a wholly royal solemnity. This is reinforced by the presence of two lions on the portico's pediment. It is an imposing monument, in contrast to the modest size of the hamlets which it serves. Inaugurated with great ceremony on 19 February 1690, the marquis's pious intentions had no effect on Charles' sterility or on his own career - he was recalled to Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
for not defending Mons
Mons
Mons is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, of which it is the capital. The Mons municipality includes the old communes of Cuesmes, Flénu, Ghlin, Hyon, Nimy, Obourg, Baudour , Jemappes, Ciply, Harmignies, Harveng, Havré, Maisières, Mesvin, Nouvelles,...
well enough to prevent its capture by the French.
Heyday
The hazards of administrative divisions complicated the life of the new royal chapel. Built on the edge of the Sonian ForestSonian Forest
The Sonian Forest is a forest that lies across the south-eastern part of Brussels, Belgium.The forest lies in the Flemish municipalities of Sint-Genesius-Rode, Hoeilaart, Overijse and Tervuren, in Uccle, Watermael-Boitsfort, Auderghem and Woluwe-Saint-Pierre in the Brussels-Capital Region and in...
, at the place called "petit Waterloo", it depended on the parish of Sint-Genesius-Rode
Sint-Genesius-Rode
Sint-Genesius-Rode is a municipality located in Flanders, one of three regions of Belgium, in the province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the town of Sint-Genesius-Rode only. On January 1, 2008, the town had a total population of 18,021...
and partly on the Diocese of Mechelen. Most of the hamlet, "grand Waterloo", was within the parish of Braine-l'Alleud
Braine-l'Alleud
Braine-l'Alleud is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant, about 20 kilometers south of Brussels. The Braine-l'Alleud municipality includes the former municipalities of Braine-l'Alleud proper, Ophain-Bois-Seigneur-Isaac, and Lillois-Witterzée. It also includes...
, in the Diocese of Namur. To avoid split loyalties, the priest at Braine wanted to merge the chapel into his parish and, despite opposition, he temporarily managed to save the old priest at St. Genesius Rode the long and dangerous trip across the forest. The death of Rode's priest brought the question up again, with the Habsburg government Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
keeping a firm hand on the nomination of the chapel's rector, since it was a royal foundation paid for by the Spanish government. Despite fierce proposals, the priest at Braine was separated in favour of Guillaume-Albert Le Roy, who had been chaplain for 3 years.
French Revolution
Shortly after the French RevolutionFrench Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
and France's annexation of the southern Netherlands, the royal chapel was sold as state property of the French Republic. An unscrupulous Parisian businessman Thomas Gillet bought it at a knock-down price, having already acquired the neighbouring abbeys of Aywiers and Wauthier-Braine. From then on mass was celebrated secretly in a barn at the farm of Philippe Pastur's widow by the brave abbot Bierlaire, an opponent of the French occupied like most of his Brabançon
Duchy of Brabant
The Duchy of Brabant was a historical region in the Low Countries. Its territory consisted essentially of the three modern-day Belgian provinces of Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Antwerp, the Brussels-Capital Region and most of the present-day Dutch province of North Brabant.The Flag of...
fellow-priests. To cash in on his investments, the speculator dismantled the buildings and sold the materials, stripping the lead off the royal chapel's roof to sell to army suppliers to make rifle bullets, but local opposition was so strong that he hesitated to continue. In the meantime Napoleon
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
signed the Concordat of 1801
Concordat of 1801
The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII, signed on 15 July 1801. It solidified the Roman Catholic Church as the majority church of France and brought back most of its civil status....
with the pope and Waterloo became an autonomous parish. The town called on their fellow-countrymen's generosity to buy back the chapel and put it back in religious use, with the first ceremony being on 10 June 1806.
The building contains several memorial plaques to officers falling at the Battle of Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
. In particular, several refer to Restalrig
Restalrig
Restalrig is a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located east of the city centre, west of the A199 road, and to the east of Lochend, with which it overlaps. Restalrig Road is the main route through the area, running from London Road at Jock's Lodge, to Leith Links at the south edge of...
barracks in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, home of the Scots Greys
Scots Greys
The Royal Scots Greys was a cavalry regiment of the British Army from 1707 until 1971, when they amalgamated with the 3rd Carabiniers to form The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards ....
who made a famous cavalry charge during the battle.
The baroque building proved too small to accommodate the congregations of up to 1,500 coming to mass here (a first expansion project had already been designed by Louis Montoyer
Louis Montoyer
Louis Montoyer was an 18th century Belgian-Austrian architect, principally active in Brussels and Vienna.-Life:...
in 1789 shortly before the Revolution). Having for a moment thought of demolishing the chapel anew and rebuilding a church at Mont-Saint-Jean, the idea of expansion resurfaced and was felt to be an easier option, since the town had access to sufficient land to do so. After some time raising gifts and subsidies, the works were completed in 1823 and 1824. A brick hall with a slate roof extended the dome towards the back. Closed off towards the street, it then joined the choir. The masterpieces of church furniture - the pulpit and the massive sculpted-oak communion benches - were recovered from the abbey of the Blanches Dames at Aywier.
Thirty years later, between 1855 and 1858, the structure was again restored and extended, giving it three neo-classical naves, a dome on the west side, and a square brick tower with (from 1899) a 22m high copper spire. The interior was rebuilt in white stone and stucco, with Ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
pilasters supporting a heavy entablature on which were supported the crossed arches of the roof and the calotte of the cupola, lit up by a lantern and six bull's-eyes. The British participated financially in the project. The architects Émile Coulon and Joseph Dumont, major specialists in religious architecture, were brought in. A renowned organ maker called Pierre-Hubert Anneessens added such a good organ that it was sold a century later, in troubled circumstances, by a less scrupulous restorer (it is now in a small church in the southern Netherlands).
20th century
Despite the rotonda and portico being named as historic monuments in 1956, the church was in a poor state due to the two World Wars, storms and the first effects of car air-pollution. An urgent intervention project was launched on the 150th anniversary of the nearby Battle of WaterlooBattle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
in 1965, with British help and led by the descendents of soldiers who fought there. The architect Albert Degand was put in charge of removing the 19th century additions which spoiled the structure, such as the rood screen
Rood screen
The rood screen is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, or wrought iron...
, commemorative plaques, and the coatings covering the stone. The renovation was completed in 1972 and consecrated the division between the royal chapel and the body of the church. The entry arch towards the church was walled in, leaving only the a glass door evoking the dimensions and frame of the portico.
The presbytery
To the right of the church, the former presbytery (built during the first expansion) shows a beautiful neo-classical façade. The entrepreneur was inspired by Louis Montoyer's plans, archived on the Revolution, to build this hôtel on a square plan, with a set of steps up to it formerly surmounted by a pedimented porch. Falling out of use in 1968 due to its poor state, it housed various associations, community services and even the mayoral office until it was renovated in 1995 to house the tourist federation of the new province of Brabant Wallon.Later when the tourist federation was dismantled, the tourist office for Waterloo and the neighbouring municipalities was established in the building. There is also a museum about the history of the commune of Waterloo on the first floor.