St Nicolas Church Brussels

St. Nicolas Church
Eglise Saint-Nicolas with the houses backed
Local Name	Saint Nicolas de la Bourse
Contact	50 50 '52 "North 4 21 '06 "East / 50.8479, 4.3517
Country	Belgium
Construction begins	XII century
Location
Geolocation on the map: Belgium
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The church of Saint-Nicolas Brussels, built circa 1125 , is one of the first four churches in the city of Brussels and best preserved in its successive developments. Because the building adjoining the Stock Exchange , it is commonly called St. Nicolas of the Exchange.

First Brussels churches

• The first was Saint-Gery, church built before 980 on the main island of the Seine. Saint Gery is one of the first bishops of Cambrai (diocese which included Brussels). The church, now defunct, was located where were built in 1881, the Halles Saint-Gery.
• the second, St. Michael, canonical foundation of 1050, was the first parish to be erected in Brussels. A document from 1174 describes as' dependent chapels of St. Michael, the church of St. Gery, Saint Jacques and Saint-Nicolas. The parish later became the Cathedral of Saints Michael and Gudula.
• It is possible that the third, St. Jacques on Coudenberg (founded c. 1100 ), was originally the chapel of the castle Coudenberg , the new home built by the county of Leuven. Its construction is certainly contemporary with the castle. The present church of St. Jacques on Coudenberg (King's place) in no way resembles the early church.
• The fourth is St. Nicolas-au-March built about 1125.

Origin of the Church of St. Nicolas

Near the Seine Saint-Nicolas was the oratory of the neighborhood merchants and those whose activities depended on the small river port. ( Saint Nicolas Bishop of Myra is the patron saint of merchants). Built in 1125 , the church was still dependent chapel of the Saint-Michel in 1174.

Brief history

• The internal structure is amazing: the choir extends obliquely the nave central. This reflects the turbulent history of the building.
• The Romanesque church ( XII ^century ) there are still some vestiges in the entrance porch.
• The chorus is what's oldest, dating from 1381.
• The Chapel of Our Lady of Peace, an extension of the left aisle of the nave, was added in 1486.
• The church was damaged during the religious disturbances of 1579 that led to the separation of the Catholic Southern Netherlands (and under Spanish rule) with the United Provinces of the northern (Protestant). A century later, new damage was caused by the bombardment of Brussels in 1695 ).
• The bell tower collapsed in 1714.

Artwork

The Shrine of the Martyrs of Gorcum

• In June 1572 nineteen people, priests , religious - including 11 Franciscans - and lay Catholics were put to death at Gorcum (Gorinchem) to the Netherlands for their faith in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and devotion to papal authority. The martyrs of Gorcum were beatified in 1675 and canonized in 1867 by Pius IX.
• When in 1864 the Franciscan convent where were the relics of the martyrs of Gorcum was expropriated and demolished (for the construction of the Stock Exchange ) the remains of the martyrs were enshrined in a new gilded copper reliquary and transferred to Saint-Nicolas.

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