Belgian Laces The Citadel Collegiale Notre Dame – Dinant http://www.pbase.com/isse/dinant&page=2 Volume 17 # 64 September 1995 BELGIAN LACES ISSN 1046-0462 Official Quarterly Bulletin of THE BELGIAN RESEARCHERS Belgian American Heritage Association Founded in 1976 Our principal objective is: Keep the Belgian Heritage alive in our hearts and in the hearts of our posterity President Pierre Inghels Vice-President Micheline Gaudette Assistant VP Leen Inghels Newsletter editor Leen Inghels Treasurer Marlena Bellavia Secretary Patricia Robinson All subscriptions are for the calendar year. New subscribers receive the four issues of the current year, regardless when paid. Opinions expressed in Belgian Laces are not necessarily those of The Belgian Researchers or of the staff. TABLE OF CONTENTS Dinant, Leen INGHELS 42 The Cross of Piro de Jalhay, Patti PJERROU-PAYNTER 43 Of Names and Nuns, by Hans-Michael VERMEERSCH 45 Father Gustave Adolphe VERMEERSCH, Pierre L INGHELS 46 WWII Memories, Babrabr Van de Veere 47 From Grez Doiceau to Wisconsin, by Father Jean DUCAT and Mary Ann DEFNET 49 Wisconsin Corner, Mary Ann Defnet, 50 Sheldon, NY, Jean DUCAT 51 Portrait, Greg VAN TIGHEM 52 Northwest Corner, Leen INGHELS and Greg VAN TIGHEM 53 Tongeren, Oldest Town in Belgium, Ghislain de SCHAETZEN 54 Belgian-American Heritage Society W VA, Rene ZABEAU 55 My Father the Bicycle Racer, August INGHELS 55 A Belgian Tradition, Gazette Van Detroit 56 Brussels, 300 Years Ago, Karel DENYS 56 Passenger Lists, M. GAUDETTE and H THOMAS 59 Dear Members, Summer came, gave us sunshine, heat and unusually much rain and is now on its way out already. Next week schools start again, and life will return to normal… or at least back to a more normal routine. As for many of you, our summer was very bvsy; the ‘cheap dollar’ brought many visitors from Belgium, and will bring us more next month. But we love to showoff ‘our’ Oregon, to introduce our relatives and friends to the vast expanses of this land and the relatively recent history of the settlement of the West. La Grande developed around the Old Oregon Trail, which runs through the southern edge of the town and celebrated its sesquicentennial (150 years) in 1993. The Interpretive Park on the Blue Mountain Crossing outside of La Grande, as well as the Interpretive Center in Baker City are places that deserve a stop for any traveler on Freeway I 84. When you come in our neighborhood, give us a call! In Belgium, our house was called: “In den Zoeten lnval” (The Dew Drop Inn)! – This is the official invitation, Jean Galoni!! As one of many Belgo-American happenings across the USA it was on Sunday August 6th that the Belgian Researchers held their first and very successful regional meeting in the Portland. Oregon area, in Boring, to be precise. Read the report elsewhere in this issual Hans Michael Vermeersch volunteered to be the Northwest coordinator and Belgian Laces contributor. He just moved, had to paint his house and arrange for a house lull of company (from Europe, of course. ) This meant that he was excused from writing the Northwest report this time. The Belgian Researchers keep on growing at a healthy pace: we welcome 18 new members in this issue, and handed out membership number 602. Member # 600 will receive a gift from the organization Look for it in the mail Kathleen! Will 1996 bring us membership 700? Remember your organization when you start thinking of little gifts for Back to School or Christmas: we have beautiful tri-color windsocks ($15 ea.) made by our Portland member Marleen Looyens; Being Belgian Is Beautiful bumper stickers ($ 4 ea.) that look great above a desk, in a dorm room, and on notebooks as well as on bumpers!; we also have lapel pins ($3 ea.): a Belgian-crossed with an American flag. All of these items proved to be very popular at the Belgian get-together in Boring, Oregon. The picture above, showing Pierre and myself working on Belgian Laces in our living room, was taken by new member Greg Van Tighem and was published in our local newspaper along with the article that he wrote about The Belgian Researchers. We copied the article in this issue. Keep up the good work, and remember our motto: Being Belgian is Beautiful! WELCOME NEW MEMBERS 585. Ray & Jan Calbert - San Diego, CA 586. Lynne T. Bartholomay - North Kingstown, RI 587. Suzanne Jenart - Flavion - Brussels, Belgium 588. Belgian-American Chamber of Commerce (complimentary)- New York NY 589. Winoc Bogaerts - NewYork NY 590. John H. Herman - Portland, OR 591. Denise Garcia - Las Vegas, NV 592. Bruce C. Bolinger - Nevada City, CA 593. Jim Lienard - Glendale, AZ 694. Wafter W. Jr. Bourez - Carmichael,CA 595. Gregory A. Van Tighem - LaGrande, OR 596. Terry Van Vynckt-Cochran - Duluth, GA 697. Don & Mary Van Houdenos - Milwaukee, OR 598. Bonnie Aten - Elk Grove Village, IL 599. Plerrette Gerard - Namur, Quebec, Canada 600. Kathleen Face, - Batavia, NY 601. Andrea Ewerling - Central slip. NY 602. Rev. August Vanden Bosche - West Palm Beach. FL DINANT: Gateway to the Ardennes by Leen Inghels Beautifully situated along the River Meuse/Maas, which originates in France and flows into the Rhine in The Netherlands, lays the quite town of Dinant, province of Namur, Belgium; home of Adolph Sax (1814-1894), inventor of the Saxophone. The town hugs the banks of the Mouse, the mainstreet running a block above and parallel to the river The whole site is dominated by a sharply-rising stone cliff, which is topped by the Citadel, a fortress since before the 9th. century, destroyed, rebuilt, to be again destroyed and rebuilt throughout the ages The fortress today, like the citadel of Namur, dates fromthe 19th centuryand was built dwtng the Dutch period (1818-30). Immediately below the cliff stands the 13th. century Collegiate Church of Notre Dame, featured on the cover of this issue of Belgian Laces. On the river in front of the church, the sightseeing boats leave regularly for tours through the countryside , some all the way up to the French border, others down river toward Namur, capital of the province of Namur. Not far from Dinant are the Grottes de Han , most beautiful caves on one of the tributaries of the Meuse, the river Lesse, and just one of the many spectacular eaves to be visited in the Ardennes. On the right bank of the Meuse, at the foot of the citadel rock, stands The Collegiate Church of Notre Dame, a fine Gothic church, consecrated in 1240, whose bulbous Baroque spire is the Landmark of the town. In spite of its many restorations, the Collegiate remains one of the most representative examples of Gothic architecture of the lath. century in the region. Its origins are quite ancient, as suggested by the dedication to “Notre Dame”. It was first mentioned in the treaty of Meersen in 870 as “Abbaye de Sainte Marie (abbey of Holy Mary) as one of several royal abbeys offered to Charles the Bald, grandson of Charlemagne. In 934, the Bishop of Liege initiates there a Chapter of Canons, witch elevates the church to the status of ‘Collegiate Church”. Dinant has remained a stronghold of the Bishopric of Liege and was the summer residence of its Bishop. The original church. of which there is absolutely no traces left, was replaced by a Romanesque church in the 12th century. During partial excavations conducted in October 1978 have unearthed a section of a roman wall, parallel to the northem transepts. The portal in volcanic rock of the Meuse in quite dire condition on the north site of today’s church, is the only remnant of the Romanesque building. That entree is waited-in today. It supposedly was the original entrance, the main portal of the east facade of the church. In 1227, a large portion of the building collapsed under an enormouus boulder cascading down from the cliff above. It is said, that thirty six people died in the natural disaster The church was then completely reconstructed and modeled after the churches in Burgundy and Champagne. where a new architectural sW4e developed: the Gothic Started in the 1227, the Collegiate was to be finished in 1279. In the year 1466, the church falls victim to war with France and fire destroys parts of the church. Among other works of art, an immensely large “verrière”, or glass dome, is totally destroyed, which is then replaced by the work of an artist by the name of Ladon de Band, a Flemish artist of the period from the city of Ghent. Interesting detail: there is a side altar or chapel which displays the Coats of Arms of the British Royalty and of the City of London on the ribs and the keystone of the ceiling vaulting, which gives it the surnamo of “Chapel of the English Company”, and commemorates international trade for which Dinant was a hub in its time. Among its specialties, still prominent today, is first the “Dinanterie”, hand-crafted, engraved copper works, large and small, reputed the world over; and the “couques de Dinant”, a hard, tough gingerbread confection, baked in molds which are often real masterpieces of woodcarving. It comes in sizes up to three and four feet tall (like Saint Nicholas on his horse with his helper at his side in the holiday season) or smaller gems, depicting flower arrangements, copies of famous art works, city silhouettes and many others… But Dinant has seen more catastrophes and was involved in every war that affected the Meuse valley: the fire and the plunder of the city by the Burgundian Charles the Bold in 1466 , the passage of the troupes of the Duc de Nevers in 1554, the pillage of the Collegiate and thetown during the French Revolution, the fire of 1914, first year of the first World War and more recently ~ If and the fringes of the Battle 01 the Bulge.