Halsteren

Baptismal font noted and illustrated in P.H.B.'s De te Halsteren gevonden Doopvont, in Buiten, 14 Jaargang, No. 47, 20 November 1920: pp. 559-560). Described and illustrated as a baptismal font made of copper in 1549; the font was buried accompanied by a plaque with Gothic minuscule lettering stating that the font was a donation in retribution for a murder. According to a number of local sources [cf. infra] a number of liturgical furnishings/objects (metal font, chandeliers, etc.) of the church were buried away after the 1619 (1648?) religious riots; in 1919 they were dug up from the backyard of the former sexton's house on Kromstraat, in Halsteren and, after local efforts to retain them in the parish instead of having them carted off to a museum, placed in the new parish church. [NB: the following sources were provided by Pol Herman in an e-mail communication (24 November 2021) to BSI -- "Sources of the translated text : several interviews in the local press: a) As early as 1475, along the road to Bergen op Zoom, there was a Quirinus chapel with a well, the Sintekrijnsputje. Medicinal water welled up from this well. Although the well seems to have fallen into disuse after the Reformation and the chapel disappeared, Quirinus remained a popular saint. Although the name of the old church was no longer used, the interior was largely transferred to the Quirinus church. And by a happy coincidence, a number of very old objects were found in 1920. They were hidden in 1647, when the old church became Protestant. This includes a copper baptismal font from 1549. b) The finds mentioned were made by my grandfather in his garden. The garden is now my property. Because I'm busy recording the right thing for our posterity, I'm looking for people who can tell me about Xavier Smits in Dr. Kalf who were involved in the 1920s to appraise and restore the baptismal font. The history is not correctly described: In 1619 the baptismal font was put in the ground here. That was at the end of the twelve-year truce after the Synod of Dordrecht. André van de Rijzen c) Grandfather Marijn van de Rijzen had hired a gardener, Cornelis van Eekelen, to dig his garden in 1919. The land was purchased in 1898. The gardener came across a special find: a large wooden box containing a baptismal font in pieces, candlesticks, a corpus of a crucifix and a memorial plaque. "That plaque was an important indication. It states what the baptismal font was once made for, and where it stood a long time ago: the current Martinuskerk (Hervormde Kerk). The baptismal font was made in 1549 and was paid for by a so-called atoning sacrifice for committing a murder. The two-meter high baptismal font is decorated by a group of Saint Martin. The items must have been hidden during the iconoclasm and discovered a few hundred years later. Reverend van Gastel of the Catholic Church Halsteren came to claim the 'treasure' and he found the money to get the baptismal font in his possession. At that time, the reverend's will was law. When my grandfather said 'it won't happen', the pastor reacted irritated. There was more or less a struggle until the Brabant Commission for the Protection of Monuments got involved in it. Nobody really knows exactly what exactly happened and that's why I delved into the matter. When you start figuring everything out, you end up with various issues. You can invent or find out missing things; I chose the latter. In the meantime, it has come to a point where I have all the facts in a row," said Van de Rijzen. d) The 16th century baptismal font deserves separate mention; according to the deenal report of 1920, it was buried together with other church treasures, such as a monstrance, after the religious riots in 1619 (though probably about 1648), it was hidden from evil-minded people, and then apparently forgotten. Only in 1920, so after the move to the Quirinuskerk, this treasure was discovered during excavation work in the backyard of the house on Kromstraat where the sexton of the parish lived at the time. Before others can take possession of this sensational find, as a result of which it would disappear to the Rijksmuseum or in the antiques trade (via J. Brom in Utrecht, the supplier of the main altar…), the pastor Van Gastel succeeded, thanks to the mediation of the provincial monument committee. to preserve and acquire these rare pieces for the parish. (Who wants to know more about this, must consult either the yearbook 2013 of the Halchterth local history circle, Mo[nu]menten Halsteren – Lepelstraat en Kerk, or the article written by Albert Delahaye: Raadhuis van Halsteren, 1968, Het Archivariaat). A participant in the excursion points out that the baptismal font originally stood in the chapel under the north tower. This former baptistery is now transformed into a Saint Mary's Chapel, also accessible outside the opening hours of the church. This means that the baptismal font stands now in its third location in the church. The foot houses the copper memorial plaque stating the reason for the donation."]