Louvain No. 3 / Leuven

Holy-water stoup dated 1473 by an inscription listed and illustrated in BALaT KIK-IRPA [https://balat.kikirpa.be/object/61300] [accessed 27 November 2023]; it is mixed medium work, with a metal basin of 1473 on a 19th-century limestone base. A communication to BSI from Pol Herman (e-mail of 29 June 2023) informs: "This brass stoup dates from 1473. The inscription on the basin says : Nempt hier water gebenedyt dat ghy moet weirt uwer sond quyt/dit wijwater/vat was/voldaen int/jar MCDLXXIII/als mens hier/liet staen+/ (take here the blessed water that must save you from your sins/ this holy water font was made in the year 1473). The lid is from 1938. The base is made of limestone. Basin diameter : 54,5 cm; Basin height : 75 cm; Base height : 50 cm; Base dimensions : 70 x 70 cm. It comes from the old Sint-Michiel church that was demolished in 1781. In 1788 it was placed in the baptismal chapel of the old Jesuit’s church, where it served as baptismal font. In 1941 it was replaced by a brass font of unknown origin and date, and since then it is again used as stoup. The original Saint Michael's Chapel was built in 1165 above one of the gates of the first city wall. Anyone who entered or left the city through the gate actually passed under the church and the prominent citizens buried there. Hence the popular expression “the living pass under the dead”. A striking feature of the building was a high tower in Romanesque style. For a long time it served as the Leuven belfry and partially collapsed in 1225. The church was rebuilt and expanded several times in the 14th and 15th centuries. In 1650 the Jesuits decided to build a new church for their Leuven monastery. When the church was consecrated in 1666, the dome was not finished. With the breve Dominus ac Redemptor of July 21, 1773, Pope Clement XIV abolished the Jesuit order. A new destination was found for the Jesuit church. At the end of the 1770s it was decided to transfer the seat of the Sint-Michiel parish - its church on the city wall was too dilapidated - to the former Jesuit church. On July 6, 1778, Cardinal Frankenberg led the ceremonial transfer."