Sint-Pieters-Rode

There is an entry in BALaT KIK-IRPA for a late-date (1801 - 1900) baptismal font [https://balat.kikirpa.be/object/6383] and another for a contemporary stone holy-water stoup [https://balat.kikirpa.be/object/6612] [accessed 19 August 2024]. A communication to BSI by Pol Herman (e-mail of 19 August 2024) reports his failure to locate the whereabouts of a head fragment from a medieval baptismal font originally from Sint-Pieterskerk in Sint-Pieters-Rode: "I have given up on searching the fragment of a romanesque baptismal font at Sint-Pieters-Rode [...] There seems to be no trace of this fragment, nobody locally seems to know about it." PH notes: "The earlier church probably had a Romanesque baptismal font. This is suggested by the find of a fragment in the wall of the manure pit of the farm of Ludovicus Phillipus Heroes", and supplies two references to it: 1) Sint-Pieters-Rode, Geschiedenis van de familie Heroes uit Sint-Pieters-Rode (Schubbeek), pages 19-20. Ludovicus Phillipus Heroes was born on September 21, 1897 in Sint-Pieters-Rode. He was a farmer by profession. He takes over the job of sexton from his uncle Felix. He also had a small printing shop for printing obituaries, for example. Louis resigned as sexton in 1963 and died in 1975. Archaeologists have made a remarkable discovery in the wall of his manure pit. The wall was constructed from demolition material and contained a fragment of a Romanesque baptismal font. 2) Nieuwe bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van Sint-Pieters-Rode, Deel II, De kerkelijke geschiedenis van Sint-Pieters-Rode: A wonderfully well-preserved fragment of a Romanesque bluestone baptismal font has been found in the wall of an old manure pit near the old house of former sexton Louis Heroes. This wall was composed of demolition rubble. The fragment consists of a Romanesque knight's head with leaf motifs and certainly dates before the 10th century. This, together with the many Frankish toponyms and structures, leads us to safely assume that Rode is of Carolingian origin."