Ternat / Ternath

A communication to BSI from Pol Herman (e-mail of 1 February 2025) informs: "On 6th of December 2024, the sculpture garden of the LUCA School of Art at Gent (Belgium) was inaugurated. The lapidary collections of the five historical entities (who merged already in 2012), have now been brought together at one location. Several baptismal fonts are on display. From the former branch of Saint-Luc’s school of art at Molenbeek (Brussels), a baptismal font was contributed. It’s the old baptismal font of the Saint Gertrude’s church of Ternat [...] The Hainaut-type renaissance limestone font is adorned with the coat of arms of the noble family ‘t Serclaes, who were the lords of Ternat from 1388 to 1562. At that time the ‘t Serclaes family became extinct, and by inheritance the ownership fell into the leap of the family de Fourneau. This means that the font must be older than 1562. Bishop Odo van Kamerijk (Cambrai) first spoke of ‘Nath’ in 1112. He called it an annex of the village of Wambeek. It was not until 1243 that a document surfaced in which ‘Nath’ was mentioned as a full-fledged parish of Our Lady. From around the year 1500 onwards the name changed to Sint-Gertrudis, dedicated to Saint Gertrude of Nivelles. The church, which was initially no more than a chapel, was regularly expanded. The current building is constructed of sandstone in accordance with the Brabant Gothic style of the 15th and 16th centuries. After an expansion in 1594, lightning struck the church, and it took many hundreds of years before the church was restored to its former glory. In the years 1892 to 1905, the exterior and interior underwent a major renovation and restoration. The church building was thus transformed into a neo-Gothic total work of art. Among other things, a new baptismal font was installed in 1897, designed by Van Ysendijck and made by the Goossens studio in Mechelen. Probably, the older font was removed at that time." Pol Herman's communication further includes a drawing and photograph of the present font at Ternat.