Blandain

An earlier font was destroyed in 1568 [cf. infra]. The present font is modern.
A communication to BSI by Pol Herman (e-mail of 10 December 2025) informs: "The roots of the church of Blandain could lie in the 5th century or many centuries later. If one believes the legend of Saint-Eleuthère (456-531), then this bishop, after being murdered, was buried in the church of Blandain, that he founded. However, as most scholars do, one believes that this legend was created in the 12th century because the veneration of such saint was a good source of income, then the stone church of Blandain was probably built in the 11th century. In 1141, canon priest Henri of Tournai wrote the vita of Eleutherius, in which he describes that in the previous century saint Thècle de Roubaix saw saint Éleuthère in a dream. He instructed her to tell Heidilon, bishop of Tournai and Noyon, to travel to the church of Blandinium and excavate his relics buried under the altar. Except for the legend, the church of Blandain then dedicated to Saint-Peter was first mentioned in 1108. In 1128, Simon de Vermandois, bishop of Noyon-Tournai, donated the church to the chapter of the cathedral of Tournai. The donation was confirmed in 1190 by pope Clément III. The church tower still has one Romanesque column and capital. The bell tower of the current church bears a date in black bricks suggesting 1542. It can be assumed that an earlier church dated from that year and that, to build the actual church in 1760, the bell tower was preserved while the rest was demolished. In 1568, Gilles Blauwet, a hosier from Tournai, was hanged for having smashed the baptismal font in Blandain with a hammer in September 1566, some months after the start of the iconoclastic fury. The sentence also took into account the fact that local tolerance had already been declared between Protestants and Catholics by September 1566. Baptismal registers from 1645 onwards. Neo-gothic Hainaut-type font. The legend of the lives of Piat and Eleutherius is illustrated in the cathedral of Tournai by a series of 17 tapestries made by Pierre Frère in his workshop in Arras in 1402 for his client Toussaint Prier. On 4 scenes, baptismal fonts are depicted. References:
Tapisseries du quinzième siècle conservées à la cathédrale de Tournay, Eugène J. Soil de Moriamé, 1883
Les fonts baptismaux en bois figurés sur les hautes lisses de la cathédrale de Tournai, Paul Saintenoy, 1896. See https://www.acad.be/fr/bulletin-de-lacademie-royale-darcheologie_fr
Gallia irradiata - Saints et sanctuaires dans le nord de la Gaule du haut Moyen Âge, Charles Mériaux 2006"