Lieferinge / Leffrengen / Letfringen / Lieffringhen / Lifregem / Lifreghem

Baptismal font listed and illustrated in BALaT KIK-IRPA [https://balat.kikirpa.be/object/19536 [accessed 25 February 2026]: "doopvont [...] arduin [...] hoogte: 120 cm [...] Date: 1401 - 1500".
A communication to BSI from Pol Herman (e-mail of 1 February 2026) informs: "Lieferinge, Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Lichtmiskerk. 1051 Letfringen, 1126 Leffrengen, 1215 Lifregem, 1260 Lifreghem, 1437 Lieffringhen. Around 1030, bishop Gerard I of Cambrai donated to the Cambrai cathedral: Restaurationi novi operis octo mansus in Letfringen cum ecclesia delegavit (Gesta episcoporum Cameracensium). Lieferinge likely had an “eigenkirche” belonging to the adjacent court. 1126: pope Honorius II, at the request of bishop Burchard, confirmed the possession of the chapter of Notre Dame of Cambrai: in pago Bracbatensi villam Leffrengem cum altari et ecclesia et molendino. First known priest in 1215. Since 1362 and up to the French revolution, the lord of Lieferinge was the feudal lord of the chapter of Notre Dame of Cambrai. The church is built on an artificial eminence that clearly towers above the surrounding area. The appearance of the first place of worship is unclear. The building contains a Romanesque core, dated by KIK-IRPA to 1200-1210. Some of the remains of this old Romanesque church can still be found in the west facade. The fact that rubble stones were also recovered for the construction of other parts of the church besides the west façade, indicates that the old Romanesque church was larger than the current choir. Above the Romanesque base stood an early Gothic superstructure dating from the late 13th to early 14th century. The tower's construction cannot yet be dated. The building was later modified a second time in the late-Gothic style. Lieferinge was plagued by religious unrest between 1576 and 1585. In 1592, it was written: "Fabrica est omnino combusta." Only a quarter of the inhabitants survived. The new altar was consecrated in 1603, and the two side altars in 1639. In 1654, the baptismal font was found to be in good condition during an inspection. In 1775, the church was rebuild, mainly in brick, and given a rococo interior. The baptismal font is described and sketched in : Bulletin des Commissions Royales d’Art et d’Archéologie, Dixième année, 1871, Essai sur les fonts baptismaux remarquables des environs d’Audenarde et de Grammont, l’abbé Vande Vyvere, page 241. Baptismal records start in 1599. The limestone baptismal font is remarkable. The octagonal base and bowl appear identical and are in the late Gothic Mosan style. Between them is a hexagonal column that combines Mosan and Hainaut characteristics. The baptismal font is consistently dated to the fifteenth century, but it was made in the second half of the sixteenth century.
https://balat.kikirpa.be/object/19536"