The Brief Foundation by the Brothers of Penitence (1270-1274)

On a property owned by the Cistercian friar of the Holy Sepulchre of Vaucelles, a new mendicant order set up shop in Brussels in 1270 and they managed to secure an agreement with the Chapter of the Collegiale kerk van Sint-Michiel en Sint-Goedele a year later. Known locally as the “Zakbroeders” (Sack Friars) after their simple sackcloth clothing, the new beggar-friars built a chapel dedicated to the saint Mary Magdalene that year.

Their presence in Brussels, and certainly in other European cities were not well received by everyone. As explained in the article about the Predikherenklooster, the Dominicans tried to enter Brussels but were blocked by the city council because of their extremism. [For your information, the Dominicans were largely responsible for the Inquisition.] The Dominicans only managed to establish themselves in Brussels in 1463.

As a result of a decree of the Council of Lyons in 1274, the Brothers of Penitence were abolished. Their members and properties were absorbed by the other monastic orders. In Brussels, it seems that the Dominicans have succeeded in getting rid of the Zakbroeders, so they began to make attempts in taking over their properties in order to take roots in Brussels. In 1296, Duke of Brabant and of Lotharingen, Jan II put a stop to the situation but it was already too late.

In 1299, the last Sack Friars ceded their properties to the Collegiale kerk van Sint-Michiel en Sint-Goedele, on the condition that four of their chapels be preserved and merged into the ‘Sancta Magdalena ad Saccos‘ (Saint Mary Magdelene of the Sack). Pope Clement V granted a bull in agreement to this request but he seemed to have revoked it after a complaint (by whom?) in 1308-09. Therefore, the merged chapel to Mary Magdalene came into the hands of the city magistrate, who housed the hospital friars of the Sint-Niklaaskerk there. This was the reason why the friars who were working in the Sint-Niklaasgasthuis were still referred to as “Zakbroeders” even after the dissolution of the order.

1453: The Carthusians enter the city

In the 15th century, the brotherhood of the Sint-Niklaaskerk dwindled.

Meanwhile, in the neighbourhood of Scheut in Anderlecht, south of Brussels, a shepherd named Peter van Assche found a miraculous statue of Virgin Mary in the year 1445. He took it home to his clay house, and passersby claimed to have seen the statue bathed in a miraculous light on Pentecost night in 1449. The rumor spread quickly, and soon the pilgrims were so numerous that a camp had formed around this glowing statue.

The Duke of Burgundy and Brabant Filips III (the Good) and his wife Isabella of Portugal became huge fans of this miracle. This soon led to the foundation of a Carthusian monastery in addition to the chapel dedicated to this miraculously illuminating statue.

Because of this ducal support, the Carthusians of Scheut also moved into Brussels around 1451-56.

The Chapel of Mary Magdalene was thus transferred to the Carthusians of Scheut during this time.

With donations from the bakers’ guild, the chapel was replaced by a late Gothic building. The nave and bell tower were completed in 1453, while the monastic buildings around were subdivided. In 1555, a small street called Kleine Magdalenastraat was extended through the estate.

Repeated Destruction by the French

In the years of the Brussels Republic (1576-1585), when Protestants took over control of Brussels from the mighty Catholic Habsburg Empire, the Maria-Magdalenakerk was occupied by French reformed protestants from 1581 to 1585, until the protestants were driven out by Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma.

Then again in 1695 during the Nine Years’ War between France and the Habsburg Empire, the French Royal Army burnt down the centre of Brussels from 13-15 August under the orders of King Louis XIV in what is known today as the Bombardment of Brussels. Together with a third of Brussels, the Maria-Magdalenakerk was burnt to the grounds.

The reconstruction of the Maria-Magdalenakerk started immediately in 1696-1697. The charred walls of the former Gothic church were completely removed and the vault that spanned the nave and the choir was entirely in Baroque style.

But the French arrived yet again in Brussels. Following the French Revolution, the revolutionary army occupied the Habsburg Netherlands from 1794 to 1814. Under the French Occupation, the Maria-Magdalenakerk was closed twice, once in 1798 and in 1804. Like the rest of the churches in Brussels, it was completely desecrated on the inside.

‘Redeemed’ and ‘Assumed’ for Conservation

In 1830, when Belgium became an independent country, the Maria-Magdalenakerk was used as a Sunday school.

In 1841, the church was transferred to the Redemptorists, who made some restoration work to the church. All seemed well until in 1902, the Maria-Magdalenakerk was designated to be torn down for a major underground North-South railway connection. The news meant that the Redemptorists had to quickly look for a new abode. In 1904, the friars moved to Jette where they built a new church and monastery.

By 1923, the famous North-South connection was going nowhere. The Assumptionist friars began to take over the disused Maria-Magdalenakerk, and they have remained in charge of the church until today.

The Sint-Annakapel: Two Churches in One

It seemed that from 1935 onwards, the North-South connection regained its momentum. Due to the intervention of Cardinal Mercier, Archbishop of Mechelen from 1906-1926, the Maria-Magdalenakerk was this time spared in the revised plans of the underground railway line. During the Second World War, the Secretary-General of Education signed a protection decree at the end of 1942.

But after the war, the Maria-Magdalenakerk was once again at risk from a planned widening of the Magdalenasteenweg. Luckily an alternative plan was chosen and restoration was commissioned.

A major reconstruction of the Maria Magdalenakerk took place in 1957-1958. Another victim of the North-South connection was the Sint-Annakapel (Saint Anne’s Chapel) located in the nearby Bergstraat (Rue de Montagne) area. It was ultimately torn down in 1927 to make room for the Kardinaal Mercierstraat (Rue du Cardinal Mercier), but its imposing Baroque facade was saved and archived.

When the Maria-Magdalenakerk’s restoration was taking place, the facade of the Sint-Annakapel was restored onto the northern wing of the Maria-Magdalenakerk, housing the Saint Rita chapel. This became Brussels’ most unique church: two churches in one.

The Link with the Knights Templar

It is true that the Maria-Magdalenakerk, which started out as a chapel, is one of the oldest churches in Brussels. Records show that before the Zakbroeders built the chapel in 1271, there was already a religious building here in 1210 owned by the Cistercian friars.

But there has been a persistent myth that this church was built by the Knights Templar (1118–1312), an urban legend that has been voraciously denied by 19th century historians Alexandre Henne and Alphonse Wauters.

However, during the last restorations in 1957-1958, excavations have uncovered foundation walls of another older building upon which the church has been built. More intriguingly, these foundations seemed to have been characteristic of the Knights Templar’s architectural symbolisms.

The existence of Knights Templar in the Duchy of Brabant (within the Holy Roman Empire) should not be at all surprising. Right beside the Ducal castle on the Keizersberg in the ducal capital of Leuven, the Duke of Brabant and of Lotharingen Godfried III allowed the knights templar to build their commandry there. In the neighbouring Kingdom of France (especially in the northern County of Flanders), the Knights Templar were particularly active in cities like Ieper, Cassel, Saint-Omer and Bas Warneton, seeing that one of its founding grandmasters Godfried of Sint-Omaars was Flemish.

On top of that, the Cistercians were closely linked to the Knights Templar – a fact that is little known. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153), a leading Cistercian abbot was a key advocate for the Knights Temnplar used his order’s influence to help their establishment. The Cistercian Abbey of Vaucelle (not far from Cambrai) in northern France, which owned the Brussels property, would have been a close ally of the Knights Templar.

The Curious Origin of the “Putterij”

South of the Maria-Magdalenakerk is a street horridly named “Putterij“.

The original street would have been a little more south in the small park, also named the ‘Putterijsquare‘ (Square de la Putterie).

What does it mean? The name ‘Putterij‘ is actually quite old. The earliest record forms date from 1226-1238: Putterij, Putterie, Putteriestrate, Poteria, Potria, Pottera, Putria.

According to F. Janssens, the Putterij is not a street but a neighbourhood. A clue lies in the Latin transliteration of the toponym: Potria. This would have been a neighbourhood of pot makers. But where did these pot makers go? For safety reasons, chalk and brick ovens were ordered to be placed outside the (first) city walls at the end of the 13th century. It is likely that the pottery trade quickly disappeared from this area by then, leaving only the name.

The new road now called the Putterij that was paved beside the Maria-Magdalenakerk would have been parallel to the old Putterij alley. The Putterij neighbourhood would have covered not only the small park but also the front of today’s Brussels Central Station. You can see the Putterij alley in the painting below by Henri Logelain at the end of the 19th century.

Funny enough, the other section of the ‘Putterij’ just north of the station has nothing to do with the historical Putterij alley and would have been close to 90 degrees perpendicular to it.

Cretsborre

In the records, there was a well close to the Maria-Magdalenakerk known as the ‘Cretsborre‘.

While Ch. Deligne placed this well on the Steenweg just beside the Maria-Magdalenakerk, Ph. Godding placed it in the Putterij neighbourhood itself. The latter scenario would have made sense since you need water to make pots. Looking at the Latin translation of the Dutch name ‘Cretsborre‘ – fontem dictum de Crets, it is likely that the well was named after a family name.

The 15th Century Outer Appearance of Brussels’ Maria-Magdalenakerk

No one knows how the original 13th century church looked like. In the earliest map of Brussels in 1555 by Deventer, we can see a very rough drawing of the chapel.

When architects Simon Brigode and Maxime Brunfaut undertook the project to restore the Maria-Magdalenakerk in 1957-1958, they made sure to return the war-torn church to its 15th century appearance.

They carefully reconstructed the earliest recorded appearance of the church based on old documents, also by removing elements from the 1696-97 and 1840-41 restorations. The end result is what we see today: basilica-style nave and two aisles, constructed of brick and local white stone, and a five-sided choir.

The pointed main Gothic façade incorporates an octagonal bell tower dating from 1453. The Baroque entrance portal with a broken pediment bears the inscription: D O M · S. MARIA MAGDALENA · SACRUM · ANNO 1637. Noteworthy is the beautiful oak pediment between the door wings: the sculptures depict a crucified Christ with Mary Magdalene and angels.

The interior porch and the rood screen in the English Gothic style date from 1846. The side altars, stained-glass windows, and organ are more recent (1958). The current layout of the choir is recent (2010). The bluestone altar is the work of sculptor Michel Smolders.

The furniture and stained-glass windows are modern. Nothing remains of the historic altars, tombs, and paintings.

One of the oldest churches in Brussels, dating back to the 13th century, the Maria-Magdalenakerk started out as a chapel and it survived many wars and destruction. It has even managed to recover its 15th century appearance, albeit with new bricks and mortar. Today, the Maria-Magdalenakerk combined with the Sint-Annakapel is the unique “two churches in one” building in Brussels.

Sources:

Vannieuwenhuyze, B. (2011) “Brussel, de Ontwikkeling van een middeleeuwse stedelijke ruimte.” Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Henne, A. Wauters, A. (1845) “Histoire de la ville de Bruxelles. Volume I-III” Brussels: Librairie Encyclopédique de Périchon.
Rombaut, J-A. (1777) “Bruxelles illustrée, ou description chronologique et historique de cette ville.” Brussels: Chez Pauwels.
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Magdalenakerk_(Brussel)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_of_Penitence
https://monument.heritage.brussels/nl/buildings/31318
https://www.kerkentoerismebrussel.be/kerken/magdalenakerk/
https://maranatha.be/historique/
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sint-Annakapel_(Brussel)
https://www.templiers.net/ordinateurs/commanderies-belge/index.php?page=hierarchie

1. Van Deventer, J. (1550-1565) “Atlas of the city of the Low Countries : 73 minutes between 1550-1565 on orders of Emperors Charles V and Philip II” KBR (image)
2. Braun, G, Hogenberg, F. (1572-1617) “Civitates orbis terrarum” , Universiteitsbibliotheek Utrechtm (image)
3. de Tailly, M., van der Horst, N., Santvoort, A. D. (1640) “Bruxella nobilissima Brabantiae civitas anno 1640” KBR (image)
4. Van Orley, R. (1695) “Ruïnes in de Magdalenasteenweg te Brussel, 1695, Richard van Orley (II), after Augustin Coppens, 1695” Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (image)
5. Baes, J-B. (1888) “L’église de la Madeleine” Stadhuis, Brussel (image)
6. Logelain, H. (?) “Magdalenakapel” Location unknown (image)
7. Elle, E. (circa 1900) “De Magdalenasteenweg” Broodhuis, Brussel (image)
8. Mortiaux, H. (1934) “L’église de la Madeleine” Private collection (image)
9. Disteli, R. (before 1946) “Eglise de la Madeleine Bruxelles” Musée d’art et d’histoire, Geneva (image)
10. Van Dievoet, L. (1943) “Chapelle de la Madeleine” Priuvate collection (image)