Our new altar was the main altar in the Catholic, L’Église Sainte Marie (the Church of St. Mary) of Lodelinsart, Belgium. The church had been built in the neo-Gothic style in 1876. The Gothic Revival was an architectural movement that occurred in the second half of the 17th century. It became a widespread movement throughout Europe, especially in England in the first half of the 19th century, but in some cases may have romanticized the architectural heritage of the Church in ways that presented the received theological and liturgical law differently to what was normative in Catholic tradition.

The church flourished for nearly 100 years, but was closed to the public in 2012, and left abandoned. The town council wished to renovate due to the many beautiful stained glass windows throughout the church, created by heritage master glaziers of the region.

Unfortunately, when a side aisle and roof collapsed, it became clear there were more problems with the building. Not much later, one of the arches split and the mayor had to cease the renovations. For years, the church was rotting away, awaiting a council decision to renovate or demolish it. Later in 2018 or 2019 the church experienced a fire. It was decided the cost of renovation was beyond the town’s budget, so demolition began in late 2019. Fortunately, the town council decided to salvage what they could, including the bells, stained glass windows, pulpit and altars.

A new twist of fate struck the church when a senior official of the region ordered the demolition work to be stopped because the town had started the work without having a demolition permit in its possession. Open to the four winds, deprived of its bell tower, half demolished, the construction site of the Sainte-Marie de Lodelinsart church remained blocked for three years. In the fall of 2022 the demolition resumed to finish razing the building.

Thanks to kind and generous benefactors, this altar has been presented to, and installed in, the Church of St. Anne. How fitting that this beautiful altar came from a church named after St. Anne’s own daughter, L’Église Sainte Marie!