The Holy Sacrament of Miracle in flowers O.L.Vrouw met bloemenkrans
Priester-schilder Jan van der Baren (1615-1687) Jan Breughel de jongere (1601-1678)
The Holy Catholic Church teaches from the very beginning that during the Eucharist the bread (Host) and the wine, become truly the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus (transsubstantiation). In this way God comes to us in His Son Jesus Christ really present every time that the Eucharist is offered. That is why we Catholics always show a great respect fort he Host, or the Blessed Sacrament.
In the last days of July 1317 there was in Viversel, outside the walls of Hasselt, a miracle in that a Host started spontaneously to bleed, due to a lack of respect for the Sacred Host. Quickly the fame of the miracle was spread. But it all centers around our belief in the real presence of Jesus Christ in th Host. The greatest miracle is not that the Host started to bleed 700 years ago, but that Jesus Christ gifts Himself totally every time in the Eucharist. The Miracle of Viversel was the beginning of seven centuries of Eucharistic devotion in our city.
To celebrate this event, the Confraternity of the Holy Sacrament of Hasselt asked photo-artist Bas Meeuws, to put the Miraculous Host back in the centuries-old monstrance of the former abbey of Herkenrode (the oldest monstrance of the world, on display nowadays in the City Museum Het Stadsmus), in the midst of flowers. In the Flemish painting tradition, it was a custom in the 16th century to portray Mary or saints in the midst of flowers of all seasons. Jan Breughel (1568-1625) was one of the most known painters in this tradition.
Bas Meeuws made a contemporary translation of this, in which we see the monstrance, with one of the confessionals of the Cathedral in the background. If you look attentively, you will see the Holy Ghost (as a dove) in the woodwork behind the monstrance. For this occasion the face of the little angels got a beautiful smile – changing the sad faces they have on the confessionals, weeping for our sins.
Biechtstoel, het Sacrament van Mirakel, en de monstrans van Viversel, die werden samengebracht in het fotokunstwerk.
Bas Meeuws (Heerlen °1974)
Bas Meeuws is a young photographer and autodidact, who is reviving the traditional genre of the flower still life of the Netherlands and Flanders. He composes his photos as did the old masters: flower after flower, making a splendor of colours. The result is a complicated multilayered work, that is timeless. He exposes his work at many fairs and expositions, with a solo-exposition on the Westfries Museum in Hoorn (NL).
You can see more of his work at www.basmeeuws.com
