4.

The Calvary consists of three statues. In the center: the crucified Christ. On the left: Mary, and on the right: John. They are statues from the 17th century. Mechelen statues.
The sculptor is unknown, but they were signed by the artist with a five-pointed star in the base.

Let's read briefly from the Bible what happened next:
While the soldiers were thus engaged, standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple John, whom he loved, standing beside her, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold your son!"

Then he said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!"

And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

These statues used to be outside in the so-called "bone house." As elsewhere, the deceased used to be buried around the church. Hence the word "cemetery."

The cemetery was too small for such a large parish. Moreover, people were reluctant to be buried on the north side of the church due to superstition. Because of this, when new graves were dug, bones of deceased persons who had previously been buried there were often found.
These bones were collected in a small bone house, which this group of statues served as a storage room.
However, their artistic value proved so great that they deserved a safer and more sheltered location inside. The architect responsible for the church's restoration specially designed a wall to display these three statues.

5.

This confessional was ordered and paid for by Father Verbrugghen in 1723. It stood, along with its counterpart from the Northern Transept, beneath the organ.
In 1723, the church had only one nave.
The confessional was made by sculptor Kerrickx from Antwerp and carpenter De Smedt from Dendermonde. This duo also created, among other things, the organ case in our church at that time.
The two focal points of this confessional are the two herm statues.
A herm statue is a statue that is half human, half column.
The left statue represents hope, with a dove.
The right statue represents faith: it looks at the crucifix.
There is a connection between heaven and earth: hope looks to heaven, and faith looks to earth and to Christ. From earth, you enter heaven when you receive forgiveness for your sins. The shell motifs found in the carvings are reminiscent of the Roccoco style.
On the back wall of the confessional, we find three more medallion scenes. On the left, you can recognize the scene of the prodigal son. The story tells of the son returning to his father full of remorse.
In the center is a dove, symbolizing the Holy Spirit. On the right, we see Mary Egyptica. She is venerated as a saint for women doing penance. She symbolizes suffering.
While the outer medallions, above the places where the penitents sit, highlight the themes of confession, the center, above the place where the priest hears confessions, is more triumphant.
Below the medallions are chronograms. These are texts whose capital letters, when added together, form Roman numerals. The three texts each form the year 1723.
From left to right: I await the judgment. God is the source of all righteousness. Flood of tears.

6.

The statue of Moses.
The statue must have been part of Kerrickx's grand main altar.
The statue was made from a single block of wood, assembled by ingeniously gluing together a large number of wooden blocks.
Only once this block of wood was made did the sculptor begin his carving. This technique prevented the wood from warping after the statue was created.
The statue displays a wealth of anatomical detail. Just look at the muscles and veins on the hands, forearms, and feet. Also note the way the fingers, toes, fingernails, and toenails are depicted. And the finger joints. Moses appears rather small in stature. We can assume that his size in Kerrickx's time was "life-size," as people in the 18th century were much smaller than they are today.
Moses is shown carrying the stone tablets containing the commandments he received from God. When confirmands were given tours of the church in the past, they were told that the statue of Moses had a movable arm. This allowed his finger to point to a commandment that was "of great importance."
And that commandment, during that tour, was always: "Honor your father and your mother." A funny anecdote.

7.

The statue of Saint Peter.
Saint Peter is the patron saint of our church. Our church was dedicated to him.
Peter is depicted as Pope, the head of the Catholic Church. As the first successor of Christ: "You are Peter, which means rock, and on this rock I will build my church."
He wears a papal tiara, a crown worn by popes from the eighth century to the mid-twentieth century. In one hand, he holds the keys to the gates of heaven. With his right hand, he gives his papal blessing.
This statue was created in 1881 by Leopold Blanchaart. The polychromy, the colors, are identical to those of the old main altar and to the statue of Saint Anne, which you can see elsewhere in the church.
The statue remained in the church attics for several years and was restored in 2003. The Ghent sculptor, Leopold Blanchaart, was a fervent proponent of the Neo-Gothic style and a follower of Jean Batist Bethune, who promoted Neo-Gothic architecture in Belgium. He lived from 1832 to 1913. His sculptures were often polychromed by his brother-in-law, Adriaan Bressers. The design drawings for his sculptures, which you can find in our church, are preserved at Kadoc in Leuven.

8.

We can date this confessional to around 1770.
From left to right, John the Baptist, Peter, Paul, and James are depicted.
On the pediment, centrally at the top, we see the image of Our Lady. At the bottom, on the door, is the sweat cloth with which Veronica dried Jesus' face.
We also recognize the crown of thorns, the stick with a sponge, which served to make the crucified Christ drink the sour wine, and a purse containing 30 pieces of silver: the price Judas received for betraying Jesus.
When we examine the statues closely, one by one, it is striking that the figure of Peter is of much finer quality than the other three. This statue of Peter is a replica of the one Kerrickx sculpted for a confessional in Antwerp Cathedral.
Could this statue of Peter also be by his hand?

9.

The statue you see here was part of the old main altar. In 1724, the priest commissioned a huge new main altar. It was decorated with lavish carvings by Kerrickx.
The altar was intended to encourage churchgoers to look forward again during Mass. The organ was built in 1723, and the priest left us with the impression that he was extremely annoyed by the congregation's constant shifting gaze to the back to look at and listen to the organ.
Not much is known about this main altar. Only that it was so large that the three central windows of the choir had to be bricked up to accommodate it.
At the end of the 19th century, the churchwardenship decided that the large Baroque altar in a Gothic choir constituted a stylistic departure. It was replaced by the current altar.
The statues from the Baroque main altar were then stored in the church attic. In 1964, the statues were removed from the attic to be displayed during a local history exhibition.
After the exhibition, the statues of Peter and Christ were likely deemed too heavy to be stored back in the attic. They were burned in 1964.

The statue here was left behind on the vault and was given a place in the church. It depicts the triumphant church and holds a Bible. It was likely seated on a globe, which has since disappeared.

10.

The stained-glass window in the transept was created in 1874 by Bruges glazier Samuel Coucke.
It depicts the sacred hearts of Jesus and Mary.
Bishop Florentinus and Saint Joanna of Chantal are also depicted. They are the patron saints of Floraun Erix and Johanna Verheyden, who donated the stained-glass window to the church.
Their names and the date in Roman numerals are inscribed on the window.
Like all the other stained-glass windows, this one was restored in 1987 by Mortelmans, a glazier in Brasschaat.

11.

The original communion rail of the Holy Cross altar was sold in 1818, for unknown reasons.
The current communion rail wasn't installed until 1855. Extensive research had been conducted: other churches were visited to determine whether a wooden or iron communion rail would be most suitable.
A wooden bench in the neoclassical style was chosen. Reason prevailed. In style, it is similar to the central section of the dock hall enclosure.

12.

The Holy Cross altar stands in the Holy Cross aisle of the church. The church acquired the relic of the Holy Cross in 1742.
In 1755, an altar was built for the Holy Cross, replacing the altar dedicated to Saint Anne.
The commission was that it should be as beautiful as the altar dedicated to Our Lady.
It is possible that the painting of the Descent from the Cross, which can be admired elsewhere in the church, was originally intended for this altar.
Since 1865, a new painting has graced the altar. It was painted by Charles Wouters. It dates from his early period, when he lived in Brussels. He later worked in Paris, among other places, where he won several awards.

13.

There are many hypotheses about the statue group depicting Christ and Peter.
If you look closely, you can see Peter kneeling before Christ. Jesus is giving Peter keys.
The inscription on the pedestal reads: "Tibi dabo claves regni caelorum." This means: "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven."
It has been revealed that this was not the original text on the pedestal.
Previously, it read: "Dixi ei: Christus pasce meas."
Christ said to him: Feed my sheep. Here too, the letters were capitalized, forming a Roman numeral. 1724 in this case.
This suggests that it is a statue group that can be attributed to Kerrickx, who was busy working in the church at the time.
He was building a new altar for the church around that time. The sculptural group could have been a model for that new altar from 1724, which we know also contained a figure of Christ and Peter.
A similar depiction can be found in the church in the central stained-glass window in the choir from 1871, in the main altar from 1899, and on a processional flag.