Brussels Cathedral acknowledges stained-glass windows are anti-Semitic

The stained-glass windows at Brussels Cathedral depict ‘The Sacrament of the Miracle’, also known as ‘the Miracle of the Bleeding Hosts’. According to the legend, in the 14th century Brussels Jews are said to have stolen consecrated hosts and then pierced them with a knife. A miracle then took place, as the blood of Christ flowed from the hosts.

Six Jews were executed in 1370 and burned at the stake on Brussels’s market square. This event marked the beginning of a centuries-long tradition in which the hosts were venerated, also in processions in Brussels. The miracle is depicted in full on the stained-glass windows of the St Michael’s and St Gudula’s Cathedral. The windows show Jews with caricatured hooked noses.

At the time the legend arose, anti-Semitism was widespread in medieval Europe. “Plagued by wars, pestilence and famines, Jewish communities and minorities were often viewed with suspicion,” the cathedral writes on its website. Accusations like those levelled in this legend contributed further to the spread of anti-Semitism in Europe.

Anti-Semitic glass

After the Second World War, the miracle was viewed in a different light. During the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, the Roman Catholic Church condemned anti-Semitism, and in 1977, following years of negotiations, a plaque explaining the story was installed in St Michael's and St Gudula's Cathedral. The text remained rather vague and referred to ‘the tendentious nature of the accusation and the legendary portrayal of the miracle’.

That plaque drew considerable criticism from the Jewish community. They pointed out that the plaque would do better to remind people of the Roman Catholic Church’s prejudices against Jews and how religious fanaticism led to the persecution of Jews. As recently as 2007 Brussels historian Roel Jacobs noted that the Cathedral of St Michael and St Gudula could be regarded as one of the country’s greatest anti-Semitic monuments.

The new plaque with a more explicit explanation was unveiled following a lecture marking the 800th anniversary of St Michael’s and St Gudula’s Cathedral. It was Bollandist Robert Godding, who gave the lecture that focussed on stained glass, miracles and anti-Semitism in medieval Europe.

Apology

Following the lecture, the 1977 plaque was replaced by a commemorative plaque in Dutch, French, English and Hebrew in the presence of Archbishop Luc Terlinden, Benoît Lobet, Dean of Central Brussels, and Albert Guigui, the Chief Rabbi of Brussels.

“The new plaque offers an apology and very clearly acknowledges the anti-Semitic nature of the legend. We also wish to acknowledge that the legend has caused a great deal of pain within the Jewish community,” Lobet explains.

The text on the plaque was drafted by the archbishop and various representatives of the Jewish community. “There were indeed many complaints from the Jewish community about the stained-glass windows. Because they found it distressing that Jews were being stigmatised in this way. I therefore think it is very important to offer an apology and thus be able to reconcile the communities.”

In addition, an appeal was launched to stop publicly venerating the miracle.