Foundation Musick's Monument
1764 – Susanne Maria Knoefel: she left for Brussels with a church certificate
1769 – Susanne Maria Knoefel left Brussels for Hasselt (Overijssel)
The Changing Pulpit: Ministers in Brussels
The spiritual continuity of the Brussels embassy community depended on a fragile succession of ministers appointed by the States General in The Hague. Following a rapid succession of changes after 1749 — including the brief tenures of Reverend Fournier and Reverend Anosi (from Chur).
• The interim ministry of Johannes Dipelius (1758–1763): Following the death of Reverend Anosi, the pulpit in Brussels remained vacant. During these critical years, Johannes Dipelius, the resident minister of Antwerp, travelled regularly to Brussels to conduct the services.
THE CONFLICT between Reverend DIEPELIUS and Johannes Daniel & Johannes Lodewijk Dülcken
COMPLETE
[Pagina 1]
Weleerwaarde heren!
Ik hoop dat u mij wilt verontschuldigen dat ik de vrijheid neem om u door middel van deze brief te schrijven. Ik móét namelijk klagen over het slechte gedrag van onze predikant, dominee Dipelius.
Mijn vader, die hier ruim dertig jaar als ouderling heeft gewoond en gewerkt, heeft hier tot aan zijn dood de bitterste vruchten van moeten plukken. U moet zich eens voorstellen hoe aanstootgevend en schandelijk dit voor ons allemaal is geweest: nadat zijn vrouw was overleden, heeft hij een jong meisje — zijn eigen nichtje, dat aan hem als predikant was toevertrouwd — verleid en zwanger gemaakt.
Dit ontkende hij niet alleen ten overstaan van mijn vader onder de meest heilige eden, maar om zijn leugen geloofwaardig te maken, dwong hij de kraamvrouw ook nog om al op de zesde of zevende dag na de bevalling in de kerk te verschijnen om gezegend te worden. Dit was met gevaar voor haar eigen leven. Kort daarna heeft hij haar naar Holland gestuurd.
Ondertussen was deze zaak zó algemeen bekend en zichtbaar, dat we geen voet buiten de deur konden zetten of de straatjongens riepen ons na: "Jullie geile dominee heeft een kind gemaakt!" Maar dit alles zal u ongetwijfeld al bekend zijn,
🇬🇧 English Translation
[Page 1]
Reverend Gentlemen!
I trust you will forgive the liberty I take in addressing this letter to you. I find myself compelled to complain about the wretched conduct of our minister, Reverend Dipelius.
My father, who lived and served here as an elder for over thirty years, suffered the bitterest consequences of this until his very end. You need only imagine how offensive and shameful this has been for all of us: after his wife passed away, he seduced and impregnated a young girl – his own niece, who had been entrusted to his care as a minister.
Not only did he deny this to my father under the most sacred oaths, but to make his lie plausible, he also forced the woman to appear in church to be blessed just six or seven days after giving birth. This was done at the peril of her life. Shortly thereafter, he sent her away to Holland.
Meanwhile, this matter was so widely known and visible that one could not step outside without the street boys shouting after us: "Your horny parson has made a child!" But all of this will, no doubt, already be known to you,
Under a Diplomatic Veil: Reformed Church Services and Protestant Survival in Brussels (1764–August 1769)
Between 1764 and 1769, the legation of the Republic of the United Netherlands in Brussels served as the sole formal refuge for Protestants in the Southern Netherlands. Under the strictly Catholic Austrian regime, public non-Catholic worship and Protestant funerals were strictly prohibited by law. By making clever use of diplomatic immunity, the Dutch diplomatic mission managed to sustain a vital underground house church community. A reconstruction of a turbulent period in which church services were forced to relocate amid fires and bankruptcies, and in which the community had to provide its dead with a dignified resting place through a unique, pragmatic alliance with a Catholic monastic order.
The Rotating Pulpit: Ministers and the Regional Network
The spiritual continuity of the Brussels embassy community depended on a precarious succession of ministers appointed by the States General in The Hague. Following a rapid succession of changes after 1749 — including the brief tenures of Reverend Fournier and Reverend Anosi (from Chur) — the period between 1764 and 1776 was characterised by a complex network of pastoral care:
• The interim ministry of Johannes Dipelius (1758–1763): Following the death of Reverend Anosi, the pulpit in Brussels remained vacant. During these critical years, Johannes Dipelius, the resident minister of Antwerp, travelled regularly to Brussels to conduct services and shepherd the vulnerable flock.
• The ministry of Daniël Fehr (1763–1771): On 24 May 1763, the States-General officially called Daniël Fehr to the post. He took charge just before the disastrous year of 1764 and remained the central figure until his departure in 1771.
As the Dutch Republic did not yet own any permanent property in Brussels during the eighteenth century, the embassy was based in the noble residences that successive envoys rented privately in the upmarket Upper Town (around the Koudenberg).
Around the year 1764, disaster struck when the stately residence and embassy of Ambassador Baron Willem van Haren were completely reduced to ashes by a fierce fire. As a result, the church’s administrative records, archives and the furnishings of the temporary church hall were lost. Forced by circumstances, Van Haren moved into a more modest rented property near the Koudenberg, where services resumed immediately under the leadership of Reverend Fehr. However, devastated by the enormous financial blow of the fire, Van Haren became insolvent. In 1767, his household effects were seized, which ultimately led to his tragic suicide in 1768.
After a brief interim period near the Grote Zavel and the Wolstraat, calm finally returned after 1772 under the new ambassador, Wilhem van Citters. He established a large church hall within a prestigious townhouse on the Kantersteen.
Two cities, two solutions: Logistical camouflage and the role of the Alexians
The logistical organisation of this house church required absolute discretion. The meeting room had to be completely invisible from the outside: no crosses, bells or ecclesiastical architecture were to be visible. Inside, the space was furnished like a austere Protestant church hall, with a simple wooden pulpit and individual chairs that could be quickly pushed aside after the service. Worshippers entered the building via the diplomatic courtyard and had to behave as inconspicuously as possible on the street so as not to cause any diplomatic incidents with the Austrian authorities.
However, the imperative need for secrecy did not end with death. As Protestants were not entitled to a burial in consecrated Catholic ground, the community faced a profound religious and logistical problem.
In this respect, the situation in Brussels differed fundamentally from that in Antwerp. Antwerp Protestants resolved this by loading their deceased onto a cart and transporting them across the nearby border to the border region of Putte, to bury them there on ‘Staats’ (Protestant) soil. For the Brussels Protestants, however, the distance to the border of the Republic was far too great; such an open transport overland was prohibitively expensive, risky and logistically unfeasible.
Brussels therefore had to find a unique, local stopgap solution. Thanks to a secret, tacit agreement with the Monastery of the Alexians (also known as the Cell Brothers), a solution was found. Well into the year 1784, deceased Brussels Protestants were smuggled in in the utmost secrecy and laid to rest in the dark vaults and crypts beneath the Alexian monastery.
Why Catholic monks collaborated on a ‘heretical’ secret
The collaboration between the strictly Catholic Alexians and the Protestant embassy community may seem historically contradictory, but it was driven by a powerful combination of humanitarian duty, financial necessity and political pragmatism:
• Caring for the outcasts: As a mendicant order, the Brothers of Celle traditionally undertook tasks that other orders were unwilling to touch, such as caring for the mentally ill, plague victims and burying the poor and outcasts. For these monks, a deceased person was first and foremost a human being entitled to a decent burial, which meant they took a less dogmatic view of the letter of ecclesiastical law.
• Discreet funding: The Alexians were chronically poor and dependent on alms. The Protestant embassy community, by contrast, was relatively wealthy and supported by the wealthy Republic. The Protestants paid the monks substantial, discreet fees and burial fees in exchange for permission to inter the bodies at night. This income was indispensable to the monastery for maintaining its healthcare services.
• An open secret: the Austrian authorities were often all too well aware of what was going on in the depths of the monastery, but deliberately turned a blind eye. After all, unburied bodies posed a major risk to public health and could lead to epidemics. As long as the burials remained strictly clandestine — at night, in silence and without Protestant hymns or public ceremonies — Catholic public order was not disrupted and the governor did not need to intervene forcefully.
Baptisms at the Protestant Church in Brussels:
The Rotating Pulpit: Ministers and the Regional Network
The spiritual continuity of the Brussels embassy community depended on a precarious succession of ministers appointed by the States General in The Hague. Following a rapid succession of changes after 1749 — including the brief tenures of Reverend Fournier and Reverend Anosi (from Chur) — the period between 1764 and 1776 was characterised by a complex network of pastoral care:
The tenure of Daniël Fehr (1763–1771): On 24 May 1763, the States General officially called upon Daniël Fehr. He took the helm just before the Disaster Year of 1764 and remained the central figure until his departure in 1771.
The vacancy of 1772 and external emergency assistance: When Fehr left, the congregation once again relied on a regional network. In 1772, Reverend Weissman from Namur conducted the services. At the same time, Reverend Alberti — the chaplain to the Waldeck regiment stationed nearby — stepped in between 1764 and 1775 to administer Holy Baptism on seven occasions.
The era of Jean Jacques Hurter (1773–1794): In 1773, Jean Jacques Hurter was appointed permanent minister of the legation. He brought a long period of stability and remained in post until the embassy was finally closed following the second capture of Brussels by French Republican troops in 1794.
Cosmopolitan Grandeur in Brussels: The Musical Alliance Between Josse Boutmy and Governor Charles of Lorraine
The relationship between the Southern Netherlands composer Josse Boutmy and Governor Charles Alexander of Lorraine formed the beating heart of 18th-century cultural life in Brussels.
As the chief organist of the Royal Chapel and personal harpsichord master to the court, Boutmy’s career reflected the golden age of the Austrian Netherlands under a passion-driven, art-loving ruler. Their alliance was a textbook example of classic patronage: a harmonious exchange of political prestige and groundbreaking musical genius.
A Princely Patronage in Brussels
When Charles of Lorraine assumed office as Governor-General in the 1740s, a golden age for the arts dawned in Brussels. The Governor aimed to bestow upon his court the grandeur of cultural capitals like Vienna and Paris. Josse Boutmy, hailing from a prominent family of musicians from Ghent, had already served the influential noble Thurn und Taxis family by this time.
Around 1744, Charles of Lorraine brought Boutmy to the Coudenberg Palace. He was appointed to two prestigious positions:
Chief Organist of the Royal Chapel: Responsible for sacred court music.
Master Harpsichordist of the Court: Responsible for the musical backdrop of court life and educating the young nobility ("tous les jeunes Seigneurs et Dames de la Cour").
[Governor Charles of Lorraine] (Funding & Political Prestige)
│
▼ (Patronage / Court Appointment)
[Josse Boutmy] (Organist & Harpsichord Master)
│
▼ (Artistic Dedication)
[Troisième Livre de Pièces de Clavecin]
Music as a Political Tribute
The relationship between the composer and the governor was deeply intertwined with the political realities of the principality. This became explicitly clear in 1749, when Charles of Lorraine made his festive, triumphal entry into Brussels following the War of the Austrian Succession.
Boutmy composed the program piece Entrée de Charles de Lorraine à Bruxelles specifically for this occasion. With resonant, majestic chords and sweeping fanfare-like figures, he translated the political authority and immense popularity of the governor directly onto the keys of the harpsichord.
The Third Harpsichord Book: An Italian Innovation
As the crowning achievement of their fruitful collaboration, Boutmy published his magnum opus in Brussels around 1750: the Troisième Livre de Pièces de Clavecin. The opulently engraved title page leaves no room for doubt: the work is explicitly dedicated to his royal highness ("Dédié à S.A.R. Monseigneur le Duc Charles de Lorraine").
Although the suites in this book consist of traditional French and Italian Baroque dances—such as the Allemande, Courante, Menuet, Gigue, and Tambourin—Boutmy used this collection to introduce a major musical innovation to Brussels:
The Influence of Scarlatti: Rather than clinging strictly to older French keyboard traditions, Boutmy drew deep inspiration for this third book from the dazzling, virtuous Italian sonata style of Domenico Scarlatti.
Keyboard Virtuosity: The music is characterized by an unprecedented level of dynamic expression, swift technical passages, and a truly cosmopolitan blend of European styles.
Mutual Respect to the Very End
Boutmy remained in the service of the Royal Chapel until a very advanced age. Even when he retired from his active duties in 1777, the legacy of this alliance remained tangible. Thanks to the stable financial position he enjoyed under Charles of Lorraine, he was able to train his son, Guillaume Boutmy, who was subsequently appointed as an organist at the Royal Chapel in Brussels as well.
Charles of Lorraine provided Boutmy with the financial security and royal platform required to excel; Boutmy provided the governor with the perfect, contemporary soundtrack to his reign. Together, they ensured that the 18th-century palace halls of Brussels resonated with a unique, international Baroque voice in which political pride and musical innovation seamlessly merged.
Charles of Lorraine as Patron of Arts - Mattias de Visch
Description
A bust of the governor Charles of Lorraine in an oval medallion held by Minerva. To the left of the medallion and below it, three female personifications can be seen: Architecture, holding a compass and set square and pointing to a drawing of the Poortersloge where the Bruges Academy was based; Painting, holding a brush and palette, with study drawings on the ground beside her; and Sculpture, holding a chisel and working on a bust. On the far right are three young boys: each of them is intended to represent the practical training involved in one of the three arts: one boy is holding architectural plans, the second is drawing, and the third is chiselling a coat of arms into stone. The latter can be identified as the coat of arms of Pieter-François-Vincent de Vooght, High Bailiff of Bruges.
Charles of Lorraine as Patron of Arts
Palace of Charles of Lorraine, Brussels
Governor Charles Alexander of Lorraine and the Foundation of the Protestant Church of Brussels
Governor Charles Alexander of Lorraine stands historically at the center of the founding and preservation of the building known today as the Protestant Church of Brussels. Under his administration, this royal private chapel was transformed into a geopolitical sanctuary.
The Patron and the Foundation Stone (1760)
As Governor-General of the Austrian Netherlands, Charles Alexander of Lorraine initiated the large-scale renovation of his palace complex in Brussels in 1757. As the crowning achievement of this neoclassical project, the Governor personally laid the first stone for a brand-new Court Chapel on Museum Square on May 1, 1760.
He entrusted the design to his influential court architect, Jean Faulte. Faulte created an opulent hall church in the Louis XV style, heavily inspired by the Royal Chapel of the Palace of Versailles and the court chapel of Lunéville. The chapel featured an enclosed, covered gallery, allowing the family of Lorraine to move entirely secluded from the palace to the church floor.
[ Governor Charles of Lorraine ] (Patron, 1760)
│
▼ (Laying of the Foundation Stone)
┌────────────────────────┐
│ Court Chapel (J.Faulte)│
│ │
│ [ Extraterritorial ] │ ◄── (Tolerance policy under the Governor:
│ - Private & Catholic │ a safe haven for Protestants)
│ - Embassy Chapel │
└────────────────────────┘
│
▼ (Decree of Napoleon, 1804)
┌────────────────────────┐
│ Protestant Church │ ◄── (Official transfer to the
│ of Brussels │ Protestant denomination)
└────────────────────────┘
The Diplomatic Oasis of Charles of Lorraine
Although the chapel was officially a strictly Catholic and imperial private institution, Charles of Lorraine played a crucial, pragmatic role in the religious tolerance policy of Brussels. Public Protestant or Reformed worship was strictly prohibited in the city at the time.
However, the Governor utilized the extraterritorial status of the palace complex to protect foreign Protestants. Within the walls of the chapel, local municipal laws held no power. Under the direct supervision and formal protection of Lorraine, foreign diplomats—specifically the embassy of the States-General of the United Netherlands—were granted the freedom to organize their own Reformed services in this space. As a result, his chapel functioned as a secure diplomatic harbor for the Protestant intellectual and artisan elite.