Sint-Pietersabdij- St Peter's Abbey, Gent, Belgium

The Abbey became a barracks after the French Revolution and now is an exhibition centre. The Church is still in use for Masses.

The Church in Europe has over the last five centuries suffered from a series of desecrations all of which have closed and/ or stolen Churches.

Firstly, the Protestant Reformation
Secondly, Josephinism
Thirdly, French Revolution and later Napoleon
Fourthly, the 1901 Law of Associations in France which led to the expulsion of many orders and the closures of monasteries.
Fifthly, Nazism
For instance, Hitler wanted to dynamite this magnificent Pilgrimage Church of Our Lady of Sorrows on Postlingburg in his home town and replace it with a temple dedicated to pagan "gods"
Sixthly, Communism
Seventhly, the enormous secularisation after the Second Vatican Council

Comments