Minderbroederskerk Franciscus Solanus

In the centre of the fruit-growing region of la Hesbaye (Haspengouw), whose cherries are famous, Saint Trond was developed around an abbey founded in the 7th century by Saint Trudon. This was a prosperous trading city on the Cologne-Bruges road.
The church of the Recollets in the Baroque style was established in 1731. It replaced the Romanesque church of Saint Anne.
Above the entry door one can admire the patron saint of this church, Saint Francis of Assisi.
The triangular pediment carries a medallion that represents the Franciscan Friars. The façade is rather plain; the interior is in a tempered Baroque style. Beyond the altar, one descends into the crypt of the Franciscan martyrs of China.
After a fire that wreaked enormous havoc in 1940, the choir was restored; the high altar with its suffering Jesus on the cross is a reconstruction dating from 1961.
One can also admire the sculptures of ‘Our Lady the Consoler of the Afflicted’ (1480) and ‘Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows’ (16th century), as well as numerous representations of Saint Trudon, patron saint of the city.
If you are interested, in the monastery the Franciscan museum has a major collection of images and paintings from the Middle Ages, of retables and an antiphonary* from the 16th century.
(*antiphonary: liturgical book containing all the chants performed by the choir for the holy offices or for the mass, Le petit Larousse 2006).

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