Church and Chapel of Sainte-Ermelinde in Meldert

The Church of St. Ermelinde (Dutch: Sint-Ermelindiskerk) is a Romanesque, Gothic and Classical style church located in Meldert (sometimes called Maillard in French). Saint Ermelindet (510 – 590) was a 6th century Brabant saint who is celebrated on 29 October. Her parents, wealthy lords, tried to marry her off, but when she refused, they allowed her to follow her vocation and provided her with the income from a small piece of land. She distributed her patrimony to the poor and settled as a hermit in a forest region, probably in the vicinity of Beauvechain. She later moved to a hermitage in Meldert and spent the rest of her life there in prayer and mortification. In the church there is a shrine with its relics, while in the chapel, located behind the church, there is its cenotaph (a funerary monument that does not contain a body unlike the mausoleum).

Val et Oli