Chapel of Kruisborre from 1830

Along the Boeyendaalstraat we find the Kruisborrekapel. Jan Verbesselt saw here a scar from an earlier chapel, the borchtchurch at Everberg. The name Kruisborre at least refers to a St. Cross chapel. In the church of Everberg, a relic of the Holy Cross was kept. In 1649, people in Everberg paid 14 stuivers for 100 little flags of the Holy Cross. Around the chapel, the legend of the Spanish soldier was told: “In the Spanish era around 1600, a Spanish soldier committed a sacrilege during communion. He took the Holy Host from his mouth, wrapped it in a cloth, and put it in his pocket. Upon reaching the place where the chapel now stands, he stuck the Holy Host on a tree. At that moment, his right arm became paralyzed. To atone for this desecration, a penance procession was established in which all the villages in the area participated. The tree itself grew in the shape of a cross.” Ferraris placed a cross near Everberg in 1771-78. Vandermaelen gave a chapel around 1830. There was a well by the chapel, which was sealed around 1880. The Holy Cross procession disappeared in 1964. The chapel was restored in 1973. The people of Everberg will tell you that above the cross of the chapel, lightning and thunder split, thus protecting Everberg from storms and misfortune.

H. VANNOPPEN. The history of Everberg. Peasants and princes. Published by the municipal administration of Everberg, 1973, p.46.

H. VANNOPPEN. One Hundred Kortenberg Buildings. A walk through ten centuries of history. Book and Form. Winksele, 1999, p. 98.

J. VERBESSELT. Parish life in Brabant until the end of the 13th century. Volume XIV, p. 314-315.

JimFoto