Sarcophagus Saint-Hadelin - Celles

At the top of the Stations of the Cross is the chapel of the Saint-Hadelin hermitage.

Under the choir of the chapel there is a small crypt in which a sarcophagus containing the saint's relics marks the place where Saint Hadelin lived and where he died in 690. The sarcophagus can be seen through a window. The inscription on the sarcophagus reads: "This sarcophagus was dedicated in 1865 to the memory of Saint Hadelin, who died in this place on the 3rd day before the nones of February in the year 690. It contains relics of his body, which 1338 was transferred to Visé".

In principle, Saint Hadelin, who had adopted the monastic rule of Saint Remacle, had annexed the monastery he founded to the Benedictine order. Shortly after his death, however, his followers organized themselves and appointed an abbot and a provost. When they left the region as a result of the torments inflicted on them by their lawyers, the Sires de Celles, the Bishop of Liège, when founding the collegiate church of Visé, established for them a new dignity, that of dean (October 11 1337).

The sanctuary in which the canons of Celles had secretly received the body of their holy founder was first opened in 1338; it was opened many more times, namely in 1413, 1468, 1654, 1696, 1788 and 1845. Relics were donated to the Abbey of Stavelot, the Abbey of Orval, the Monastery of Cugnon and of course to Celles.

Willem Vandenameele