Grave with hands

This is a beautiful love monument. A symbol that love can easily bridge social impossibilities. It is the story of Jacobus van Gorkum and Josephina van Aefferden. He was a cavalry colonel and militia commissioner in Limburg. In 1842 he married the Roermond damsel Josephina Carlina Petronella Hubertina van Aefferden. It was a mixed marriage because of their background; Van Gorkum was originally Protestant, his wife was Catholic. The age and class difference between the two also caused a stir at the time. After his death, Van Gorkum was buried in the Protestant part of the cemetery. His widow wanted to be buried with him, but as a Catholic could not be buried in unconsecrated ground. The solution was found in a double grave, on both sides of the wall, the grave markers connected by two hands that interlock over the wall.

Pascal Brackman