St. Bernard's Chapel

The Bernardus Chapel is located one and a half kilometers from the church, at the end of the Bosstraat. It's a beautiful place. Perhaps this is where Ulicoten is at its best, thanks in part to the efforts of the regular volunteers who maintain the chapel and the surrounding area. Through its style, simplicity and setting, the chapel invites every visitor to silence and prayer. For many people, it is a resting place. A place for contemplation. To light a candle. There is also a rich history associated with this place. On July 2, 1648, the former chapel (a church since 1803) was seized by Calvinists in the center of Ulicoten. From then on, the people of Ulicoten had to go to mass in Baarle. In 1654 a solution was found closer to home, on the Bollekens. Aert Adriaen Clerckx gave a piece of land on a long lease to the chapel of Ulicoten. That parcel was located just across the border in the territory of Meerle, i.e. in the Spanish Netherlands. On October 31, 1654, the bishop authorized the construction of a chapel and on March 20, 1655, it was consecrated. The border chapel was supported by an oak beam skeleton. The walls were of twigs, smeared with loam. The thatched roof was covered with threshed straw and heather sods. The floor was made of stone. The interior consisted of a wooden altar with a loose altar stone, a painting, the statue of St. Bernard, a pulpit, a confessional, a chalice and a holy water bucket with tassel. The sexton lived in a small house next door. Classes were also held at the chapel and houses were built to accommodate pilgrims. After the French invasion in 1794, the border chapel was closed and the old chapel in the village centre of Ulicoten was reused for Catholic worship. The border chapel, enlarged in 1781, was demolished. After almost a century and a half, peace returned to the Bollekens and nature did its work.

Thanksgiving Chapel (1945-present)
At the end of World War II, the story takes a new turn. After the liberation, reconstruction could begin, but first a joint promise was kept: the erection of a chapel in honour of St. Bernard on the site of the former border chapel. Permission from the ecclesiastical authorities was readily granted. Under the architecture of Jan Oomen from Oosterhout, a chapel was built between May and August 1945 from the rubble of the destroyed church. According to the minutes of the meeting of the church board on May 31, 1945, the assignment was outsourced to A. Havermans. The masonry work was carried out by Alfons van
Tongerloo from Meerle and the carpentry by H. de Kort. The mensa of the altar was a gift from Jos van Gool from Baarle-Nassau. The Bernardus statue (a copy of the old statue) is a work of art by Father G. Kamerbeek. On August 20, 1945, Father Van Steen, with the help of his parishioners, was able to consecrate the new chapel. Because it is on Belgian soil, his eminence had to give the Cardinal-Archbishop of Mechelen permission to celebrate a Holy Eucharist there every year.
At the 50th anniversary of the chapel, the restoration of the woodwork was realized by the relatives of Fons van Tongerloo, with the cooperation of some volunteers.

Stations of the Cross
In 1949, the fourteen Stations of the Cross were placed in the forest of the Rijvers family. The Stations of the Cross in terracotta is by Matthieu Doesborg and was made by Tiglia in Tegelen. The stations were often donated by the parents of boys who did their military service in the Dutch East Indies. They hoped for their sons to return home safely.
In the year 2000 the stations were restored and provided with chapels by Jan Boeren. At that time, the renewed Stations of the Cross were solemnly consecrated by Father Maickel Prasing, in the presence of many family members, veterans and interested parties.

Since then, the Stations of the Cross have been prayed annually on Tuesday mornings in the Octave of the Cross near the chapel.

Hermans Cor Meerle