The statue of Damien, soft violence by sculptor Jan Boedts

In front of the church is the statue of Father Damien. Although this modest man lived close to the lepers of Molokai, the people of Tremelo must look up to this great man. The pose of the statue is reminiscent of the statue of the same name by sculptor Constantin Meunier for the St. James' Church in Leuven: the young Damien offers protection and comfort to two leper children, sculpted in a pitiful and pathetic pose. Although Boedts was an exceptional portraitist who worked true to nature, this is not the case for this Jozef De Veuster. Damien is presented here as a young, healthy man. A few decades later, the depiction would mainly focus on the sick Damien, tormented and disfigured by leprosy. You will notice this immediately when you enter the church and visit the baptistery of Damien. Artist Leo Cambré from Herentals chiseled a hefty Damien in 1993, but when we look at his face, the traces of leprosy are visible and it appears that he has already lost a piece of his ear.

Jan Boedts (1904-1973) was a renowned sculptor in the first half of the last century who even enjoyed the appreciation of King Astrid. In the early 1950s he established his studio in Tremelo, formed a 'commune' with a few ladies and worked on the never-finished 'Garden of the Kingdom of Heaven', a utopian project in which a gigantic complex with more than a hundred statues was to promote world peace.

In the church you can visit the chapel where Damien was baptized.

Jan Rymenams