The Founding of a Guild

The next armorial stained glass window in the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp, Belgium that we're going to look at memorializes the founding of the Guild of Our Lady’s Praise in 1478.

This 1881 window was donated by a member of the Venerable Chapel, Petrus Heesmans, and his wife Eugenia Ceulemans, who, according to the caption, had a great devotion for Our Lady of Lourdes. The central panel of the window shows, in Saint-Joseph’s Chapel in the cathedral, the founders of the guild are blessed by a priest.

In the tracery at the top of the window, flanking the image of Our Lady of Lourdes, we find the arms of Lourdes, France (to the left) (blazoned in French as De gueules à trois tours d'or, maçonnées et ajourées de sable, celle du milieu plus élevée et sommée d'une aigle essorante contournée d'argent, tenant dans son bec une truite du même; à la champagne cousue d'azur chargée d'une chaîne de six montagnes d'or, posées sur une rivière d'azur, ondée d'argent mouvant de la pointe), and the City of Antwerp (to the right).

The central tableau framed by arms of noble families that used to be connected with the guild, with their names in scrolls underneath each shield.

Left column, top to bottom:                   Right column, top to bottom:

Jacob van Savoyen                                 Peter van Hennin
Philip van Brabant                                  van Rochefort
Jan van Bloys                                         Jan van Dinter
Walraven Draeck                                    Jan Colgensone, Jr.
Jan Colgensone                                      Adriaen van Delft
[not legible]                                           Jan Tiegelere
Jacob Mannaert                                      A. van Maugelaer

As always, you can click on one of the images here to go to a larger version to see more detail. And there is a lot of detail in this window to see!