2023-07-24 19:39:00
To our knowledge, there was never a funeral – or other ceremonies generally organized in parish churches – celebrated in the cathedral of Tournai, with the exception of those reserved for certain ecclesiastical authorities as we will read later.
Tournai residents remember, however, that ceremonies were scheduled under our five bell towers during the Second World War and this, until before the end of the 1960s. In reality, the North transept of the cathedral then served as a parish church in the center of Tournai pending the reconstruction of the Saint-Quentin church demolished during the bombings.
The cathedral had also been partly destroyed by the bombs, but the authorities of the time were diligent in making certain areas of the building quickly accessible to the parishioners.
For some clergy
As Father Michel Vinckier, rector of the cathedral, confirms to us, “funerals in Tournai are not celebrated in the cathedral but in the various parish churches, now called “bell towers”. The funerals of bishops, canons, sometimes of certain former vicars of the bishop are usually celebrated at the cathedral…”
Thus, for example, to speak only of the most recent ceremonies, the funeral of Monsignor Charles-Marie Himmer was celebrated there on Saturday January 15, 1994, that of Canon Jean Dumoulin, on Saturday January 21, 2012, and, more recently, that of Cardinal Julien Ries, on March 2, 2023.
On the other hand, the funeral of the 99th bishop of Tournai, Monseigneur Huard, who died shortly following his 25 years of episcopate, was celebrated in the church of Saint-Jacques on October 11, 2002.
An accident caused the death of a family of five, last night, at the Marquain interchange
This, because the cathedral was inaccessible due to the restoration work it was undergoing.
As our interlocutor explains, for the ceremony scheduled for this Thursday at 10 a.m., “this time it is a special request because of a very large number of people approached given the particularly painful tragedy”.
One can indeed imagine that, given the notoriety of the family and its capital sympathy with the population, many people will want to come and pay them a last tribute.
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