St Martin's Church or the Church of St. Martin () is a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

located in Aalst,

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

, Belgium.

History

The Church of St. Martin was established in dedication to

Saint Martin Saint Martin may refer to: People * Saint Martin of Tours (c. 316–397), Bishop of Tours, France * Saint Martin of Braga (c. 520–580), archbishop of Bracara Augusta in Gallaecia (now Braga in Portugal) * Pope Martin I (c. 595–655), bishop of R ...

. The Gothic-style church was built in 1480. The

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish painting, Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged comp ...

depicting

Saint Roch Roch (lived c. 1348 – 15/16 August 1376/79; traditionally c. 1295 – 16 August 1327), also called Rock in English, was a Majorcan Catholic confessor whose death is commemorated on 16 August and 9 September in Italy; he was especially invo ...

titled '' Christ Appointing Saint Roch as Patron Saint of Plague Victims'' is located in the church. Composed by

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...

in 1527, the

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

Dirk Martens Dirk Martens () (1446 or 1447 – 28 May 1534) was a Printer (publishing), printer and editing, editor in the County of Flanders. He published over fifty books by Erasmus and the very first edition of Thomas More's ''Utopia (More book), Utopia''. ...

was installed in the church in 1784.Contemporaries of Erasmus: A Biographical Register of the Renaissance and Reformation. (2003). Germany: University of Toronto Press.

Gallery

File:Grondplan der St. Maartenskerk, Aalst (11067308654).jpg, Floor plan of St Martin's Church File:Sint-Martinuskerk (Aalst) - Sacramentstoren.JPG, Sacrament Tower

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Martin Church of Aalst Churches in Belgium Roman Catholic churches in Belgium