12 De sluier van O.L.V.

12. At the entrance of the church

1729
The veil of Our Lady
I tell you, nothing is sacred anymore! Now they've looted Mother Mary's own clothing chest after all. That anyone should dare ... Blasphemy, that's what it is.
Walter Hornkens and Arnold Verhofstadt have the scoop. In the very early morning of October 1, around 4:30 a.m. - what on earth are you doing at the church at that hour? - they see that something is wrong.
    ‛The blue stone sill of the outer door of the Catholic church here, standing westward, was forcibly lifted out, and then a large amount of earth was scratched out from under it, in such a way that a person could easily pass under it and crawl into the church.'

They called in Joanna Corstens. You know her, she is that little nun who dresses and undresses the statue of Our Lady in the church and can draw from a very varied wardrobe to do so. A shelf has broken from the chest in which all those clothes are kept. Joanna is actually dumbfounded, but nevertheless tells everyone who wants to hear what has disappeared.
    ‛A red skirt and veil, with white flowers on it and trimmed with false gold lace. And another outer of a white skirt, with gold and colored flowers, with false silver lace turnover. Further many gold and silver laces, two new crowns with fine gold and silver worked through, full of false stones set. Another crown of piouter, and a skirteleen of white linden.'
Yes, I can't translate those fashion terms into images either, but a stroke of luck is that all those fake things can now be replaced by real stuff. That's what that beautiful statue of Our Lady deserves. Right?