Kapel Gerlachus | Gemert

Saints make themselves known by their attribute, a specific identifying mark. Gerlachus has a very nice attribute. In the church of Loon op Zand, among other places, he is depicted like this: he stands in a hollow tree and is surrounded by animals that belonged on a Brabant farm, such as a horse, a chicken and a cow.  

Gerlachus was a hermit who lived in a hollow oak tree in Houthem, Limburg, in the 12th century. This statue (made by Toon Grassens from Gemert) of Saint Gerlachus can also be found in a new field chapel in Gemert. A few new chapels are added every year in Brabant. The chapel was built by volunteers in memory of Father Gerlachus van den Elsen, the driving force behind the founding of the Farmers' Union. Consequently, the chapel stands near the Boerenbond museum in Gemert among fields and meadows with grazing cows of the old Brandrode cattle breed.

The chapel was consecrated in early September 2007 by former bishop Jan Bluijssen.