Vault of Vrijhern

About

The Vault of Vrijhern is a vault and pilgrimage site in the town of Vrijhern.

History: Founder of the safe was Jacobus van den Brouck from Hasselt, who started teaching poor children in Riksingen in 1685. Around 1690 he settled as a hermit on the outskirts of the church, so that children from Werm, Vrijhern and Sint-Huibrechts-Hern could also be taught. However, in 1703 the vault was destroyed when the French troops, as part of the Spanish Succession War, took Tongeren. In 1709 the Lord of Werm, Hubert-Maximilian de Brouckmans, gave up the ground for a new safe, owned by the Holy Spirit table of Werm. A chapel was also built, dedicated to Our Lady of Loreto. James died in 1715. He was succeeded by a series of other hermits. The last hermits were Lambertus Masters, who died in 1904, and Martinus Brepoels, who, after the death of Masters, settled in the Less Brothers Monastery of Rekem. In 1920 the furniture of the vault and the chapel was sold, but the complex remained.