Saint Hadelin Church

About

The Collegial Church of Saint-Hadelinus () is a Catholic parish church in the Belgian province of Namur. She belongs to the diocese Names and is dedicated to Hadelinus of Celles. Historically it is a chapel church where the chief relic of this saint was worshipped. Architecturally, the church has almost kept its eleventh century view intact. It is a particularly cool example of Romanesque architecture and in particular of the early Maasland style. The building has been protected since 1947 and is included in the exceptional heritage of Wallonia.

History: According to the vita of Hadelinus, he lived in Celles in the seventh century and founded an oratory and an abbey. Historians often hold the latter for a Benedictine abbey, which would then have been destroyed by the Normans and in the 9th century re-established as a chapter by Bishop Richer of Liège, but just as well the religious community of Hadelinus may have been a chapter from the beginning. It depended on a canon of the Sint-Lambertuskapittel, not on the bishop of Liège. In any case, the twelve canons of Celles occurred in the eleventh...