The Exaltation of the Holy Cross Church is a church in the Belgian village of Beveren near Roeselare. It is the church of the parish of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. She is mainly known for the popular devotion to Saint Anthony (against cattle diseases and Saint Anthony's fire, also called zona) and Saint Donatus (invoker against thunder and lightning).
After the iconoclasm, the church was rebuilt in 1608-1628 as a late Gothic pseudo-hall church with a crossing tower. This church was enlarged in 1786-1788 and received round-arched windows in 1830. At the end of the First World War, in July 1918, the church was destroyed by German aerial bombardments; only the tower remained without a spire.
The church was rebuilt in yellow sandstone in the early 1920s as a Gothic hall church. The church had the same orientation, but had been moved slightly south, so that the tower was now positioned northeast. The reconstruction was finished in 1923, but it took until 1933 before the new church was inaugurated. The church was previously dedicated to Saint Germanus, but changed its name in 1928 because of the ancient veneration of the Miracle Cross. In 1990 the church was completely restored.
The church houses the "miracle cross". The veneration of this cross dates back a very long time. Especially on Good Friday there is a special veneration of the cross with an accompanying children's blessing.
Until its closure on 3/12/2008, the main church also had an annex church (St. Catherine's Church_(Kapelhoek)), which was dedicated to Saint Catherine. This was a modern church from 1970, with a modern floor plan of a bell shape, built on the Kapelhoek.
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