Tomorrow is the feast of Saint Ghislain, and I’m thinking of Door County. 🇧🇪🇺🇸
Tomorrow, October 9, Catholics across the world (but more specifically in Belgium and northern France) celebrate Saint Ghislain, a 7th-century monk and monastery founder associated with the region of Hainaut in Belgium.
This year my thoughts also go to a very small and very special place (far away from Belgium): the Saint Ghislain roadside chapel in Misere, Door County.
I have been researching the devotion to Saint Ghislain in Belgium, and discovering this little chapel has been one of the most touching parts of that journey. It is a remarkable reminder of how Belgian immigrants carried not only their language and traditions to Wisconsin, but also their faith and their particular devotions.
The story of the Flemal family makes the chapel especially meaningful. After losing several children to convulsions, Constant and Mary Flemal prayed to Saint Ghislain, who had long been invoked in Belgium for children suffering from convulsions. After their prayers were answered and they were blessed with healthy children, they built the chapel in thanksgiving.
What I find beautiful is that a tiny chapel in Door County can still tell a story that began in “the old country” more than a thousand years ago.
For Saint Ghislain’s feast day, I’m sending a thought and a prayer from Belgium to all of you:
Saint Ghislain, pray for us.
Saint Ghislain, pray for the children and families who turn to you in hope.
And may this little chapel continue to remind us of the faith of the Belgian families who built a new home in Wisconsin. 🙏
I hope that one day I will be able to visit the chapel myself.
Happy Saint Ghislain’s Day to everyone in Door County and extension: the United States! 🇧🇪❤️🇺🇸
📸: A side chapel co-dedicated to St. Ghislain in a church in my home town in Belgium.
