Page 29 - LOTN Advent issue 57

FAITH AND CULTURE

Stone carver, Filip Martin was comissioned to design and install the monument, a fitting memorial to Fr Theophilus Verstraeten

of Bottelaere in the Diocese of Ghent (Belgium) and he was rimmed spectacles".
buried next to his mother outside St Anne's church. The St Margaret’s parish celebrated its Centenary in 2011,
grave has now gone, replaced after the second world war and more of the above story was rediscovered and put
by a military cemetery, but we know that it was originally on the Parish website. At the same time, in Belgium,
located by the crucifix to the right of the picture below. Pieter De Clercq was asked by his mother to sort through
Fr Verstraeten’s labours in the islands, 150 years ago, laid family papers and he discovered an obituary card for Fr
the foundations of the modern parish of St Margaret’s in Theophilus Verstraeten. On it is written the story of his
Lerwick. It would be over eighty years before Shetland Shetland ministry, but no-one had any idea who he was,
had another resident priest. He had been fundraising for a and eventually Pieter looked online and found the story.
Catholic chapel in Lerwick and by the time of his death had There followed an email and information exchange, and
banked donations of £1,246 (more than £100,000 at current eventually in 2019 St Margaret’s parishioner Hilde Bardell,
values). This was invested and ultimately contributed to Belgian by birth, met up with Pieter De Clercq, visited
the building of the present St Margaret's Church which Bottelaere and St Anne’s church where Fr Theophilus
was opened in July 1911. Fr Verstraeten was remembered was buried. Finding his grave was no longer there, she
even then by a correspondent of the Shetland News who left a message in the intentions book about the Shetland
refers to him as "the tall dignified gentleman with the gold- connection, leaving an email address.
In 2020, a Bottlelaere parishioner, Lieve Orye, read the
message, and discovered that no-one in Bottelaere knew
anything about Fr Theophilus, not even the parish archivist,
so Lieve emailed Hilde. Their correspondence led to
Lieve writing three articles about the Lerwick-Bottelaere
connection for the local church magazine. In February
2023 Hilde and Pete visited Bottelaere again, meeting Lieve
and local parishioners and parish council members, and
Lieve also visited Shetland. Fr Ambrose, parish priest of St
Margaret's, Lerwick, had previously suggested a memorial
plaque to honour Fr Theophilus and to give thanks for his
service in Shetland. There was an enthusiastic response,
resulting in the appointment of a local specialist stone
carver to make the monument (www.catholicshetland.
scot/monument). The memorial plaque was unveiled at
St Anne's Church, Bottelaerere during a visit to Belgium
in October of this year by a small pilgrimage group from
Shetland.
St Margaret’s Lerwick wish to honour a man who laid
the foundations for our church building, but even more
importantly, courageously laid foundations for respectful
relations and connections between people who through
misunderstanding and prejudice forgot about compassion,
humanity and love, the value of which never fades. The
parish hope that even 150 years later they can build on
his foundations and work together in ministry for our very
St Anne's Church, Bottelaere, Belgium needy world.

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