The Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula or ‘Collegiale Sint-Michiels- en Sint-Goedele-co-kathedraal’ in Dutch was given cathedral status in 1962 and the patron saints Michael and Gudula are also the patrons of the city of Brussels, which is where the cathedral is located.
Its history goes as back as the 9th or even the 8th century, when sources believe that a chapel was built to honour St. Michael on the Treurenberg Hill. However, two centuries later, Duke of Brabant, Lambert II had a Romanesque church built in its place. In 1047, the relics of the martyr St. Gudula were transported here from the Saint Gaugericus Church on Saint-Géry Island and thus the cathedral became of two patron saints: Michael and Gudula and so did the city of Brussels.
In the beginning of the 13th century, Henry I, Duke of Brabant commissioned the restoration of the cathedral, adding two round towers to it. In 1226, his successor Henri II ordered the renovation of the church. The period coincided with the appearance of the Gothic style and so the Gothic collegiate church came to be almost 300 years later. The cathedral was completed right before the reign of the emperor Charles V in 1519.
On the outside, the cathedral is built entirely in stone from the Gobertange quarry and its imposing Gothic style towers are 64 metres tall. The rose type of windows that are typical for the French style have been replaced by large Brabantian Gothic style windows. The choir has been built in the same Gothic style and holds the mausoleums of the Dukes of Brabant and Archduke Ernest of Austria. People who have visited the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula paint it as one of the most impressive cathedrals in Europe, ‘with beautiful stained glass, nice Gothic feeling’.
Saint Michael is the Guardian of the Catholic Church and, as mentioned earlier, also the patron saint of Brussels ever since the Middle Ages. In Catholic writings, Saint Michael the Archangel is the defender of the Church, fighting Satan and helping lost souls in their final hours. St. Michael is mentioned five times in the Old Testament, all of them referring to him as fighting dragons, thus the sword and spear in his icons. Revelation 12:7-9 states: ‘Then war broke out in heaven; Michael 8 and his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back, but they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, 9 who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down with it.’
Saint Gudula of Brabant was born in the province of Brabant (Belgium today) and is believed to have died between 680 and 714. According to Vita Gudilae – her biography written by a monk between 1048 and 1051, she was the daughter of Witger duke of Lotharingia and Amalberga of Maubeuge. Gudula is said to have frequented the church in Moorsel where she lived. While the Archangel Michael is the patron of Brussels, saint Gudula is said to be the most worshipped patroness.