(Above) The immense church of Our Lady Queen of Peace. On a Friday afternoon the peace of this church is only disturbed by 3-4 worshippers. (The photograph exaggerates the brightness of the interior)
Amsterdam, like Vienna, gives us a real sense of the end of European and Christian civilization. It’s no accident that Camus’ The Fall was set here. Homosexuality, cannabis, whores in display windows and relentless business activity dominate the “public square”- while a handful of believers huddles here and there amid the chaos.
It was not always so. In a once working class but currently trendy neighborhood “De Pijp” we find a grand Catholic church built in the 1920’s: “Our Lady Queen of Peace.” I read that so many Catholic families were moving into this area in the 1920’s – assisted by Catholic organizations – that it became known as “Popeville” (Papendorp). “Queen of Peace” – I’m told that was a popular appellation for Catholic Churches at that time – after the First World War – in the Netherlands
Those days are long gone. The once exemplary Catholic Church of the Netherlands was one of the earliest casualties of Vatican II (the “Dutch Catechism!”) Today, as one source specifically notes, there are no more large Catholic families living in the neighborhood of Our Lady Queen of Peace. But some souls still come to this church to worship amid the silence and the darkness…
The architecture – in a typical local style of the 1920’s – reminds the New York visitor of St Catherine of Siena church in Manhattan.
(Above and below) The chapel of Our Lady – with an image in a style that should appeal to fans of the “other modern” as promoted in the New Liturgical Movement a few years ago. Judging from the candles lit before this image there still exists some kind of active devotion here.
(Above and below) This church has an unusual – at least to me – set of stained glass windows illustrating the litany of Loretto. Not all are in as good condition as these.
(Above) Three women and (I assume) a priest singing vespers early Friday evening, concluding with the “Regina Caeli” (in Latin) sung before the chapel of Our Lady).
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