Basilica of the Holy Blood, Bruges – Mass times, Hours

Basilica of the Holy Blood – History

The oldest document concerning the relic of the Holy Blood in Bruges dates back to 1256. Thus, between 1150 and 1256 there is a gap of a century! Could it be that the relic arrived in Bruges later than 1150? Probably, because at that time there was a relic of the Holy Blood in Constantinople, namely in the Maria Chapel of the imperial palace of Bucoleon. See more European catholic shrines and basilicas. 

This relic belonged to a whole series of relics connected with the suffering of Christ. In 1203 Constantinople fell into the hands of the crusaders. The imperial city was sacked during the 4th crusade (1204). Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders, was chosen as the new emperor.

Basilica of the Holy Blood Mass times

Entrance	Basilica: free of charge Treasury/Museum: Tickets: individual € 2,50 groups (min. 15 persons) € 2,00
Mass	Every day, also on Sunday and Holidays, at 11h00 except Thursday.
Veneration	Every day after mass, from 11h30 till 12h00 (also on Thursday) and in the afternoon from 14h00 till 16h00.
Adoration	Every Wednesday from 10h00 till 11h00
	Choirs wishing to sing during our celebrations are welcomed. Priests visiting Bruges are cordially invited to concelebrate. Groups are invited to join during services.

The Holy Blood relic

According to the old tradition, Derrick of Alsace, Count of Flanders, brought the relic of the Holy Blood with him after the second crusade, having received it in the Holy Land (1150).

Because of his exceptional heroism during this crusade, Derrick received this relic, with the approval of the patriarch of Jerusalem, from the hands of his brother-in-law, Baldwin III of Anjou, King of Jerusalem. See more catholic shrines in Belgium.

See another relic of Jesus Christ in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. 

Arriving in Bruges on April 7th 1150, Count Derrick, accompanied by his wife Sybilla of Anjou and Leonius, abbot of Saint Bertin’s abbey of Saint Omar, brought the relic to the Basilius chapel on the Burg, a chapel which he himself had built. Basilica of the Holy Blood.

Basilica of the Holy Blood – The Lower Chapel

The chapel of Saint Basil is the only church in the Romanesque style of West-Flanders. Build in the first half of the 12th century by Derrick, Count of Alsace (1128-1168), the chapel is dedicated to Saint Basil the Great, a Greek doctor of the Church (+379) of whom a relic was brought back from Caesarea by Robert II of Jerusalem, Count of Flanders.

The chapel consists of two side naves and a central nave continued by the choir, which in turn is ended by a semi-circular apse.

The seated Madonna and Child or Sedes Sapientiae in the right nave is a wooden polychrome sculpture is dated back to the early 14th century. The tympanum above the entrance linking the chapel and the annex is a 12th-century representation of the baptism of Saint Basil.

Two remarkable wooden statues represent Jesus on the Cold Stone and the Pieta. Both sculptures, made around 1900, are highly revered and carried each year in the procession of the Holy Blood.

Photo: By Jim Linwood – originally posted to Flickr as Basilica of the Holy Blood – Saint-Baselius Chapel, Bruges, Belgium., CC BY 2.0,