Heilige Stede

Nieuwezijds Kapel (Dutch - New Side's Chapel), or Heilige Stede (Dutch - holy site) or Chapel of the Heilige Stede refers to a site in Amsterdam that includes shops and a Dutch Reformed church built in 1908 on the site of a church once called the Heilige Stede, originally built in the 15th century to replace a chapel that burned in a city fire of 1452. That original chapel had been built in 1347 as a result of the miracle of Amsterdam (15 March 1345), located on the Kalverstraat where this miracle with the eucharistic host occurred. After the Miracle of Amsterdam in 1345, the consecrated Host was brought by a priest to the clergy of the church Oude Kerk, which at the time served as the principal parish church of the city. The site of the miracle later became known as the Nieuwezijds Kapel, also called the Heilige Stede (“Holy Site”), which developed into an important pilgrimage destination during the Middle Ages. Following the Reformation, the suppression of Catholic worship in Amsterdam and the destruction of the chapel associated with the miracle, the fate of the consecrated Host associated with the Miracle of Amsterdam is unknown, and it disappears from the historical record. Nevertheless, despite the suppression of public Catholic devotion following the Reformation, remembrance of the Eucharistic miracle continues through the annual Stille Omgang (Silent Procession), held each March annually to commemorate the event.