St. Rumbold's Cathedral (or Sint-Romboutskathedraal, in Dutch) is the Belgian metropolitan archiepiscopal cathedral in Mechelen, dedicated to an assumedly Irish or Scottish Christian missionary and martyr who had founded an abbey nearby. His remains are rumoured to be buried inside the cathedral. State-of-the-art examination of the relics honoured as Saint Rumbold's and kept in a shrine in the retro-choir, showed a life span of about 40 years and a death date between 580 and 655, while tradition had claimed 775 AD.
In 1985, on his 65th birthday, Pope John Paul II celebrated a mass at St. Rumbold's. Jo Haazen, then the City's carillon player, heard him state: "Your tower is not complete".
St. Rumbold's Cathedral (or Sint-Romboutskathedraal, in Dutch) is the Belgian metropolitan archiepiscopal cathedral in Mechelen, dedicated to an assumedly Irish or Scottish Christian missionary and martyr who had founded an abbey nearby. His remains are rumoured to be buried inside the cathedral. State-of-the-art examination of the relics honoured as Saint Rumbold's and kept in a shrine in the retro-choir, showed a life span of about 40 years and a death date between 580 and 655, while tradition had claimed 775 AD.
In 1985, on his 65th birthday, Pope John Paul II celebrated a mass at St. Rumbold's. Jo Haazen, then the City's carillon player, heard him state: "Your tower is not complete".