History of Protestantism in the Netherlands - James Aitken Wylie

Antwerp heard of the storm that was raging at no
great distance from their gates, their hearts began
to fail them. Should the destructive cloud roll
hither, how much will remain a week hence, they
asked themselves, of all that the wealth and skill
and penitence of centuries have gathered into the
Church of Our Lady? It needed not that the very
cloud that was devastating Flanders should
transport itself to the banks of the Scheldt; the
whole air was electrical. In every quarter of the
firmament the same dark clouds that hung over
Flanders were appearing, and wherever stood
Virgin, or saint, or crucifix, there the lightnings
were seen to fall. The first mutterings of the storm
were heard at Antwerp on the fete-day of the
Assumption of the Virgin. "Whilst," says Strada,
"her image in solemn procession was carried upon
men's shoulders, from the great church through the
streets, some jeering rascals of the meaner sort of
artificers first laughed and hissed at the holy
solemnity, then impiously and impudently, with
mimic salutations and reproachful words, mocked
the effigies of the Mother of God."[8] The
magistrates of Antwerp in their wisdom hit upon a
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