Église Saint-Clément de Wasquehal, Catholic church in Wasquehal, France
Église Saint-Clément is a brick church with a rectangular body and a steeply pitched roof. Its front facade has a single central pointed-arch window with dark glass, a brick cross above it, and an arched wooden entrance door with a white canopy. A short, square bell tower with a flat roof and cross sits on the roof ridge, and the side walls have round-arched blind arcades.
Construction began on April 7, 1911, and was completed on September 29, 1912, during a period of strong anticlerical sentiment in France. Despite this social resistance, the building emerged as an important religious center for the local community.
The church stands in the Capreau district and was built to serve the working-class population who previously had to walk three kilometers to attend religious services. It continues to shape the neighborhood's character and serves as a gathering place for residents.
The church stands on Rue Clément Béthune in the Capreau district, in the northern part of Wasquehal. It belongs to the Ozanam parish, together with Saint-Nicolas in Wasquehal and Sacré-Cœur du Sart, under the Roubaix deanery of the Lille archdiocese. The entrance is the arched wooden door at the base of the front facade, beneath a white canopy.
The first Mass was celebrated on 26 January 1906, before the church itself was built, in a chapel erected behind the future building. On 1 October 1912 the new church was vandalised: chairs were piled under the pulpit and set alight, and Abbé Couppez put out the fire with help from residents.
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