world of the Middle Ages could inspire a new profoundly Christian/Catholic society. At home, Bethune was encouraged by Canon C. Carton to become involved in the creation of genuinely "Christian Art". Gradually he began to make designs himself. He returned to England in 1850 and apprenticed for several months with John Hardman, Pugin's stained-glass manufacturer, in Birmingham. Inspired by this, Bethune started a workshop for stained glass windows in 1854, together with his brother-in-law Eugène van Outryve d'Ydewalle , in the Hoogstraat in Bruges. In 1854, Bethune designed the interior of the Chapel of the Holy Blood in Bruges. In 1857 Bethune received an important commission from the Ghent textile manufacturer Joseph de Hemptinne, shifting his field of activity to Ghent and East Flanders. In 1858 he moved with his studio from Bruges to Sint-Denijs-Westrem. In 1862, he was a co-founder of the "Saint Luke schools" (Sint-Lucasscholen) influenced by the architectural and decorative theories of Viollet le Duc. These schools were opened as a Catholic counterpart to the official Academies and trained architects in the religious spirit of the Gothic tradition. The first permanent Saint Luke school opened in Ghent in 1863. These schools also offered an education for artisans that could work with stained-glass, wood carving, painting, gold- and silverwork... The aim was to train craftsmen that could cope with the overall decoration of a newly built, fully decorated, Gothic church. As a teacher and as a patron of the archaeological society of the "Gilde de Saint-Thomas et de Saint-Luc" founded in 1863, Bethune had a decisive influence on the evolution of the Gothic Revival style in Belgium. Among those he taught or influenced were the architects Joris Helleputte and Louis Cloquet. Abroad, he maintained contacts and was appreciated by contemporaries such as Pierre Cuypers, Edward Welby Pugin, August Reichensperger and Edward von Steinle. Work Bethune was increasingly fascinated by (neo) gothic and became one of the pioneers of this art movement in Belgium. In his architectural creations, Bethune adopted the formal vocabulary of the typical late medieval brick architecture of Flanders, and specifically Bruges. Through his influence and teaching he introduced this stance by many of his followers. This, together with his strong Catholic inspiration and his association with the Gothic Revival movement in England, marks the difference between his school and the Neo-Gothic architecture advocated in Belgium by the Academies. Apart from architectural projects, his very extensive