The Saint Catherine and Saint Cornelius Church is a church in the Belgian district of Diegem. In the distant past, the church was a well-known pilgrimage site for the veneration of Saint Cornelius, a 3rd-century pope and martyr. He was the first patron saint of the parish. He was invoked to spare or heal people from gout, epilepsy, convulsions and whooping cough.
Saint Catherine of Alexandria replaced him as patron saint from 1615. This may have happened under the influence of Catherine Oudart, a local noblewoman who died in 1629. Cornelius remained popular, so that from 1751 he is mentioned alongside Catherine. The Late Gothic Saint Catherine's Church (protected since 1938), with its medieval frescoes, has been a much-visited place of pilgrimage to Saint Cornelius since the 16th century.
The church was built between 1450 and 1543, on a slope opposite the medieval moated castle, in beautiful white-grey natural stone from the local quarries. The floor plan has the shape of a Latin cross, as in traditional basilicas. The graceful spire (64 metres high) with its original pinnacles dates from 1654 and is unique in the Belgian landscape.
Kerktorenstraat / Kosterstraat • 1831 Diegem. Religious contact: Rev. Fr. Vital Orole. Services: Monday and Wednesday 19.00 • Tuesday and Thursday 9.00 (first Tuesday 10.00) • Friday 11.00 • Saturday 18.30 • Sunday 10.00.
In 1943 the church tower was dismantled on the orders of the German occupier because it obstructed air traffic to and from Melsbroek air base. Every stone was numbered. Reconstruction followed in 1950–51.
War and Reconstruction
The people of Diegem had to wait eight years before celebrating the official reconstruction of the spire on 28 October 1951. The rebuilding was carried out under the supervision of architect F. De Groodt.
Protected Heritage
The Late Gothic Saint Catherine and Saint Cornelius Church, with its medieval frescoes, has been listed as a protected monument since 1938. To this day, it remains a place of reflection, historical memory, and architectural heritage—and is well worth a careful visit.
Good to know
The church was not built in one go. The oldest part is the base of the tower (c. 1400–1450); the choir, transepts and, around 1520, the nave followed. The church was consecrated in 1543. The apostles painted on the pillars, uncovered beneath the whitewash in 1893–1895, date from the 16th century; a 15th-century Crucifixion can still be seen in the old sacristy.
Catherine gradually became the first patron saint: as early as 1683 she is named before Cornelius, who always remained the great draw of the pilgrimage.
