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Around 1300 there used to stand a chapel, dedicated to Saint Lawrence*, where the present-day church stands. This chapel was expanded by a choir and a tower in Romanesque style in 1416. The spire was added in 1628. When the building started to fall apart around 1854, it was almost entirely replaced by a brick, Neo- Gothic church designed by the architect Van Arenberg. Only the old Romanesque tower in sandstone was retained for the new church.

A part of the old furniture was used in the current church, including the painting of The Last Supper by J.B. Van den Kerckhoven (1723). The main altar, the side altars and the Rococo confessionals date back to 1750-1800. The nineteenth century choir stalls and pulpit were made in workshops in Leuven.

Notice some of the late-Gothic statues: Our Lady with Child (1400), Saint Lawrence (1500), a sixteenth century Pietà and a seventeenth century Jesus on the Cross. Among the numerous religious paintings you can find one of Saint Augustine (1778) painted by the local artist P.J. Verhaeghen. At the beginning of the fourteenth century Lodewijk van Velthem, a famous writer of Middle Dutch literature, was pastor of this parish. His chronicles are one of the main sources of our knowledge about the Golden Spurs in 1302.

* Saint Lawrence was one of the seven deacons of Rome. According to legend the Roman emperor assumed that the Church possessed many treasures. He based his assumptions on the fact that the deacons handed out a lot of food and other relief supplies to the poor of Rome every day. The emperor arrested Lawrence and commanded him to bring the treasures of the Church to the Throne. Lawrence gathered the poor of Rome on the Forum and said with a broad flourish to the emperor: “Here are the treasures of the church!”. The emperor condemned Lawrence to martyrdom.

Sources: Gemeente Herent. Stuurgroep Bouwkundig Erfgoed www.kerkinherent.be

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