Our Lady Church

The current church of Leffinge was built in neo-Gothic style in 1877. Twenty years earlier, the previous church, which was in very poor condition, had been demolished. It was a brick church with an octagonal tower, which was (re)constructed after the Siege of Ostend. This church was the reduced version of the late medieval brick hall church that can be traced back to a large Romanesque church. Notably, this Romanesque church already had the dimensions of the current church, making it a very large church for that period. Leffinge was thus not only a secular but also a religious center in the wider area.

The original Romanesque church was probably built around the middle of the 10th century, served by a small group of priests, as evidenced today by the two rectories in the village: the 'south parsonage' and the 'west parsonage.' The church was already mentioned in 988 in a papal bull and around 1060 in the stories of the miracle processions with the bodies of Saint Lewinna and Ursmarus. In the story of the procession with Saint Lewinna, it is told how the inhabitants of Leffinge were initially rather skeptical of this "new" saint (it was after all a kind of "introductory procession"). A few miracles later, the people of Leffinge, including one Boldredus, who was miraculously healed, were quite a bit more convinced.

In the second story, Saint Ursmarus provided a whole night of rain after a prolonged and desperate period of drought in the vicinity of Leffinge, after which the monks and their miracle saint were no longer allowed to leave. The church of Leffinge also sees the Templars... It is the case that the de Fauquemberghes family, then powerful nobility, held the altar and the tithes of the parish of Leffinge as fief from the Count of Flanders. This family had close ties with the Knights Templar; moreover, one of their ancestors was even a co-founder of the order of the temple.

In the early 12th century, William II also donated the altar of Leffinge, along with the accompanying rights, to the Knights Templar. It goes without saying that this brought significant income for the knights, but also that they maintained the churches of Leffinge and its daughter parishes for a century. Folklore still tells that the Templars demanded a tenth of the harvest... In the late 12th century, Slijpe (Arleboudskapelle), Stene, Mannekensvere, and Wilskerke were split off from the main parish of Leffinge. This did not mean that the church lost importance; perhaps quite the opposite, as in the 13th century it was even used as a belfry: the documents and charters of the watering were indeed preserved there.

Toerisme Middelkerke