Our Lady of Kampenhout

Ommegang and legend

"Comt al naer Campenaut de moeder godts vereeren: sy sal door 't heyligh cruys het quaet van u aver" (text on the processional banners).

How did this penalty path come about?
Under the deeply christian Spanish rulers Albrecht and Isabella (1600-1630), monasteries were founded everywhere after the turbulent period of the Wars of Religion. The court contributed to the introduction of external and often exaggerated religious ceremonies from Spain. Processions and pilgrimages in honor of Our Lady became mandatory.
The plague that then plagued our regions gave birth to the penitential processions. Kampenhout also suffered greatly from this disease. Between 1630 and 1639 there were 290 deaths out of a population of about 900 people. Our Lady of Kampenhout is invoked against the plague and infectious diseases. It is probably during this period that the great penitential procession arose, although the processional road was first mentioned in the archives in 1682.

The church of Kampenhout was already dedicated to the Blessed Virgin in 1123. The current statue of Mary dates from the period around 1580.

Legend has it that Our Lady of Kampenhout had only travelled the penitential road in bad weather and stood in the church the next day with stained clothes. This miraculous event was the start of a procession along the municipal borders that lasted six hours.

In the past, the penitential march took place on the Wednesday after Pentecost. For about 25 years, the procession now goes out on Whit Monday. The beautiful folkloric clothing disappeared, but the old Onze-Lieve-Vrouw song still reverberates through Kampenhout.

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