Church Our Lady Immaculately Received - Saint Louis

In 1666, Adriaan Andries had a chapel built in the hamlet of Pladijshoek (today Sint-Lodewijk) in honor of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. This chapel stood until the eighties of the last century where the café De Lustigen Boer was kept.

In 1774 the old chapel became the portal of a new and larger chapel. In 1804 a permanent provost was assigned to the chapel and in 1855 Saint Louis finally became an independent parish.

Around 1860 a rectory was built, designed by provincial architect Camille Dehulst. In 1869, next to the chapel, which had once again become too small, a three-aisled neo-Gothic church was built, also dedicated to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. In 1885 the old and dilapidated chapel was demolished.

On its 100th anniversary in 1969, the church was renovated under the direction of the Kortrijk architect Pierre A. Pauwels. The sculpture was preserved, but the neo-Gothic furniture was sold. The painting by Joos van Moerkerke from 1619 depicts the passion story in six scenes; the Cornil Cacheux organ dates from 1734. Around 1969 a metal tabernacle was placed on the main altar, made by Paul van Rafelgem.

In 2021-2022, the church was restored inside and out.

The Immaculate Conception of Mary is a dogma (proclaimed only in December 1854!) of the Catholic Church that states that Mary was conceived and came into the world without being stained with original sin. This special status of Mary is celebrated with a Solemnity on December 8, nine months before the feast of the Nativity of Mary on September 8. Mary was conceived with an immaculate soul in her mother's womb, according to tradition Anna. The purifying effect of the future redemption through her Son Jesus Christ had already been applied to her soul by God before. According to Catholic doctrine, Mary's special election meant that she is the only human being in all history whose soul has never been defiled with any sin, not even original sin. Catholics see as confirmation of this dogma that in Lourdes on March 25, 1858, on the feast day of the conception of Jesus in her own womb, Mary made herself known to Bernadette Soubirous with the words: "I am the Immaculate Conception."

Because the Immaculate Conception is not explicitly mentioned in the Bible, this doctrine is rejected by the Protestant Churches, the Old Catholic Church, and the Eastern Orthodox Churches.

The dogma of the Immaculate Conception is often confused with another dogma: that of the virginity of Mary - this concerns the birth of Jesus, without prior intercourse with a husband.

Willem Vandenameele