St. John the Baptist Church

This neo-Gothic church, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, has roots dating back to the 12th century. Since the 17th century there has been an Ommegang. At first, it was mainly a pilgrimage with adoration of Saint John for head and throat diseases, epilepsy and infantile convulsions. This pilgrimage experienced a huge boost in the mid-18th century, because from then on the church kept relics of Saint John. Gradually, the pilgrimage grew into a real popular festival on the saint's birthday and feast day, namely June 24. The festival started to attract people from far and wide and was so popular that the brush makers of Izegem chose Saint John as their patron saint, instead of the 'regular' brush maker's patron saint Saint Anthony.

Today, you can still undertake the Ommegang around the church yourself. Gilded bas-reliefs depicting scenes from the life of Saint John the Baptist show you the way. The seven stations from 1991 were paid for by families from Kachtem. Their names are always listed at the bottom of the scene.

The statue of Saint John opposite the entrance of the church is quite recent, from 1989, and is by a Kachtem artist, Antoon Tandt.

During the period of the feast of St. John on June 24, the bakers of Kachtem offered typical macarons baked on a piece of paper. Maybe you'll get lucky and still find them in a bakery?

Eperon d'Or