St. Barnabas' Church

The Sint-Barnabaskerk in haastrecht is a single-aisled hall church built in 1852 to 1854. The church is in use by the Roman Catholic St. Barnabas parish and is located at Grote Haven 8 in Haastrecht.

The church was built as a replacement for the 17th century barn church that was in use at the same location in Haastrecht from 1682 to 1853.

In Haastrecht, on 18 October, the feast of Maria van Haastrecht (Maria ter Weghe) is always celebrated

In the Wijdtstraat in Gouda lived Geertrui Bick, 33 years old and paralyzed by an accident for 17 years on her right side, which she had not been able to move at all since February 14 of that year. Geertrui was a pious woman, a "pat", as the women who had dedicated their lives to God and the Church were called. The upper floor of her house "De vier heemskinderen" was used as a hidden church (nowadays: Wijdstraat 2). Doctors and medicine could not help her and she sought refuge in prayer. She asked her confessor, Father Nicolaas de Jonge, pastor of Haastrecht, to celebrate a Holy Mass for her on 18 October and to bring her the newly received statue of Mary. That morning she confessed and received Holy Communion. Then she fell into a deep sleep. At ten o'clock the statue was brought and laid by the maid against her lame side while she slept. At eleven o'clock the sick person woke up, and she appeared to be able to move the side that had been paralyzed. Unaided, she got dressed and went up the 34 steps of the stairs to the church room, which she had not been able to do before. The next day she made a statement, which was signed by six witnesses a day later.

In the years that followed, several miraculous healings, prayer answers, and conversions took place, which were attributed to Mary's intercession. A widow from Stein near Haastrecht, who had been blind for twenty years, suddenly healed in the church and this also took place on October 18. Partly because of this, more and more Catholics and also non-Catholics came on pilgrimage. In 1650, a Protestant girl, who came to Maria van Haastrecht with her father, healed of her epilepsy. Sometimes the statue was moved: to a maternity woman in Oudewater or a cowshed where there was an infection. In later times, the statue was increasingly brought to the sick in a small, specially made suitcase. Hence the name 'Maria ter Weghe': Maria-who-goes-on-the-road.

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