St. Blasius Church

The H. Blasius Church is the Roman Catholic parish church of Heinkenszand, a village in the province of Zeeland. The church was built in neo-Gothic style and was completed in 1866.

Originally, Heinkenszand belonged to the parish of 's-Heer Arendskerke.
In 1406, however, Jan van Schengen built a chapel on his land, dedicated to St. Blasius. This facilitated local pastoral care. A pastor was appointed to the chapel, Willem van Schengen, brother of the aforementioned Jan van Schengen. On December 30, 1458, Heinkenszand became an independent parish and the Blasius chapel was elevated to parish church. In October 1578, the parish church was removed from Catholic worship and the church came under the control of the Reformed. This church was demolished in 1843 and replaced on the same site by the current Protestant church. However, Catholics were able to use the chapel of Castle Barbestein starting around 1695. During the French period - around 1795 - Catholics regained freedom of religion. During this time, a Catholic church was built in the neighboring 's-Heerenhoek, and the Catholics from Heinkenszand attended church there. Nevertheless, it remained the wish of the Catholics in Heinkenszand to have their own church. In 1804, the Catholic community purchased Castle Barbestein for this purpose.

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