St Catherine's Church - Asch

As early as the 14th century, when Asch, together with Erichem, belonged to the seigniory of Buren, there was a small church or chapel in Asch. Presumably, the current church was built in the 15th century, commissioned by Reinout IV of Gelre or his successor Arnold van Egmont. The Roman Catholic little church was dedicated to St Catherine of Alexandria. She was one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers and is invoked as a protector against the plague, during childbirth and to guard chastity. She is said to have died a martyr's death after she rejected Emperor Maxentius and he did not accept this rejection.

In the second half of the 15th century, the chapel was elevated to a parish church. In the same period (in 1498 to be precise), the seigniory of Buren was elevated to the county of Buren. In the following century, the religious movement around the Reformation began to take hold of the region. At the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century, not only this church was reformed to Protestant, but the counts of Buren, the Van Oranje-Nassaus, also became Protestant. The parish of St Catherine's church first appointed a Protestant minister in 1616.

At the end of the 18th century, around 1795, during French rule and the creation of the Batavian Republic, most feudal structures, such as counties, were abolished. Thus, the county of Buren also ceased to exist. In 1811, Asch was no longer part of county Buren, but was incorporated into the municipality of Buren. Also in this period, the parish of Asch was merged again with the parish of Buren.

When, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, this church in Asch, thus ceased to be a parish church, it still served as a shelter and refuge during flood disasters, and a number of major renovations took place. For instance, the original church tower was demolished and an emergency bell hung. In 1858, a trefoil was installed, a domed tower smaller than the original church tower. Possibly this was the beginning of the revival of the religious function of the building, which today is used by the Protestant Congregation Lingestreek.

Pen drawing: Gelderland Archive