The Catholic faith did not disappear from Aalten after the Reformation. Catholics did, however, lose their church building and for a long time depended on churches and chapels across the border. Only at the end of the eighteenth century could an openly practising Catholic community be re-established in Aalten.
After the Reformation
Until the end of the sixteenth century, Catholics in Aalten used the Old St Helen’s Church. After the Reformation, the church passed into Protestant hands. The Catholic population nevertheless remained. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Catholics travelled to Catholic mission stations just across the border in the Diocese of Münster for Mass, baptisms and marriages, among other services.
The Cross Chapel near Hemden became particularly important for Aalten and Bredevoort. Its registers contain baptisms from 1706 and marriages from 1713 and show how closely Catholic life on both sides of the border was interconnected.
Catholic services return to Aalten
Political changes at the end of the eighteenth century brought greater freedom of religion. From around 1790, Catholic services could once again be held in Aalten. At first Bernard Meierman made space available for them in his house on Kerkstraat.
A few years later, churchwarden Lambertus Wamelink bought a house with a barn on the site of what is now Kerkstraat 15. The house became the presbytery and the barn was converted into a church. This barn church was consecrated on 5 July 1800 and remained Aalten’s Catholic church building for almost sixty years.
The connection with the Cross Chapel did not disappear immediately. Clergy from the border region remained involved in ministry during the first years. In 1823, the Cross Chapel lost its function for Dutch Catholics; the building was demolished and a new parish was established in Barlo. Some of the stones from the old chapel were reused there.
A church on Dijkstraat
During the nineteenth century, the Catholic community grew and the barn church became too small. A new church was therefore built at the beginning of Dijkstraat. The Waterstaatskerk opened on 4 May 1859. A presbytery was built beside it.
The church stood for less than thirty-five years. On 10 May 1893, a fire broke out on Kerkstraat. The flames spread to the Catholic church, which was almost completely destroyed. The presbytery survived.
The St Helena’s Church of 1895
A larger site on the opposite side of Dijkstraat was chosen to replace the burnt-out church. Architect Alfred Tepe designed a neo-Gothic St Helena’s Church there. The new building was consecrated in 1895.
For half a century, this church remained the centre of Catholic life in Aalten. Schools, associations and institutions developed around the parish and played an important role in social life. Their history is covered under the individual organisations and locations in the Historical Network.
War damage and rebuilding
At the end of the Second World War, the church was badly damaged by bombing. Ultimately, mainly the lower parts of the 1895 tower survived. In 1950–1952, a new church designed by architect Jan van Dongen was built on the same site, incorporating parts of the old tower.
This Roman Catholic St Helena’s Church then remained in use for seventy years. As church attendance declined and the congregation became smaller, it was decided to dispose of the building. The final Eucharistic celebration took place on 12 June 2022. By then, the church and presbytery had already been sold.
The faith community continued
The closure of St Helena’s Church did not mark the end of Aalten’s Catholic community. Parishioners began attending Eucharistic celebrations in Groenlo and Lichtenvoorde, among other places. For prayer services and other gatherings, the Protestant congregation of Aalten made space available in the Old St Helen’s Church and the Elim building.
This completed a striking historical circle: more than four centuries after the medieval St Helen’s Church became Protestant during the Reformation, Catholics in Aalten were once again able to gather there.