Doel also has its leaning tower…
Rivalry between Protestants and Catholics
When the village was built in 1614, most farmers and landowners were Catholic. However, the majority of the inhabitants of Doel were Protestants. They had washed ashore from Zeeland and Brabant to carry out the diking works. During the war between Catholic Spain and the Protestant Netherlands, Doel was an island of religious peace. The situation was even regulated by law. ‘The condition of neutrality’ declared the free practice of religion in Doel and Liefkenshoek. In reality this was not evident. The village was a Protestant place of worship for the mainly Protestant population of dike builders and fishermen. In the shed of the mayor of Doel (Andries de Vinalmant) on St.Antoniushoek, the deservitor came to observe the service for the Catholics. That lasted until 1670.
The church is located in a remote corner of the village and for a special reason. Only in 1672 did the Catholics get the right to build a church. The Catholic landowners from Antwerp supported the establishment of their own church. Together with the Romanist farmers from the polders of Doel and the Luys they collected the necessary money for this. Van Innevelt, who brought the patent with the permission to build in 1671, was smashed in his skull on his arrival ‘by a raging geus’ ( from the chronicles). Until the 18th century, the village had a Catholic and a Protestant cemetery.
‘Qualycke saecken’
The current church of Doel is dedicated to Our Lady’s Ascension and has Saint Cornelius as its second patron. Saint Cornelius is the patron saint of livestock and was invoked against convulsions, falling sickness, nervous disorders and ‘qualycke saecken’. Doel could always use his help, because ‘qualycke saecken’ happened here enough. Every year on the Sunday after Pentecost and on September 16, the feast of Saint Cornelius, the gilded reliquary was displayed and carried around the church.
The veneration was accompanied by a pilgrimage and a pilgrimage banner. This pennant has been preserved and can be viewed in the Antwerp MAS. It shows the only known image of the first church of Doel: a simple building with, above the church door, the image of St. Cornelius as the pilgrims direct their steps towards the sanctuary. Until far into the 20th century there was a cage in the portal of the church. Roosters or rabbits could be placed in it as an offering. After high mass the animals were auctioned.
Protected Organ
The church of Doel is built in an eclectic style, a peculiar mixture of Romanesque, Gothic and Byzantine elements. The church is surrounded by an interesting cemetery, of which the cast-iron closure of 1857 is still partly preserved. Lime trees have been planted on the church square. There is a war memorial and a village pump. Against the facade is an eighteenth-century tombstone. The church is not an officially protected monument, but the nineteenth-century Vergaert organ is.
