In the 14th century Aardenburg had become an important place of pilgrimage, with two churches. When the protestants captured the town in 1604 the catholic faith was banned. The church of St. Bavo became protestant while the centre of the pilgrimage, the big church of Mary, was demolished a few decades later. Part of the population remained catholic, and in 1850 finally a new catholic church was built. Architect P. Soffers, who was responsible for many new churches in the diocese of Breda, designed it. It was a three-aisled pseudo-basilica in Soffers' typical early neo-Gothic style. In 1924 the choir was demolished and replaced by a new eastern part, designed by N.J.H. van Groenendael. The new part consisted of a choir with lateral chapels and a wide transept with a polygonal dome on the crossing. Unlike the older part Van Groenendael kept the inside of his part of the church unplastered.
In 1947 the church was repaired from war-damage.