Although the province of Groningen was mostly protestant, a few catholic communities had managed to survive until religious freedom was granted in 1795. A first church was built in 1803. In the archdiocese of Groningen, to which Bedum belonged after it was established in 1853, neo-Gothicism became the leading style for Roman Catholic churches, like in the rest of the country. Older catholic churches, for as far any had been built, were replaced. While the most important architect of this style, P.J.H. Cuypers, never built a single church in the heart of the diocese, he did in the outer regions. His churches in Appingedam and Kloosterburen set new standards for catholic churches in the province of Groningen. In 1880 A. Tepe, court-architect of the archdiocese, started the construction of three churches in the province, in Ter Apel, Winschoten and Bedum. Tepe never completed the church in Ter Apel, the other two are modest examples of his typical style. This church in Bedum is a cruciform, single-aisled building in a style inspired by Lower Rhine-Gothicism. Tepe positioned the buttresses on the inside to allow for a wider nave. The tower is similar to those on many of Tepe's other churches, only smaller.