Tournai lies on the site of the Roman Turnacum and is, after Tongeren, the oldest city in Belgium. This was the site of a ford on the Scheldt River, where the connection between Boulogne-sur-Mer and Cologne, which had been expanded into a fortified Roman road, crossed the Scheldt. The Roman camp was plundered by the Franks and Chauci, but survived until 406, when the Vandals attacked and destroyed it.

The city became a Merovingian seat of power in the mid-5th century, from which King Childeric I also operated. In 486, Clovis moved the center of power to Paris. In 862, Charles the Bald, first king of Western Francia and still to become Holy Roman Emperor, would make Tournai the seat of the County of Flanders.

The city participated in 11th-century rise of towns in the Low Countries, with a woollen cloth industry, which made it attractive to merchants. The commune's drive for independence from the local counts succeeded in 1187, and the city was henceforth directly subordinated to the French Crown. During the 15th century, the city became an important supplier of tapestry. It was captured in 1513 by Henry VIII of England and was handed back to French rule in 1519.

The church is mentioned already during the 10th century. It is located at the Grand-Place, where a large Gallo-Roman cemetery was once located. The current building dates from c. 1200. It originally consisted of a nave, a transept and a chancel with four side chapels. The church has however been altered several times. Already in the 13th century, the chancel and the transept arms were vaulted. In the 1460s, the chancel was remade and an ambulatorywas created. This reconstruction, made in a Flamboyant Gothic style. During World War II, the church was heavily damaged by German bombing in 1940. Restoration works continued until 1968.