Imagine a walled city with a mill every few hundred metres. The fields outside the walls are green but soaking wet. You see canals, ditches, boats and more mills grinding away water, but also sawing wood. There are paths leading to small houses. Farm workers are busy sowing the wet soil. Here on the west side of Amsterdam live Catholic farm workers. They are mostly immigrants from neighbouring countries, looking for work and a better future.

It is 1784. The people have just received good news: they are allowed to build a small hidden church outside the city walls. However, the little church must not stand out from the Protestant city council. Therefore, the roof cannot be too high and there will be no tower with church bells. However, the building will have beautiful windows and a beautiful interior.

That a small church may be built is a great improvement in the living conditions of the farm workers. Now, if any of them is dying at night, no priest can reach the poor soul to give the necessary spiritual assistance. After all, the Raampoort is locked at night. From Amsterdam's inner city, no one can get out. A church and a priest outside the fortress can solve this problem. But enough money has to be raised. In the Catholic hidden churches inside the city walls, fortunately, the collection is given generously. It manages to raise fl. 23,000 so work can begin. On 15 May 1786, the little church De Liefde was consecrated and dedicated to Sint Nicolaas, the patron saint of Amsterdam.

The beautiful white baptismal font, made of precious Carrera marble, is often used. The population outside the Raampoort is growing rapidly. The Catholics among them all go to De Liefde. The rural character around the church - with its many small houses, mills and water - remains intact well into the 19th century.