The church is named after the Saint Quentin, who is regarded in the Catholic faith as a protector against a wide range of contagious diseases.

[1] The oldest sections of the church are the lower parts of the west tower and the adjacent aisles, built in the first half of the 13th century.

A comparative study of the stonemasonry techniques shows that construction of the choir of the late Gothic church commenced at the beginning of the 15th century and not around 1450 as previously assumed.

The largely Baroque church furniture was supplemented after 1796 with pieces from the demolished monastery of the Discalced Carmelites in the Naamsestraat.

Jan-Baptist De Bruyn, the last pastor of the Ancien Régime, refused to take the oath of hatred and was deported by the French to Cayenne where he died.

The church has a cruciform plan and consists of a west tower, a three-aisled basilic nave, a strong projecting transept and a single-sided, polygonal closed choir.

The lower sections of the west tower and the flanked low side aisles are remains of the 13th-century church building.

[1] The organ that was built in 1786 by Aegidius-Franciscus Van Peteghem for the Heilig Geestcollege in Louvain was transferred to the church after its abolition during the French occupation of the Southern Netherlands commencing in 1792.

The southern altar holds the painting The torture of Saint Quentin by Pieter-Jozef Verhaghen (1758, after original by Gaspar de Crayer).

The northern altar holds The vision of Theresia of Avila attributed to Gaspar de Crayer, which was transferred from the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites.

The southern altar contains a 17th-century tabernacle in ebony and turtle leather, also from the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites, in the Northern Cross-arm or Our Lady's Choir.

The church also has a Last supper dated 1521 by the Leuven city painter Jan Willems, which is executed in a Renaissance style.

The church also houses a sculpture of Saint Quentin by Artus Quellinus the Elder and another of a Virgin and Child attributed to the same artist.