Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/440

 HOLLAND

388

HOLLAND

ing. Monasteries and abbeys, formerly so numerous, no longer existed. The last congregation of women at Utrecht went out of existence in 1613. In 160S the French ambassador, Jeannin, wrote that the States confidently believed "that in the present generation Catholicism among them would die of itself". In 1602, however, the vicar .\postolic, Sasbout Vosmeer, submitted to Rome a very remarkable report. He expressed the positive hope of a "final restoration of Divine worship in this country". In 1580 the last Archbishop of Utrecht, Frederik Schenck van Toutenburg, had died. He had not been able to ren- der much assistance. Johannes van Bruhesen was chosen vicar-general. The King of Spain named Herman van Rennenberg for the archbishopric, but he died in 15S5, before his installation. Johanne.s van Bruhesen was then designated, but he died in 1600, al.so before his installation. Sasbout Vo,smeer became prominent as viear-general as early as 1583, and showed much zeal in gathering together the dis- persed flock. In 1.592 the Apostolic nuncio at Co- logne received extended jurisdiction over the Dutch Catholics, and before the end of the same year he named Sasbout Vosmeer vicar Apostolic with juris- diction over "Holland, Zeeland, and the remaining parts of Lower Germany which, following the inspira- tion of Satan, had abandoned the Catholic Faith and obedience to their lawful king". In 1596 Brussels received its own nuncio, to whom was turned over the jurisdiction of the whole of the Netherlands.

In spite of many obstacles, the vicar Apostolic, Sasbout Vosmeer, was consecrated at Rome, in 1602, as titular Archbishop of Philippi. He remained at Cologne, whence he governed his extensive diocese. This state of things continued vmtil his death in 1614. Philippus Rovenius succeeded him and was able to report, in 1616-17, that "priests were, almost without exception, pure in their doctrine, without reproach in their conduct, self-sacrificing and full of zeal for the welfare of the Church and the propagation of the Faith". The vicars Apostolic received great support in their labours from members of the religious orders, who travelled from place to place as mission- aries, encouraging the Catholics, and here and there took up their permanent residence.

The training and education of the regular mission- aries took place, of cour.se, outside of the country, for the most part in the southern Netherlands, whither also the feeble and superannuated returned. The secular clergy likewise strove to prepare their young recruits in special institutions. In .\msterdam they succeeded, under Vosraeer, in establishing a kind of preparatory seminary which soon had sixty pupils, but was later transferred to Cologne. Another Dutch seminary was founded by Vosmeer in Bierbeek near Louvain, but it did not thrive. After taking up his residence at Cologne, he enlarged the school which had been transplanted thither and made a seminary of it. But this Cologne establishment was not satis- factory to all and especially not to the Haarlem clergy, most of whom had studied at Louvain.

As a result of this feeling a seminary was founded at Louvain after the death of Vosmeer. Althoufjh this last institution gave to Holland many priests, it was, without doubt, a source of great harm to the Church during the prevalence of Jansenism. Most of the priests were animated by the spirit of Baius and Jan- senius. In 1701, about three hundred priests de- clared for Pieter Codde, the fir.'^t instigator of the Dutch schism. It is true that most of them later eame to their senses, but the harm was done. The division between regular and secular priests was fos- tered to a considerable degree by this Jan.senistic spirit. In 1616 there were active as missionaries two hundred seoilar priests and si.\teen Jesuits; by 1700 there were 271 .seculars and 108 regular priests. In 1651 Jacobus dc la Torre became vicar Apostolic.

He was succeeded in 1655 by Zacharias de Mets, and the latter, in 1665, by Baldiiinus Kats; in 1668 Johannes van Neerkassel, a friend of the Jansenists Arnauld and Quesnel, became the incumbent of the office. About 1700, under the leadership of Pieter Codde, the Jansenistic split began. Theodore de Cock was banished; in 1705, Gerard Potkamp died; .\dam Doemen was not permitted to exercise his functions, and in 1717 Joannes van Bijlevelt was ex- iled. After this the mission came directly under the control of the papal nuncio at Brussels (1721), who was assisted by the archpriests.

During this period there was great activity. Zeal revived among the Catholics. The garrets and hid- ing-places which served as churches were always full to their capacity; the catechism was thoroughly taught. In this field the so-called "Klopjes", a sort of sisterhood that did not live in community, effected a great deal of good. They grew so numerous that the Calvinistic synods, with considerable exaggera- tion, declared their membership to amoimt to twenty thousand. Thus the Faith was preserved.

The material progress of the republic was wonder- ful. No sooner ha<l it torn itself free from Spain than commerce and industry, and consequent wealth, in- creased from day to day. The chief cause, however, was the military exploits by which independence was established and maintained. Prince Maurice was the first to take the offensive, and he inflicted heavy losses on Spain (1590-1601). In 1.590 an alliance was formed with France and Englanil which yielded but little advantage. On the sea the Hollanders covered themselves with glory. A truce extending over twelve years (1609-21) brought rest to both parties. Frederik Hendrik (1625-1647) permanently estal}- lished Holland's prestige. The grand pensionary, Jan de Wit, even planned, in concurrence with France, the subjugation of a great part of the southern Neth- erlands, which would have been unfortunate for the Catholics of Belgium. For a moment the hopes of Holland's oppressed Catholics revived, when the French army occupied a large part of the provinces and established headquarters at the camp of Zeist near Utrecht. When he invaded the republic, Louis XIV had counted on the general support of the Catholics, but the Catholics conducted themselves as true patriots (Blok). Catholic worship was re-estal> lished in those parts conquered by France. Pro- cessions were held as of old. The vicar -Apostolic, Neerkassel, enjoyed complete freedom of nio\ement as a Catholic Ijishop. But with the reconqviest of these districts by the Ilollanilers, all this was changed again. The churches were confiscated and despoiled, and the Catholics were reminded of the edicts against them. However, their liberty was greater than it bad been.

Another cause of this improvement was the forma- tion, in 1602, of the Fast India Company. It received from the States-General .-i grant of all lands east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of 1 he Straits of Magellan. The conquests of the Company were very numerous and soon formed extensive Dutch pos.sessions. In these possessions, unhappily, the Hollanders de- stroyed many a flourishing mis.^ion, especially in Molucca and Ceylon. In Timor and the Sulu archi- pelago alone, the Faith resisted their influence. Even at the present day the missionaries come upon the ruins of missions which flourished in tho.se times.

The Holland of those days was one of the finst na- tions of the world. .Amsterdam had, in 1658, about 1.50,000 inhabitants. Its harbours, churches, arsenals, warehouses, and city hall were unequalled. Leyden flourished by means of its cloth trade and its univer- sity. Haarlem was the seat of the linen industry. Rotterdam, one of the largest cities in the land, became great through her trade with England. Dordrecht (Dort) was the centre of the river traffic,