A clandestine church ( nl, schuilkerk), defined by historian

Benjamin J. Kaplan Benjamin Jacob Kaplan (born 31 January 1960) is a historian and professor of Dutch history at University College London and the University of Amsterdam.

as a "semi-clandestine church", is a house of worship used by religious minorities whose communal worship is tolerated by those of the majority faith on condition that it is discreet and not conducted in public spaces. ''Schuilkerken'' are commonly built inside houses or other buildings, and do not show a public façade to the street. They were an important advance in religious tolerance in the wake of the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, an era when worship services conducted by minority faiths were often banned and sometimes penalized by exile or execution.

History

According to historian Benjamin Kaplan, clandestine churches became common in Europe in the wake of the

as a way for governments to permit a degree of religious toleration for minority Christian denominations and Jews. Both political and religious considerations frequently led governments to ban all worship not sanctioned by the state, and in many countries, members of minority religions worshiped together in total secrecy, risking punishment by the state. However, such a regime was frequently difficult to enforce, and as a result, while many jurisdictions permitted only one form of worship, authorities knowingly permitted members of minority faiths to worship privately. In others, the law permitted public worship by minority faiths, but only if it was more or less invisible to the general public.Kaplan, Benjamin J., ''Religious Conflict and the Practice of Toleration in Early Modern Europe,'' Harvard University Press, 2007, Chapter 8, pp. 198. ff.. The 1648 Treaty of Osnabruck, part of the Peace of Westphalia, specified three types of worship: "domestic devotion", public religious services ("''exercitium religionis publicum''"), and private religious services ("''exercitium religionis privatum''"). It is into this last category that clandestine churches fall. These churches were characterized by group religious services carried out by clergy "in their own houses or in other houses designated for the purpose," and not "in churches at set hours." Kaplan writes that the pretense of clandestinity "enabled Europeans to accommodate dissent without confronting it directly, to tolerate knowingly what they could not bring themselves to accept fully." In a surviving Dutch document from 1691, the Regents of the City of Amsterdam specified the terms under which a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

church, called the Glabais, could be built by the

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"to avoid giving any offense." The entrance must not be on the

Jodenbreestraat The Jodenbreestraat ("Jewish Broad Street") is a street in the centre of Amsterdam, which connects the Sint Antoniesluis sluice gates to the Mr. Visserplein traffic circle. North of the sluice gates, the street continues on to Nieuwmarkt square ...

, but "behind" on a lesser thoroughfare, the Burgwal. There would be no parking of sleds on the Jodenbreestraat. There was to be no "waiting for another person" on the street after services. The priest was responsible for seeing that no beggars came to ask the worshipers for alms. Services were timed so that there would be no chance of Roman Catholics offending Protestants by meeting them in the streets on their way to Dutch Reformed churches. And, finally, the Catholics must not walk to church in groups, nor carry prayer books, rosaries, or "other offensive objects" in a manner that made them visible to Protestant eyes.

Benjamin J. Kaplan Benjamin Jacob Kaplan (born 31 January 1960) is a historian and professor of Dutch history at University College London and the University of Amsterdam.

regards these requirements as typical of those in effect across Europe wherever clandestine churches were permitted. In 1701, the intendant of Alsace,

Félix Le Pelletier de La Houssaye Félix Le Pelletier de la Houssaye (25 March 1663, Paris – 20 September 1723, Paris) was a French statesman who became Controller-General of Finances. From a family with a long history of service to the French king, Le Pelletier de la Houssaye he ...

ruled against a complaint brought by an abbe, writing that "The worship which the Jews established in

Reichshoffen Reichshoffen ( or ; ; Alsatian: ''Risshoffe'') is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Église Saint-Michel de Reichshoffen was built in 1772. Population Politics and administration List of mayors ...

is not as public as one would have you believe. There is no synagogue ''per se,'' only, by a custom long established in this province, when there are seven Jewish families in one locale, those who compose them assemble, without scandal, in a house of their sect for readings and prayers." A line was crossed when an actual building was erected as a prayer house, as the Jews of

Biesheim Biesheim (; gsw-FR, Biese) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Archaeology Remains of a Mithraeum have been unearthed in Biesheim in 1977. See also * Communes of the Haut-Rhin department The foll ...

Wintzenheim Wintzenheim (; ) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin ''département'' in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Wintzenheimois''. Geography Wintzenheim is a town of 7,853 inhabitants (2019)Hagenthal discovered when each community had a newly built synagogue razed by the Conseil Souverain of Alsace in the 1720s. Although early clandestine churches were makeshift spaces, by the 17th century some, usually Catholic, churches had constructed elaborately decorated baroque interiors."The Artist's Religion: Paintings Commissioned for Clandestine Catholic Churches in the Northern Netherlands, 1600-1800," Xander van Eck, ''Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art,'' Vol. 27, No. 1/2 (1999), pp. 70-94. Artists who painted works commissioned by clandestine churches include Gerard van Honthorst,

Abraham Bloemaert Abraham Bloemaert (25 December 1566 – 27 January 1651) was a Dutch painter and printmaker in etching and engraving. He was initially working in the style of the " Haarlem Mannerists", but in the 16th century altered his style in line with the ...

Jan Miense Molenaer Jan Miense Molenaer (1610 – buried 19 September 1668), was a Dutch Golden Age genre painter whose style was a precursor to Jan Steen's work during Dutch Golden Age painting. He shared a studio with his wife, Judith Leyster, also a genre p ...

Pieter de Grebber Pieter Fransz de Grebber (c.1600–1652/3Between September 24, 1652, and January 29, 1653) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Life De Grebber was born in Haarlem, the oldest son of Frans Pietersz de Grebber (1573–1643), a painter and embr ...

Claes Corneliszoon Moeyaert Claes Corneliszoon Moeyaert or Nicolaes Moyaert or Mooyaert (1592–1655) was an authoritative Catholic Dutch painter. He followed Rembrandt in his use of red chalk. Moeyart was born in Durgerdam. As a young man he is thought to have t ...

and

Jan de Bray Jan de Bray (c. 1627 – April 4, 1697) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He lived and worked in Haarlem until the age of 60, when he went bankrupt and moved to Amsterdam. Jan de Bray was influenced by his father Salomon de Bray, and the por ...

. In 1781, under the

Patent of Toleration The Patent of Toleration (german: Toleranzpatent) was an edict of toleration issued on 13 October 1781 by the Habsburg emperor Joseph II. Part of the Josephinist reforms, the Patent extended religious freedom to non-Catholic Christians livi ...

, the Austrian Empire for the first time instituted limited legal toleration of minority faiths, permitting them to conduct "private religious exercises" in clandestine churches. Emperor Joseph II's Patent specified that these clandestine churches might not ring a bell or build bell towers or any public entrance on the street.

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Stadttempel The Stadttempel ( en, City Prayer House), also called the Seitenstettengasse Temple, is the main synagogue of Vienna, Austria. It is located in the Innere Stadt 1st district, at Seitenstettengasse 4. History The synagogue was constructed from 182 ...

, a synagogue built in 1825 with an extremely handsome interior, is an excellent surviving example. It is completely concealed in the interior of a block of residential buildings.

Rachel Wischnitzer Rachel Bernstein Wischnitzer (German: ''Rahel Wischnitzer-Bernstein''), (April 14, 1885 – November 20, 1989) was a Russian-born architect and art historian. Biography Wischnitzer was born into a middle-class Jewish family in Minsk, in Russia ...

, Architecture of the European Synagogue, Jewish Publication Society of America, 1964, p. 178.

Types

Some are freestanding buildings constructed in rear courtyards. What they share is that they are not readily recognizable as houses of worship by passersby. Such churches were built in large numbers during the time of the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

for use by Roman Catholics,

Remonstrant The Remonstrants (or the Remonstrant Brotherhood) is a Protestant movement that had split from the Dutch Reformed Church in the early 17th century. The early Remonstrants supported Jacobus Arminius, and after his death, continued to maintain his ...

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

s and

Mennonites Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

. In cities schuilkerken were especially established in houses and warehouses, whereas in the countryside such churches generally had the appearance of a shed and so became known as Schuurkerken (barn churches). All clandestine churches of necessity lacked exterior markers that would identify them as churches; they had no bells, towers, steeples, crosses, icons or exterior architectural splendor.

Rural

St. Ninian's Church, Tynet St Ninian's Church, Tynet is a historic Roman Catholic clandestine church located at Tynet about 4 miles to the west of Buckie, Scotland in the Enzie region. Erected in 1755, it is the oldest surviving Roman Catholic church built in Scotland aft ...

, Scotland, is a typical, rural clandestine Catholic church. Built in 1755, it resembles a long, low barn. It is a dramatic contrast with its replacement, St. Gregory's Church, Preshome, Scotland, the first openly Catholic church to be built in Scotland after the Reformation, whose proud Italian Baroque facade with the date in Latin, "DEO 1788", announces its Catholicism to the world.

Freestanding urban

Amsterdam's Vrijburg (1629) is a typical freestanding, urban clandestine church. It is built at the center of the block, completely surrounded by houses on all four sides, so that it neither fronts on, nor is visible from, any public street.

House churches

The church

Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder (OLHOS; en, Our Lord in the Attic) is a 17th-century canal house, house church, and museum in the city center of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The Catholic Church was built on the top three floors of the canal house during ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, currently a museum, is a notable example of a house Catholic church. A Jewish house

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

survives in Traenheim in

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

. It is an upstairs room in a half-timbered house renovated for use as a place of public worship in 1723 over the "vociferous" objections of the town's pastor but with the permission of the government. The room still has Hebrew prayers on the walls.

References

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