The practice of Protestantism in Luxembourg is divided across several different churches and denominations. The largest Protestant churches in the Grand Duchy are the

Protestant Church of Luxembourg The Protestant Church of Luxembourg ( lb, Protestantesch Kiirch vu Letzebuerg, french: Église Protestante de Luxembourg, german: Evangelische Kirche von Luxemburg) is a Protestant denomination that operates solely in Luxembourg. It is a united ...

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

, and

Protestant Church in the Netherlands The Protestant Church in the Netherlands ( nl, de Protestantse Kerk in Nederland, abbreviated PKN) is the largest Protestant denomination in the Netherlands, being both Calvinist and Lutheran. It was founded on 1 May 2004 as the merger of the ...

. Altogether, Protestantism is the largest

minority religion A minority religion is a religion held by a minority of the population of a country, state, or region. Minority religions may be subject to stigma or discrimination. An example of a stigma is using the term cult with its extremely negative conn ...

in Luxembourg (after the majority

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

), with estimates of adherents ranging from 15,000 to 18,000 (max 3,5% of the population).

History

As a result of fierce opposition by

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) a ...

ists, Protestantism was outlawed in Luxembourg until 1768. By 1815, Luxembourg had small populations of

Lutherans Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

Calvinists Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

, and

Waldensians The Waldensians (also known as Waldenses (), Vallenses, Valdesi or Vaudois) are adherents of a church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation. Originally known as the "Poor Men of Lyon" in ...

. The

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

changed the religious establishment; not only did Luxembourg pass to the Protestant

House of Orange-Nassau The House of Orange-Nassau (Dutch: ''Huis van Oranje-Nassau'', ) is the current reigning house of the Netherlands. A branch of the European House of Nassau, the house has played a central role in the politics and government of the Netherlands ...

, but it was also occupied by the armies of Protestant

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

. The first permanent Protestant church was

Luxembourg City Luxembourg ( lb, Lëtzebuerg; french: Luxembourg; german: Luxemburg), also known as Luxembourg City ( lb, Stad Lëtzebuerg, link=no or ; french: Ville de Luxembourg, link=no; german: Stadt Luxemburg, link=no or ), is the capital city of the Lu ...

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

Trinity Church, which was appropriated by the Prussian garrison to hold their services. When the Prussian army left Luxembourg, the Trinity Church passed to the civilian population. In 1885, about 0.5% of the inhabitants of Luxembourg were Protestant or 1,100 out of 213,000 inhabitants. By 1914, there were more than 6,000, or approximately 2.3%. Most of the nineteenth century saw little change in the religious composition of Luxembourg's population, with only a marginal increase in the number of Protestants. However, towards the end, tens of thousands of German immigrants, many of whom were Lutheran or Calvinist, moved to Luxembourg to work in the

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

industry.

Grand Duke Adolphe Adolphe (Adolf Wilhelm August Karl Friedrich; 24 July 1817 – 17 November 1905) was Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 23 November 1890 to his death on 17 November 1905. The first grand duke from the House of Nassau-Weilburg, he succeeded King Willia ...

sought to both recognise the contribution of Protestants and to establish state authority over the new denominations. To these ends, he ordered the creation of a new church, the Protestant Church of Luxembourg (''PKL''), which would unite the Lutherans and Calvinists. Immediately, the new church became recognised by the state as an officially mandated religion, similar in status to the

. Throughout the twentieth century, the growth of

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...

s in Luxembourg caused a surge in number of further Protestant churches. New churches include Lutheran churches from the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden,

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

and

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

churches from the United Kingdom, and

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

churches from the United States. In 2003, the

unsuccessfully applied to be given the same officially mandated status as the PKL and the PRKL.International Religious Freedom Report 2004 - Luxembourg
8 November 2005. US Department of State. ''URL accessed 12 May 2006''.

References

{{Luxembourg topics

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...