The Diocese of Haarlem–Amsterdam (, ) is a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. As one of the seven suffragans in the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian churches, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical structures. An ecclesiastical province consist ...

of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Utrecht, the diocesan territory comprises the north west of the Netherlands, including the cities of

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

(capital of

North Holland North Holland (, ) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht (province), Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevola ...

) and

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

(in the same province and Dutch nominal national capital). Johannes Hendriks has been the Bishop of the Diocese of Haarlem–Amsterdam since 2020.

History

The diocese was founded on 12 May 1559, on territory (central and North Holland) canonically split off from the Diocese of Utrecht, which was simultaneously promoted to archbishopric and became its Metropolitan. In 1592 (during the

Eighty Years War The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (; 1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Reformation, centralisation, exce ...

, during which the Spanish crown lost Holland) it was suppressed, and its territory was immediately included in the new

Dutch Mission The Holland Mission or Dutch Mission ( or ') was the common name of a Catholic Church missionary district in the Low Countries from 1592 to 1853, during and after the Protestant Reformation in the Netherlands. History Pre-reformation diocese a ...

''sui iuris'' 'Batavia', soon promoted an

Apostolic vicariate An apostolic vicariate is a territorial jurisdiction of the Catholic Church under a titular bishop centered in missionary regions and countries where dioceses or parishes have not yet been established. The status of apostolic vicariate is often ...

. In 1833, the diocese was restored as (pre-diocesan) ''

Apostolic Administration An apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

of Haarlem'', which was on 4 March 1853 promoted as ''Diocese of Haarlem'' (in 1827 the

Concordat A concordat () is a convention between the Holy See and a sovereign state that defines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in matters that concern both,René Metz, ''What is Canon Law?'' (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1960 ...

established the foundation of a Diocese of Amsterdam but no bishop was nominated). On 16 July 1955, it lost territories, to the existing Diocese of Breda, and to establish the Diocese of Groningen and Diocese of Rotterdam. On 7 October 2008, it was renamed as Diocese of Haarlem–Amsterdam.

Special churches

The cathedral episcopal see of the Diocese of Haarlem–Amsterdam is the

Cathedral of Saint Bavo The Cathedral of Saint Bavo is a cathedral in Haarlem, the Netherlands, built by Joseph Cuypers from 1895 to 1930 to replace the former '' waterstaatskerk'' in the Jansstraat called the St. Joseph. That church was itself a replacement for the Sin ...

, a

minor basilica Basilicas are Catholic church buildings that have a designation, conferring special privileges, given by the Pope. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectura ...

in Haarlem, which city also has two former cathedrals: Saint Joseph Church and Saint Bavo Church (now a Protestant church). Other minor basilicas in the diocese are Basilica of Saint John the Baptist in Laren and Basilica of Saint Nicholas in Amsterdam, both in the province of North Holland.Diocese of Haarlem–Amsterdam
, ''GCatholic.org'', 18 May 2017. Retrieved 19 May 2017.

Statistics

In 2013, the diocese pastorally served 462,000 Catholics (15.8% of 2,915,000 total) on 2,912 km² in 145 parishes, with 194 priests (161 diocesan, 33 religious), 54 deacons, 557 lay religious (81 brothers, 476 sisters).

Ordinaries

Nicolaas van Nieuwland Nicolaas van Nieuwland, or Nicolas Van Nienlant (9 June 1510 – 15 July 1580) was a Dutch Roman Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Haarlem and abbot of Egmond Abbey from 1562 to 1569 and as Auxiliary Bishop of Utrecht (1541–?).

(1561–1569) *

Godfried van Mierlo Godfried van Mierlo, O.P. (2 February 1518 – 28 July 1587) was a Dominican friar who served as the Bishop of Haarlem and the last direct Abbot of Egmond Abbey from 1570 to 1578. Biography Van Mierlo was born in the City of Helmond on 2 F ...

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic Church, Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilians, Castilian priest named Saint Dominic, Dominic de Gu ...

(O.P.) (1570–1587) * ''Diocese suppressed'' * Franciscus Josefus van Vree (1853–1861) * Gerardus Petrus Wilmer (1861–1877) * Pieter Matthijs Snickers (1877–1883) * Caspar Josefus Martinus Bottemanne (1883–1903) * Augustinus Josefus Callier (1903–1928) * Johannes Dominicus Josephus Aengenent (1928–1935) *

Johannes Petrus Huibers Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "John (name), John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, ''Ioannes (given name), Ioannes''), itself ...

(1935–1960) * Joannes Antonius Eduardus van Dodewaard (1960–1966) * Theodorus Henricus Johannes Zwartkruis (1966–1983) *

Hendrik Joseph Alois Bomers Hendrik may refer to: People * Hendrik (given name) Hendrik is a given name of Dutch origin, and a cognate to the English Henry. The spelling Hendrick or Henderick was interchangeable until the 19th century. Birth names of people with this name ...

(1983–1998) * Jozef Marianus Punt (2001–2020) * Johannes Hendriks (2020–present)

References

External links