HAARLEM, DIOCESE of. - City and diocese in Holland, suffragan of Utrecht. The first mention of the city of H. is in the second half of the 10th century; it was the residence of the counts of Holland at the end of the 11th century. The diocese was founded in the year 1559 by Pope Paul IV with the bull Super universas and comprised only the province of Noord-Holland and a small part of the province of Zuid-Holland. About 20 years later the Protestant "reformation" took place. The territory was then administered by archpriests under the jurisdiction of the vicar apostolic of the Batavian mission. The hierarchy was re-established in the year 1853; the first bishop was J. F. van Vree (1853-61).
The reconstituted diocese is more extensive than the ancient one, because, besides the two provinces of North and South Holland (without the deanery of Hilversum), it also includes the island of the province of Zeeland, with a total area of 6,600 sq. km. and 4,100,000 inhabitants, of whom 1,286,412 are Catholics. These are distributed in 313 parishes, with 832 diocesan priests and 276 regulars; two seminaries, the major one in Warmond, founded in 1799; the minor one in Hegeweld, established in 1817; there are furthermore 37 male religious communities and 289 female ones (1949). Since 1835, 3 synods have been held in the diocese, the last in 1949.
The ancient Cathedral of the 14th century, with a tall bell tower of the 15th century, was dedicated to St. Bavo; it is now occupied by the Protestants. Characteristic in the interior is the tall central nave with an oak pointed vault, with remains of frescoes; the choir stalls and the pulpit are also of oak.
The new Catholic Cathedral, also dedicated to the patron St. Bavo, was begun in 1883 and completed in 1930. Also to be noted: the 14th-century chapel of the convent and hospital of the Knights of St. John; the small 13th-century church of the ancient beguinage. Notable is the Municipal Museum, the Frans Hals Museum, since 1913 arranged in the old almshouse for the aged (1608). It contains the principal works of Frans Hals and of other Dutch painters. The Episcopal Museum was reorganized in 1932.
At Egmond, near the tomb of St. Adalbert, a church was erected by Count Dirk II and a Benedictine abbey in 950; in 1139 the abbey was so flourishing under Abbot Walter that Pope Innocent II enriched it with privileges; a church was then built, consecrated in 1143 by Bishop Artbert; the monastic buildings were enlarged. After the abbey was reformed in the 15th century, it passed to the Congregation of Bursfeld; it was later united in 1561 to the episcopal mensa of H.; but in 1573 the monks were driven out and the abbey was ruined. At the beginning of the 20th century Benedictine monks of the French Congregation settled at Oosterhout in the diocese of Breda, founding there a monastery, which became so flourishing that subsequently some of them settled again at Egmond, founding there a new cenobium which the Holy See recognized as a priory in 1947.
Pope Pius XII, by apostolic letter of 14 February 1950, erected the priory of Egmond into an abbey sui iuris, united to the French Benedictine Congregation (AAS, 42 [1950], pp. 550-51).
Bibliography3 works
Goffredo Vollebregt