UTRECHT, ARCIDIOCESI di. – City and archdiocese coinciding with the northeastern part of the Netherlands, with 3.3 million inhabitants, of whom 780,000 are Catholics. Almost 57% are Protestants, mostly Calvinists belonging to various sects; 16.5% have no religion. There is an annual increase of 23,700 Catholic children and 1,700 converts, against 5,100 deaths. Local distribution of Catholics: in the provinces of Groningen, Friesland, and Drente, 7%; in the others, namely Overijssel, Gelderland, and U., 30–35% Catholics.
The Catholics are divided into 22 deaneries and 415 parishes, with 941 priests (836 secular and 105 regular). A major pastoral problem is that of mixed marriages: 4,002 valid mixed marriages and 18,448 invalid ones, out of 119,205 valid marriages between Catholics. Major seminaries: the theological seminary at Driebergen-Rijsenburg, founded in 1857; the philosophical seminary, since 1952 at Huis ter Heide; minor seminary at Apeldoorn. The present archbishop, Dr. Giovanni de Jong, known for his pastoral letters against the usurpations of the National Socialists during the last war, was created cardinal in 1946 (titular church: S. Cle-
mente). The coadjutor bishop since 1951 has been Dr. Bernardo Alfrink.
HISTORY. — In the city of U., originally a Roman fortification (Albiobola, Traiectum ad Rhenum), King Dagobert I founded a small church, later destroyed by the Frisians. S. Villibrordo, the apostle of the Netherlands, laid the foundations at U. for the conversion of this country with the help of the Carolingians. Pepin of Hristal sent him to Pope Sergius I, who consecrated him archbishop of U. (695). His diocese encompassed the Netherlands north of the Rhine. The definitive conversion of this territory began only after its complete subjugation by Charles Martel in 734, and by the end of the eighth century the Church had been established everywhere. The organization of U. as an archdiocese with several suffragans could not be achieved, and therefore in 745 U. became a suffragan of Cologne. In 753 s. Bonifazio, apostle of the Frisians, was made its bishop. Other well-known missionaries were: s. Ludgero (Groninga), ss. Lebuino and Marcellino (Overijsel and Drente).
In the Middle Ages it formed part of the Teutonic Kingdom. The incursions of the Normans often forced the bishops to move their residence. Notable bishops were: s. Radbodo (869-917), who compiled a collection of documents concerning U., the so-called Cartularium Radbodi, one of the principal sources for the history of U.; s. Ansfrido (995-1010); s. Adelbodo (1010-25), who received several large territories from the emperor Corrado and thus founded the territorial power of U.; the so-called “Sticht,” further enlarged under s. Bernolfo (1025-54). The diocese played a considerable part in the Investiture Controversy, for a long time taking the emperor’s side. The interference of the nobility in the election of bishops diminished the importance of U. in the fourteenth century; the situation improved in 1528, when the civil jurisdiction of U. was ceded to Charles V with the approval of Clement VII.
With the bull Super universas of 1559, Paul IV instituted a new ecclesiastical organization, and the Netherlands were removed from foreign jurisdiction. U. became an archdiocese with five suffragans. The first bishop was Federico Schenk van Toutenburg. The war with Spain, the Union of U., through which Calvinism definitively prevailed, and the consequent complete prohibition of Catholic worship prevented Schenk’s two successors from taking possession of the see of U. After 1592 no other bishop was appointed, and ecclesiastical administration was initially in the hands of Sabeldo Vismeer (d. 1614), first as vicar general of U., and subsequently as apostolic vicar of the entire so-called “Dutch Mission.” In this capacity he had several successors until 1727, when authority passed to the internuncio in Brussels, assisted by seven archpriests. The “vicariate of U.,” that is, the canons assisting the vicar, became the cause of the schism of U.; the vicar Pietro Codde, sympathetic to Jansenism, was deposed in 1704, and the Chapter elected Cornelio Steenoven, who, despite Rome’s protest, was illicitly but validly consecrated by the French bishop Varlet, who had already been suspended. They subsequently formed a schismatic Church (“oud-bisschoppelijke clerccy”) which, after 1870, drew closer to the Old Catholics of Germany. At present their Church still has three bishops in Holland, with approximately 10,000 adherents.
In 1853, when the Dutch hierarchy was restored, U. again became an archdiocese with the suffragans of Haarlem, Breda, Boscoducale and Ruremonda. The first archbishop was Giovanni Zwijsen.
The city of U. has several monuments: the Cathedral, S. Martino, one of the most important Gothic monuments in the Netherlands; the Romanesque-Gothic churches of S. Giovanni, S. Pietro, the “Buurkerk,” and the oratory of S. Michele. U. has a school of sacred music. The University Library contains many valuable manuscripts and miniatures, including the famous U. Psalter of the ninth century.
Pietro van den Baar
UTRECHT, SCHISM OF - The schism of Utrecht is connected with Jansenism (v.). This heresy entered the Northern Low Countries in the second half of the 17th century primarily because secular priests received their formation at the Dutch College of Louvain, where Jansenius himself had been the first rector, and also because some apostolic vicars, such as Giovanni Neercassel and Pietro Codde, belonging to the Oratory of Cardinal de Bérulle, gave hospitality to the leaders of the sect (Arnauld and Quesnel) expelled from France under Louis XIV. For this reason, the conflict that already existed between secular and regular clergy over legal matters intensified when transposed onto the doctrinal field.
Summoned to Rome on the accusation of Jansenism, Codde was suspended from his office in 1702 and deposed two years later. Having returned to Holland, he died in 1710 without resuming his functions or reconciling with the Church. His followers, invoking the right to elect a successor, elected in 1723 a certain Cornelio Steenoven as Archbishop of Utrecht and had him consecrated in 1725 by Domenico Varlet, a suspended bishop. To ensure succession, they soon associated two bishops with him at Haarlem and Deventer. Reunion attempts made in the 18th century failed. A Council held in Utrecht in 1763 shows the Church of Utrecht still faithful to all Catholic beliefs and practices except the primacy of the Pope. In the 19th century, it rejected the dogma of the Immaculate Conception and protested against the establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in Holland (1853). After the Vatican Council, having made contact with the Old Catholics, for whom it consecrated bishops, and taking an active interest in the ecumenical movement, from which intercommunion in sacris with the Anglicans arose in 1931, the Church of Utrecht began to sacrifice certain points of doctrine and ecclesiastical discipline, such as the Filioque, clerical celibacy, and the indicative form of absolution. Recently, it has spoken out against the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. It currently comprises three bishops, about thirty priests, and approximately 10,000 faithful. - See plate LXXXVII.