Editing Old Catholic Church (section)

===Post-Reformation Netherlands===
{{Main article|Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands|Old Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht}}
The northern provinces that revolted against the [[Spanish Netherlands]] and signed the 1579 [[Union of Utrecht]], persecuted the Roman Catholic Church, confiscated church property, expelled monks and nuns from convents and monasteries, and made it illegal to receive the [[Catholic sacraments]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kaplan|first=Benjamin J.|date=Autumn 1994|title={{thinsp}}'Remnants of the papal yoke': apathy and opposition in the Dutch reformation |journal=[[The Sixteenth Century Journal]]|volume=25|issue=3 |pages=653–669|jstor=2542640|issn=0361-0160|doi=10.2307/2542640|s2cid=163784117 }}</ref> However, Catholicism did not die, rather priests and communities went underground. Groups would meet for the [[Sacraments of the Catholic Church|sacraments]] in the attics of private homes at the risk of arrest.{{sfn|Neale|1858}} Priests identified themselves by wearing [[Clerical clothing|all black clothing]] with [[Clerical collar|very simple collars]].<ref name="Parker" />

All the [[episcopal sees]] of the area, including that of Utrecht, had fallen vacant by 1580, because the [[Spanish crown]], which since 1559 [[Spanish Netherlands|had patronal rights over all bishoprics in the Netherlands]], refused to make appointments for what it saw as [[Heresy in the Catholic Church|heretical]] territories, and the nomination of an [[apostolic vicar]] was seen as a way of avoiding direct violation of the privilege granted to the crown.<ref name="Parker">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O1uRGuEWx3UC&pg=PA30 |pages=30–31|title=Faith on the Margins: Catholics and Catholicism in the Dutch Golden Age |isbn=9780674033719|last1=Parker|first1=Charles H.|date=July 2009|publisher=Harvard University Press }}</ref> The appointment of an apostolic vicar, the first after many centuries, for what came to be called the [[Holland Mission]] was followed by similar appointments for other Protestant-ruled countries, such as [[Vicar Apostolic of England|England]], which likewise became mission territories.<ref name="Parker" /> The disarray of the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands between 1572 and about 1610 was followed by a period of expansion of Roman Catholicism under the apostolic vicars,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZUrFh6pSd3MC&pg=PA48 |pages=48–49|title=Calvinists and Catholics During Holland's Golden Age: Heretics and Idolaters |isbn=9781107023246|last1=Kooi|first1=Christine|date=30 April 2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> leading to Protestant protests.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DxWUCtuXAlQC&pg=PA168 |page=168|title=The Low Countries as a Crossroads of Religious Beliefs|isbn=9004122885|last1=Gelderblom|first1=Arie Jan|last2=De Jong|first2=Jan L. |last3=Vaeck|first3=Marc Van|date=January 2004|publisher=BRILL }}</ref>

The initial shortage of Roman Catholic priests in the Netherlands resulted in increased pastoral activity of [[religious (Catholicism)|religious]] clergy, among whom [[Jesuits]] formed a considerable minority, coming to represent between 10 and 15 percent of all the Dutch clergy in the 1600–1650 period. Conflicts arose between these, and the apostolic vicars and [[secular clergy]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Zachman |first1=Randall C. |date=September 2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wSza_fU2yI4C&pg=PA124 |page=124 |title=John Calvin and Roman Catholicism: Critique and Engagement, then and Now |publisher=Baker Academic |isbn=9780801035975}}</ref> In 1629, there were 321 Roman Catholic priests in the United Provinces, 250 secular and 71 religious, with Jesuits at 34 forming almost half of the religious. By the middle of the 17th century the secular priests were 442, the religious 142, of whom 62 were Jesuits.<ref name=Parker39>{{cite book|last1=Parker |first1=Charles H. |date=July 2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O1uRGuEWx3UC&pg=PA39 |page=39|title=Faith on the Margins: Catholics and Catholicism in the Dutch Golden Age|publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674033719}}</ref>

The sixth apostolic vicar of the [[Dutch Mission|Dutch/Holland Mission]], [[Petrus Codde]], was appointed in 1688. In 1691, the Jesuits accused him of favouring the [[Jansenist]] [[heresy]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Civic Humanism in Clerical Garb: Gallican Memories of the Early Church and the Project of Primitivist Reform 1719-1791 |last=Van Kley |first=Dale K. |volume=200 |issue=1 |pages=77–120 |journal=Past & Present |date=August 2008 |doi=10.1093/pastj/gtm055}}</ref> [[Pope Innocent XII]] appointed a commission of [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinals]] to investigate the accusations against Codde. The commission concluded that the accusations were groundless.<ref name=Vissera>{{cite journal |last=Vissera|first=Jan|date=2003|title=The Old Catholic churches of the Union of Utrecht|journal=International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church|volume=3|issue=1|pages=68–84 |doi=10.1080/14742250308574025 |s2cid=144732215|issn=1474-225X}}</ref> In 1702, [[Pope Clement XI]] deposed Codde, to which Codde obeyed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hardon |first=John A. |url=http://archive.org/details/religionsofworld0000hard |title=Religions of the World |date=1963 |publisher=Newman Press |others=Internet Archive |location=Westminster, Md. |pages=470 |chapter=17. Old Catholic Churches}}</ref>

While the religious clergy remained loyal to the Holy See, three-quarters of the secular clergy at first followed Codde, but by 1706 over two-thirds of these returned to Roman Catholic allegiance.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bakvis |first1=Herman |url=https://archive.org/details/catholicpowerinn00bakv |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/catholicpowerinn00bakv/page/22 22] |title=Catholic Power in the Netherlands |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press |isbn=9780773503618 |year=1981}}</ref> Of the laity, the overwhelming majority sided with the Holy See.<ref name=Parker39/> Thus, most Dutch Catholics remained in full communion with the pope and with the [[apostolic vicars]] appointed by him.

After Codde's resignation, the Diocese of Utrecht elected [[Cornelius Steenoven]] as [[Bishops in the Catholic Church|bishop]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=ELJ |title=Cambridge Journals Online - Ecclesiastical Law Journal |publisher=Journals.cambridge.org |access-date=2010-04-25}}</ref> The See of Utrecht declared the right to elect its own archbishop in 1724, after being accused of [[Jansenism]]. Following consultation with both canon lawyers and theologians in France and Germany, [[Dominique Marie Varlet]], a Catholic bishop of the French Oratorian Society of Foreign Missions, consecrated Steenoven as a bishop without a papal mandate.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KpwfAAAAIAAJ&pg=PP13 |title=Domestic Correspondence of Dominique-Marie Varlet |year=1986 |access-date=2010-04-25|isbn=9004076719 |last1=Varlet |first1=Dominique-Marie|publisher=BRILL }}</ref> What had been ''de jure'' autonomous became ''de facto'' an independent Catholic church. Although the pope was notified of all proceedings, the Holy See still regarded the diocese as vacant due to papal permission not being sought. The pope, therefore, continued to appoint apostolic vicars for the Netherlands. Steenoven and the other bishops were [[Excommunication (Catholic Church)|excommunicated]] by the Roman Catholic Church, and thus began the [[Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands|Old Catholic Church in the Netherlands]].{{sfn|Neale|1858}} Subsequent bishops were then appointed and ordained to the sees of [[Deventer]], [[Haarlem]] and [[Groningen (city)|Groningen]] under the [[Old Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht|See of Utrecht]] in later years.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l79xM4Cxde0C&pg=PA4|title=The Old Catholic Church|date=October 2006|edition=3rd|access-date=2010-04-25 |isbn=9780912134413 |last1=Pruter |first1=Karl|publisher=Wildside Press LLC }}</ref>

Due to prevailing anti-papal feeling among the powerful Dutch [[Calvinists]], the Church of Utrecht was tolerated and even praised by the government of the [[Dutch Republic]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6qchh2SrClcC&pg=PP10 |title=Aspects of European history, 1494-1789 |access-date=2010-04-25 |isbn=9780415027847 |last1=Lee |first1=Stephen J. |year=1984|publisher=Routledge }}</ref>

In 1853 [[Pope Pius IX]] received guarantees of [[religious freedom]] from King [[William II of the Netherlands]] and [[Reestablishment of the episcopal hierarchy in the Netherlands|re-established the Roman Catholic hierarchy in the Netherlands]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Algis Ratnikas |title=Timeline Netherlands |url=http://timelines.ws/countries/NETHERLANDS.HTML |publisher=Timelines.ws |access-date=2010-04-25 |archive-date=2 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100402040722/http://timelines.ws/countries/NETHERLANDS.HTML |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Holy See considers the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht]] as the continuation of the [[episcopal see]] founded in the 7th century and raised to metropolitan status on 12 May 1559, thus not recognizing any legitimacy of Old Catholics.<ref>''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 {{ISBN|978-88-209-9070-1}}), p. 769</ref>