H
Haarlem, Diocese of (Harlemensis), one of the
suffragan sees of the Archdiocese of Utrecht in the
Netherlands. The city of Haarlem is the capital of
the Province of North Holland and is about nine miles
distant from Amsterdam. The medieval Diocese of
Utrecht being ill-adapted on account of its great ex-
tent to oppose successfully the nascent heresies, Paul
IV divided it by the Bull Super universas orbis" (12
May, 1559) into an archdiocese and five suffragan sees.
The principal of these five was the Diocese of Haar-
lem. At that time it only comprehended the present
Province of North Holland with a small portion of
South Holland. The right of nomination was be-
stowed on King Philip of Spain and his successors.
On 10 March, 1561, Pius IV, Paul's successor, incor-
porated the Abbey of Egmond in the tliocese in per-
petuity as the episcopal mensa (or chief means of
revenue) by his Bull "Sacrosancta Romana" (10
March, 1561). One day later (11 March, 1561), Pius
issued the Bull " Ex injuncto nobis", in which the new-
diocese was defined, 11 towns and 151 villages being
mentioned in the papal document. The parish-
church of Haarlem, dedicated to St. Bavo, was made
into a cathedral.
The first bishop was Nicolas van Nieuwland, for- merly assistant Bishop of Utrecht. He was ap- pointed by a Brief dated 26 May, 1561. In April, 1564, he held a synod, the proceedings of which are still in print. When after the iconoclastic outbreak of 1566, then fortunately prevented in Haarlem, the Duke of Alva was sent to punish the Netherlands, the bishop wrote him a letter trying to move hiiu to deal leniently with the guilty persons of his diocese. In 1569, on account of his sluggishness, causetl in part by the gout from which he was suffering, he was obliged by Alva to send in his resignation to Brussels and to Rome.
The second bishop was Godfried van Mierlo, for- merly Provincial of the Dominicans for the Province of Lower Germany, a man conspicuous for virtue, zeal, and eloquence. At first appointed to act as vicar- general {sede vacante), Pope Pius V created him Bishop of Haarlem and Prelate of Egmond on 11 December, 1570. He established the episcopal chap- ter in 1571, and convened a synod in the same year. His efforts to make the clergy and laity conform to the regulations of the Council of Trent were soon inter- rupted by the revolt of the Netherlands against Spain. On 30 April, 1572, Haarlem joined the side of the Prince of Orange, the leader of the revolt, but, when in the following July a mob of foreign and ribald soldiery came to garrison the town, the bishop fled and sought refuge in the Cistercian convent Ter Kamere near Brussels. A year later, when the Spaniards had re- captured the town, he returned to his episcopal see, and on 15 August, 1573, consecrated anew the dese- crated and pillaged cathedral. For the next three years Haarlem remained in the power of the Span- iards; the bishop did everj'thing he could for the spiritual and temporal welfare of his flock, which, already thinned and impoverished by the siege, was now sorely afflicted by the Spanish garrison. Negoti- ations were opened with the Prince of Orange at Veere, and in January, 1577, the bishop personally took part in the transaction resulting in a sworn com- promise, which conceded equal rights of religious worship to Catholics and Protestants and delivered
one of the churches within the town-walls, the Onze-
lieve Vrouwekerk on the Bakenessergracht, to the
latter sect. This condition of affairs lasted only
for a year and a half, as on Corpus Christi (29 May),
1578, the so-called A'una Hademiana took place. With
the connivance of the authorities the sworn compact
was scandalously broken. At ten o'clock in the
morning, when the procession of the Blessed Sacra-
ment was just starting inside the cathedral, soldiers
with drawn swords entered the sacred edifice, as-
saulted the defenceless people, plundered the faithful,
95
The Old Cathedrai- of St. Bavo, Haarlem
(Formerly Catholic)
wounded the priests, and committed sacrileges of all sorts. The bishop escaped, fled from the town dis- guised as a cattle-driver, came to Miinster, where he acted as auxiliary bishop, and lived in the greatest poverty till his death at Deventer in 1587.
In 1592 all Catholics of the Netherlands under Cal- vinistic civil government were placed under the juris- diction of a vicar Apostolic, the entire Diocese of Haarlem thus becoming a portion of the Missio Batava. The Catholics remained for a long time in the majority in the former diocese, but they were excluded from all public offices, and the exercise of their religion was forbidden by law under penalty of fines and exile. Nevertheless the old worship was continued in secret, either with the connivance of the magistrates in consideration of large bribes, or even at the risk of imprisonment and exile. At first there were scarcely any but secular ])riests, but in 1592, at the express wish of Clement VIII, the first two Jesuits came to assist the seculars, being followed in the seven- teenth century by members of various other orders.
