Old Catholic Province of Our Lady of the Angels

WHO ARE WE?

Old Catholics are a Community committed to the teachings of Jesus. We accept the testimony of His Apostles as eye witness to His life. These twelve Apostles passed on to succeeding generations their own testimony about Jesus. Through proclaiming His teachings and giving of their testimony (called Apostolic Tradition) the Apostles built up the Church. Old Catholics are a historical part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and have their origins in the Netherlands. Old Catholic orders and sacramental services are recognized as "valid" by Roman, Orthodox and Anglican authorities.

THE NETHERLANDS CHURCH

St. Willibrord and his companions converted the area of Europe known as the Low Countries (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) to the Catholic faith in the 7th century. Three principal dioceses were established in the cities of Utrecht, Deventer and Haarlem. Utrecht eventually became the archiepiscopal See.

Pope Eugene III acknowledged the traditional right of the Cathedral Chapter of Utrecht to elect successors to the See. The fourth Lateran Council gave all Cathedral Chapters the right to elect bishops. Pope Leo X, in his letter Debitum Pastoralis, conceded to Philip of Burgundy, 57th Bishop of Utrecht, and his successors, internal autonomy in church affairs. This further demonstrated the independence of the See of Utrecht.

THE REFORMATION ERA

These papal acknowledgements allowed the Church in the Netherlands to minister throughout the Reformation. During this period the Church in the Netherlands was forced "underground" to survive. Eventually the Archbishop of Utrecht reached an informal agreement with the civil government allowing the Dutch Church to function openly without interference from the reformists.

While peace existed between the Netherlands Church and the civil government, the "counter-reformation" movement attempted to "re-Romanize" the Dutch Church. The Dutch resisted strongly. Contrary to prior guarantees, Papal forces intervened on the side of the Counter-reformists. The Church in Holland was effectively isolated; its appeals to Church General Council ignored. In 1724, due to politics in Europe, the See of Utrecht had been vacant for many years. The Dutch had no bishops. In that year they prevailed upon Dominique Marie Varlet (a Franciscan Missionary Bishop) to consecrate Cornelius Steenoven as Archbishop of Utrecht. What had been de jure autonomous became in fact an independent Catholic Church.