A Brill Calendar: August 1

Few verdicts on Dutch civilization are as readily made as the one that it is Calvinist through and through.

Even a modicum of historical knowledge suffices to refute such an opinion. It is only in the first half of the 17th century that ‘Calvinism’ as an institutionalized Christian denomination becomes a significant agent in Dutch affairs.

In the rebellion against oppression and the struggle for independence from ‘absentee landlords’, the diversity of tenets and opinions had been a driving force from the very beginnings, supported by the Lutheran ‘Pater Patriae’, William of Orange. Taking Leyden as an example, one can observe a rich variety of creeds active within the city: Arminians, Mennonites, Lutherans, Puritans, Dissenters, Presbytarians, Wallonians, Jews and Roman-Catholics; each tradition finding itself within a municipal social context in which officially endorsed prosecution and inquisition were out of the question; unlike other European countries.

The Roman-Catholic strain in Leyden got an unexpected exposure during the short reign of Louis Napoleon (1806 1810). It resulted in the ‘Lodewijkskerk’, an elegant, neoclassical church-building, unique in its kind in Holland, and devoted to the Roman Catholic Patron Saint of His Majesty.

Institutionalized religions are less hurried than government administrations and secular arrangements. From August 1 1976 until 2002 AD the Roman-Catholic flock of the Lodewijkskerk had for its shepherd Albert Vreeburg (1915 – 2009; both at Leyden): a traditionalist ‘pur sang; but a classical scholar and educator as well. His sermons were almost public attractions; those who didn’t know Pastoor Vreeburg during the final quart of the 20th century didn’t know the multi-faceted city of Leyden as it could be known.