During the Revolt, the Protestant rulers banned any form of open confession of faith for Catholics. For the first time, it was investigated how they experienced this in their daily lives.
Around 1580, Catholics in the Republic lost the right to practice their religion publicly, on pain of fines, imprisonment or exile. What was once the prevailing belief and ubiquitous in appearance was now relegated to the living room. Statues of saints disappeared from view and processions and singing were forbidden. The originally Catholic churches became Protestant, monasteries came into public hands and other church property was confiscated. Priests were no longer allowed to celebrate mass or administer the holy sacraments.
We're still here
This cultural shift must have felt like a landslide for Catholics in the Republic. Even the former Catholic mayor had now become a second-class citizen. It forced them to think about what it meant to be a Catholic in a Protestant world. How should they shape their faith now? Historian Carolina Lenarduzzi (Leiden University) researched the world of Catholics in the Republic between 1570 and 1750. She crawled into their heads on the basis of ego-documents such as letters and diaries.
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Until now, there had been no systematic research into how the Catholic inhabitants of the Protestant Republic saw themselves and how they distinguished themselves from non-Catholics in their own eyes. One of Lenarduzzi's most striking conclusions is the activist attitude of many Catholics. “Catholics have long been described by historians as passive victims, but at least they didn't see themselves that way. They clearly continued to direct their own lives.”
Catholics, for example, proved to be very creative in manifesting their faith in public space, although this was forbidden, for example by dressing in a certain way or by founding poor almshouses. In one such courtyard, the gable stone referred to good works, which is a typical Catholic notion and is out of the question for Reformed people. This was visible to everyone, because a house is on the street. “The Catholics stayed within the bounds of the law, but the statement 'we are still here' was clear to everyone.”
The Catholics were also eager to keep their share of their beloved city. Lenarduzzi noticed that they were often very loyal to the city and found it difficult to accept that they were deleted from history. Everything that referred to their faith was no longer there, as if they themselves had never been there. In all sorts of ways, however, Catholics invented strategies, such as setting up poor almshouses, to restore the broken ties with their city and claim their position as full citizens.
Singing in the hidden church
To show that they still mattered, the Catholics proved inventive. “For example, they sang very loudly in the hidden church, so that it could also be heard outside for protesters. The Protestant ministers were particularly annoyed by this. But whether action was taken against it differed per city.” Many Catholics lived in Amsterdam, Utrecht and Haarlem, for example, and the government was more tolerant than in strict Dordrecht and Leiden.
Rogue churches were tolerated and left alone as long as the Catholics paid for them. The location was also usually not a secret, but out of sight. It was a way of the government to keep the peace in the city, but in times of unrest the space of Catholics was often restricted again.
Catholics sang loud not only to manifest themselves but also to win souls. According to Lenarduzzi, they were very aware of the appeal of religious music. Many Protestants were moved when they heard (known) songs. “According to diaries, the music would even convert Protestants. These are of course colored sources, but it does indicate what Catholics themselves saw as their main weapon in conversions.”
Last Sacrament
What is characteristic of the study is that every Catholic reacted differently to the transition from first-class to second-class citizens. According to Lenarduzzi, there is therefore no such thing as the Catholic identity. “It was a heterogeneous community and there were no hard boundaries between different types of Catholics. There is a wide area between the one who temporarily bracketed his faith to maintain his social status and the more radical who went underground to fight for rehabilitation.”
Most Catholics appeared to move back and forth between the different identities during their lives. What, however, could not be challenged by any Catholic, was the last sacrament on the deathbed. “Without this last sacrament, they forfeited eternal life, and died 'like beasts', writing in their diaries in horror,” said the historian.
Rebellious Southerners
There was a difference between the Catholic experience in the northern regions and the southern Generality countries. This latter area, which includes Brabant and Limburg, only came into Protestant hands fifty years later. The Generality Lands had no say in the national administration, as occupied territory without a vote in the States General. Under the Spaniards, the inhabitants had remained Catholic and they would also remain a Catholic majority under the rule of the Republic, even if their faith disappeared from public space.
In modern historiography the Catholics in the Generality lands had not yet been compared with their fellow believers in the north. Lenarduzzi concludes that the Catholic majority in the south formed a self-conscious community. This Catholic subculture appears to be turning into a counterculture much more often, in which Catholics resorted to physical violence and attacked the Reformed.
“The Catholics revolted here much more often, but on the other side you also see patriotism. When the French invaded the Republic in 1672 and anti-Catholic sentiment reigned in the country, for many Catholics, loyalty to the homeland took precedence over their religion. I did not expect this. Of course, fear of losing their leeway also plays a role.”