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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Amsterdam</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01441b.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="The capital, and second residential city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="01441b.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/a.htm">A</a> > Amsterdam</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Amsterdam</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>Amsterdam, the capital, and second residential city of the Kingdom of the <a href="../cathen/10759a.htm">Netherlands</a>, lies, in a semi-circle, on the Ij (Wye), the southwestern part of the Zuidersee, at the mouth of the Amstel, and is joined to the North Sea by the Nordseck Canal, constructed between 1865 and 1879. An estimate in 1899 gave the population as 510,853, with 120,701 <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> and 59,060 <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jews</a>; that of 1906 gives a total of 548,000, with over 122,000 <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a>.</p> <p>The origin of the city dates from the year 1204, when Gijsbrecht II, Lord of the Amstel, built a fortress on this spot. A considerable settlement soon grew up around it, which, in 1296, came into the possession of the Count of <a href="../cathen/10759a.htm">Holland</a>. In 1301, it was raised to the rank of a city, and grew prosperous through the influx of large numbers of merchants from Brabant and <a href="../cathen/06094b.htm">Flanders</a>. The <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> life, also, of the city developed on a large scale; at the end of the fifteenth century there were more than twenty <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monasteries</a> in it, only one of which, however, the <a href="../cathen/02389c.htm">Beguinage</a>, has survived the storm of the <a href="../cathen/12700b.htm">Reformation</a> in its original form. Of the <a href="../cathen/03041a.htm">churches</a> and <a href="../cathen/03574b.htm">chapels</a>, the so-called "Holy Room" is the most famous, as the scene of a great sacramental <a href="../cathen/10338a.htm">miracle</a>, the "Miracle of Amsterdam." It was a place resorted to by countless <a href="../cathen/12085a.htm">pilgrims</a>, among others by the Emperor Maximilian, and the street which led to it is still known as the "Holy Way."</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>The <a href="../cathen/12700b.htm">Reformation</a> found an early entrance into Amsterdam. In 1535 occurred the bloody rising of the <a href="../cathen/01445b.htm">Anabaptists</a>, and in 1566 the destruction of <a href="../cathen/07625a.htm">holy images</a>. The city long remained <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a>, however, to the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> cause, despite the lapse of the <a href="../cathen/10759a.htm">Netherlands</a> into apostasy. It was only in 1578 that the <a href="../cathen/03198a.htm">Calvinists</a> gained the upper hand, drove out the officials who were loyal to the Spanish Government, and, in 1579, joined the Utrecht Union, which stipulated in its fourteenth article that no other public exercise of religion except the reformed should be allowed. The city authorities of Amsterdam, however, were, in the interests of their trade with <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> nations, more tolerant in the enforcement of this regulation than most of the cities of the <a href="../cathen/10759a.htm">Netherlands</a>. Certain orders, such as the <a href="../cathen/06217a.htm">Franciscans</a> and the <a href="../cathen/14081a.htm">Jesuits</a> were able, in consequence of the prevailing toleration, to remain there for a long time, practically unmolested, and even, in the plague which raged in the latter half of the seventeenth century, openly to administer the consolations of religion to the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> faithful. Amsterdam, indeed, was at this period rising to the position of the first trading city of the world, a rise due to the fall of <a href="../cathen/01588e.htm">Antwerp</a> in 1585, the blockade of the mouths of the Scheldt, and a series of glorious battles with <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a>. The city became, on the contrary, less tolerant under the influence of the <a href="../cathen/08285a.htm">Jansenists</a>. In 1660 the public exercise of the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> religion was forbidden, on which account the churches <a href="../cathen/04636c.htm">dating</a> from that period have the outward appearance of private houses. The <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">religious houses</a> which still existed in 1708 were done away with, and their churches closed.</p> <p>It was not until the end of the eighteenth century that <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> gained any considerable measure of <a href="../cathen/12738a.htm">religions</a> liberty, which was chiefly due to the founding by <a href="../cathen/10687a.htm">Napoleon</a> of the Kingdom of <a href="../cathen/10759a.htm">Holland</a>, of which Amsterdam became the capital, 1808-10. The fall of the Napoleonic dynasty and the accession of William I meant the practical cessation of this liberty, and <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> were debarred from all the offices of State. Negotiations were, indeed, opened at <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> for the conclusion of a Concordat, and Amsterdam was to have been a <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">bishopric</a>, but the Calvinistic-Orangist party were able to prevent the execution of the Concordat. The situation, however, improved under William II. The new Constitution of 1848 brought the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> complete liberty, and equality with the <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestants</a>, while the year 1853 witnessed the restoration of the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/07322c.htm">hierarchy</a>, by which Amsterdam became a deanery subject to the <a href="../cathen/07095a.htm">Diocese of Haarlem</a>. <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> progress has kept pace since then with that of the city, which has once more risen to the chief mercantile city of the <a href="../cathen/10759a.htm">Netherlands</a> and one of the most important in <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a>. The <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a>, who, in 1817, were 44,000, had risen, in 1865, to over 68,000.</p> <p>Amsterdam has eighteen <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/11499b.htm">parishes</a>; the most important churches being: the Romanesque Byzantine <a href="../cathen/03041a.htm">church</a> of St. Nicholas, with its three towers; the <a href="../cathen/06665b.htm">Gothic</a> <a href="../cathen/03041a.htm">churches</a> of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception; the church of <a href="../cathen/15645a.htm">St. Willibrord</a>, with its seven towers, the largest in the country; and the <a href="../cathen/14081a.htm">Jesuit</a> Church of <a href="../cathen/06233b.htm">St. Francis Xavier</a>, on the Krijtberg. The following orders of men have houses in Amsterdam: the <a href="../cathen/14081a.htm">Jesuits</a>, who also conduct a classical college; the <a href="../cathen/06217a.htm">Franciscans</a>, <a href="../cathen/12354c.htm">Dominicans</a>, <a href="../cathen/12683a.htm">Redemptorists</a>, Augustinians, and Brothers of Mercy; of <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a>, among others, the <a href="../cathen/02389c.htm">Beguines</a>, whose <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convent</a> dates from the fourteenth century; the <a href="../cathen/06217a.htm">Franciscan</a> Sisters, Sisters of Our Lady of Tilburg, <a href="../cathen/12354c.htm">Dominican</a> Sisters, <a href="../cathen/10201a.htm">Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo</a>, Daughters of Mary and Joseph, and others. The most noted <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> benevolent institutions are the <a href="../cathen/11322b.htm">orphanage</a> for boys and girls, the St. Bernard's almshouse for old men and <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a>; that of St. Nicholas, for girls; of St. Aloysius, for abandoned <a href="../cathen/11322b.htm">orphans</a>, Our Lady's Hospice" (<a href="../cathen/07480a.htm">hospital</a> and polyclinic); a second <a href="../cathen/07480a.htm">hospital</a>, the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> Juniorate for the <a href="../cathen/07095a.htm">Diocese of Haarlem</a>, St. James's almshouse for old people, etc. The following <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/14074a.htm">societies</a> should also be mentioned: the Netherlands Catholic People's Union, St. Joseph's Journeymen's Union, the Saint Vincent's Society, the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> Guild (for master-workmen), the "Faith and Science" Union, which possesses a <a href="../cathen/09227b.htm">library</a> of over 4,000 volumes; the <a href="../cathen/07507a.htm">St. Hubert's</a> Society, which supports a home for girls, the St. Willibrord's Society, for the distribution of good books, etc. Amsterdam has three <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> daily papers, and, among her famous <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> citizens, we may name <a href="../cathen/10759a.htm">Holland's</a> greatest poet, <a href="../cathen/15507b.htm">Vondel</a>; in later times, Father Roothan, General of the <a href="../cathen/14081a.htm">Society of Jesus</a> from 1829 to 1853; the poet and historian <a href="../cathen/14636b.htm">Alberdingk Thijm</a>, and the architect Cuypers.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">WAGENAAR, Amsterdamsche geschiedenissen (Amsterdam, 1761-94); VAN DER VYVER, Geschiedkundige beschrijving der stad Amsterdam (ibid., 1844); WITKAMP, Amsterdam in schetsen (ibid., 1859-63); TER GOUV, Amstelodamia (ibid, 1880-91); Neerlandia Catholica (issued by the Bishops of the Netherlands, Utrecht, 1888; with an Appendix: Amstelodanum Sacrum, 1-54); BREDIUS and others, Amsterdam in de zeventiende eeuw (The Hague, 1897-1900); ALLARD, De Sint Franciscus Xaverius-Kerk of de Krijtberg te Amsterdam (2d ed., Amsterdam, 1904); Het Jaarbockje van Alberdingk Thijm (annual).</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Lins, J.</span> <span id="apayear">(1907).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Amsterdam.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01441b.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Lins, Joseph.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Amsterdam."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 1.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1907.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01441b.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by John Fobian.</span> <span id="dedication">In memory of Evelyn Gimler Fobian.</span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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