Western Europe

This blog will cover five nations in Western Europe:  Belgium, Greece, Malta, the Netherlands, and Portugal.

Belgium

Belgium became a nation in 1830 after declaring its independence from the Netherlands.  Catholicism came to the region early in the 4th Century and, despite setbacks, evangelization was largely completed by about 730.

Belgium has 11.7 million people.  Half are Catholic, 5 percent are Muslim, 3 percent profess some other religion, and 42 percent have no religion.  Belgium has one Catholic province—Mechelen-Brussels.  A military diocese was established in 1957. 

Province of Mechelen-Brussels

The province consists of Belgium.  The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Mechelen was created in 1559 and became the Archdiocese of Mechelen- Brussels in 1961.

St. Rumbold’s Cathedral is in Mechelen—St. Rumbold was a 7th Century missionary.  Construction of the Gothic cathedral began around 1200.  The Cathedral was consecrated in 1312 although construction continued until 1520.  The 320-foot flat-topped tower has 98 bells—49 that date to the building of the Cathedral.  The Cathedral has a baroque main altar, paintings (including some by Anthony van Dyck), and sculptures by Lucas Faydherbe and Michiel Vervoort. 

The first two pictures are from Pinterest and the rest are from Wikipedia.

The Co-Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels was built in the Brabantine Gothic style between the 13th and 16th Centuries.  The stone church has two 210-foot French Gothic towers with eight bells—the largest bell is in the north tower and the others are in the south tower.  The bells are named for members of the Belgian royal family.  The 16th Century Blessed Sacrament of the Miracle Chapel contains an 11th Century Anglo-Saxon cross-reliquary.  There is also a 17th Century Baroque chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Deliverance and a 17th Century Baroque chapel dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen with a marble and alabaster altarpiece depicting Christ’s passion.  The 17th Century Baroque pulpit depicts Adam and Eve and the serpent at the base topped by the Virgin and Child piercing the serpent.  A 17th Century sculpture depicts the education of Our Blessed Mother by Saint Ann based on a painting by Rubens.  The Cathedral’s pipe organ was built by a German master in 2000 and has 4,300 pipes, 63 stops, and four manuals.  See cathedralisbruxellensis.be/en. 

  

The first picture is from Pinterest and the last is from the cathedral website.  The rest are from Wikipedia.

The Province has seven suffragan dioceses.

• The Diocese of Tongres was created in 344 and became the Diocese of Leige in 720.
• The Diocese of Tournai was created in the 6th Century.
• The Diocese of Gent was created in 1559.
• The Diocese of Namur was created in 1559.
• The Diocese of Brugge was created in 1834.
• The Diocese of Antwerp was created in 1559, suppressed in 1801, and restored in 1961.
• The Diocese of Hasselt was created in 1967.

Greece

Greek civilization dates to antiquity.  St. Paul introduced Catholicism to the Greeks during his second missionary journey around 52 AD and he established dioceses in many of the major towns.  Other Apostles likely came to Greece as well.  After the Catholic/Orthodox schism of 1054, the Greek churches formed the Greek Orthodox Church.  A Roman Catholic hierarchy was reestablished by the Crusaders after their conquest of Greece in 1204.

About 85 percent of Greece’s 10.6 million people are Greek Orthodox and about ten percent have no religious preference.  Catholics number about 130,000.  Greece has two Catholic ecclesiastic provinces—Corfu-Zakynthos-Kefalonia and Naxos-Andros-Tinos-Mykonos—and five other jurisdictions.

The Roman-rite Archdiocese of Athens was established as a diocese in the First Century and became a metropolitan archdiocese in the 8th Century.  It was later suppressed before being restored in 1205 by the Crusaders, but was suppressed again in 1483.  It was restored as an archdiocese in 1875.  It is immediately subject to the Pope.  It serves 100,000 Catholics in Athens and southern Greece.  The Cathedral Basilica of Dionysious (the first bishop of Athens) is in Athens.  The church was designed by a German architect and construction was completed in 1865.  The Cathedral has several frescoes depicting religious figures and stained glass windows made in Germany.  Pope Pius IX declared the Cathedral to be a minor basilica in 1877. 

Pictures are from Wikipedia. 

The Roman-rite Archdiocese of Rhodes was established as a diocese in the First Century and became a metropolitan archdiocese in the 3rd Century.  It was suppressed in 1523 and restored as an archdiocese in 1928.  It is immediately subject to the Pope.  It serves 400 Catholics on the Island of Rhodes.  The Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi in Rhodes was built between 1936 and 1939.  The Cathedral has terracotta bas-relief Stations of the Cross.

From Wikipedia. 

The Roman-rite Apostolic Vicariate of Thessalonica was established in 1926.  It serves 6,600 Catholics in northern Greece and is immediately subject to the Pope.

The Armenian-rite Ordinariate of Greece serves 300 Armenian Catholics and is immediately subject to the Pope.  It was established in 1925 and its cathedral is in Athens.

The Greek-rite Apostolic Exarchate of Greece serves 6,000 Greek Catholics and is immediately subject to the Pope.   It was established in 1932 and its cathedral is in Athens.  Greek-rite Catholics reunited with Rome in 1829. 

Province of Corfu-Zakynthos-Kefalonia

The province consists of the Ionian Islands off the west coast of Greece.  The Archdiocese of Corfu was created in 1310 and became the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Corfu-Zakynthos-Kefalonia in 1919.  The Province has about 4,000 Catholics.

The Cathedral of St. Jacob and St. Christopher in Corfu was consecrated in 1533, but has been heavily damaged during multiple wars and rebuilt.  The Cathedral has at least six chapels.

All pictures are from Wikipedia.

The Province has no suffragan dioceses, even though it is a metropolitan archdiocese.

Province of Naxos-Andros-Tinos-Mykonos

The province consists of most of the Aegean Islands.  The Diocese of Naxos was established in the 13th Century and became the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Naxos in 1522.  It acquired its current name in 1919.  The Province serves 17,000 Catholics.

The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary, in Xinara on Tinos, was built in the 1860s.  

From a Greek tourist website.

The Co-Cathedral of the Presentation of Our Lord in Naxos was completed in the 17th Century.  The Cathedral has marble memorial stones in the floor dating to the 17th and 18th Centuries honoring prominent Catholic families of that time.  There is also a double-sided icon of the Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist that dates to the 12th Century.

From a Greek tourist website.

The Province has four suffragan dioceses.

• The Diocese of Santorini was established in 1204.
• The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Crete was established in 1213, was suppressed in 1669, and restored as the Diocese of Crete in 1874.
• The Diocese of Chios was established in the 13th Century.
• The Diocese of Syros was established in the 13th Century.

Malta

Maltese civilization dates to antiquity and Malta has been controlled by many nations over the centuries.  Malta became a British colony in 1814 and gained its independence in 1964.  St. Paul was shipwrecked on Malta and Catholicism was introduced early in Christian history.  Malta was conquered by Muslim Arabs in 870 and Catholicism was reestablished in 1091 when the Normans conquered Malta.  Malta has 457,000 people and more than 90 percent are Catholic, which is the official religion.  There is one Catholic province—Malta. 

Province of Malta

The province consists of all of Malta.  The Diocese of Malta was created in the First Century and became the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Malta in 1944.

The Cathedral of St. Paul in Mdina is built on the traditional location of the meeting of the Roman governor (St. Publius) with St. Paul, after the later was shipwrecked on Malta.  An earlier cathedral was destroyed by a 1693 earthquake and the current limestone Baroque building was constructed between 1696 and 1705.  The cathedral has two bell towers and an octagonal dome.  The ceiling has frescoes depicting the life of St. Paul painted by three Sicilian brothers in 1794.  The dome fresco “The Glory of St. Peter and St. Paul” was painted by Mario Rore in the mid-20th Century.  The Cathedral has a 15th Century baptismal font and choir stalls dating to the same time.  A 900-year old door carved from Irish bogwood leads to the sacristy.  The altarpiece was painted by Mattia Preti, a 17th Century Italian artist.  See metropolitanchapter.com/mdina-metropolitan-cathedral.

The first picture is from Flickr, the second from Pinterest, and the rest from Wikipedia.

The Co-Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Valletta was built by the Order of St. John (also known as the Knights of Malta) between 1572 and 1577.  The exterior was built with native limestone in an austere Mannerist style with two bell towers.  

During the 17th Century, the interior was redecorated in a Baroque style designed by Mattia Preti, an Italian artist.  The church has intricately carved stone walls and the ceiling and side altars are painted with scenes from the life of St. John the Baptist.  The Co-cathedral has significant relics of St. John and over 400 knights of the Order of St. John are buried beneath the floor.  The main altar features a 1703 bronze sculpture of the Baptism of Christ.  The nine highly decorated chapels are dedicated to Our Lady of Philermos and to eight of the Order’s patron saints.  Three of the chapels have Preti paintings including St. George on Horseback, The Conversion of St. Paul on the Way to Damascus, and a painting of St. James.  The most notable work of art is the 1608 Caravaggio painting of The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist.  Another Caravaggio painting in the cathedral is Saint Jerome Writing.  The Co-Cathedral’s museum has Flemish tapestries designed by Peter Paul Rubens.  See cocathedral.com.

The top picture is from Pinterest and the rest are from Wikipedia.

The Province has one suffragan diocese.

• The Diocese of Gozo was created in 1864.

Netherlands

Catholicism likely came to what is now the Netherlands as early as the 2nd Century and there was a bishop at Tongeren in the 4th Century, but invasions limited evangelization.  Irish, Anglo-Saxon, and Frankish missionaries successfully brought Catholicism to the region around 500 and almost all of the people were Catholic by 800.  The Netherlands declared independence from Spain in 1579, although Spain did not acknowledge this until 1648.  The Dutch sought independence at least partially for religious reasons—many had become Protestant as a result of the 1572 invasion by French Calvinists.  Only about a third of the Dutch remained Catholic by 1726 and the Church was substantially limited in its practice from 1702 to 1853 when the hierarchy was reestablished. 

Today, half of the Netherlands’ 17.3 million people profess no religion.  Officially, Catholics account for 24 percent, Protestants for 15 percent, and Muslims for 5 percent.  However, in a 2015 poll, 82 percent of the Dutch said that they had rarely if ever visited a church.  There is one Catholic ecclesiastic province—Utrecht.  A military diocese was established in 1957.

Province of Utrecht

The province consists of the Netherlands.  The Diocese of Utrecht was created in 695 and became a metropolitan archdiocese in 1559.  It was suppressed in 1580, restored as an apostolic vicariate in 1592, demoted to a Mission sui juris in 1727, before once again becoming a metropolitan archdiocese in 1853.

St. Martin’s Cathedral was originally the Cathedral for the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Utrecht.  Construction of the Gothic church, once the largest in the Netherlands, began in the 14th Century and was still unfinished when city officials gave the church to the Protestants in 1580.  The cathedral was heavily damaged by a storm in 1674 and has never been rebuilt.

When the Catholic hierarchy was restored in the Netherlands in 1853, the Archdiocese selected St. Catherine’s church to be the Metropolitan Cathedral.  St. Catherine’s was originally part of a Carmelite friary and was completed in the middle of the 16th Century.  It served as a Protestant church from 1580 to 1815, before being returned to the Church.  Toward the end of the 19th Century, the Cathedral was enlarged and a tower was added.  The cathedral parish board voted to close the Cathedral in 2019 due to financial difficulties and declining attendance, but was overruled by the archbishop, Cardinal Eijk.  See domkerk.nl.    

Both pictures are from Wikipedia.

The Province has six suffragan dioceses.

• The Diocese of ‘s-Hertogenbosch was created in 1559, was suppressed in 1629, restored to an apostolic vicariate in 1657, and once again became a diocese in 1853.
• The Diocese of Haarlem-Amsterdam was created in 1559 as the Diocese of Haarlem.  It was suppressed in 1587, restored as an apostolic administration in 1833, before once again becoming a diocese in 1853.  It acquired its current name in 2008.
• The Diocese of Roermond was created in 1559, suppressed in 1801, restored as an apostolic vicariate in 1840, and again became a diocese in 1853.
• The Diocese of Groningen-Leeuwarden was created in 1559, suppressed in 1580, and restored in 1955.  It acquired its current name in 2005.
• The Diocese of Breda was created as an apostolic vicariate in 1803 and became a diocese in 1853.
• The Diocese of Rotterdam was created in 1955.

Portugal

The Catholic Faith came to what is now Portugal at least by the 4th Century and possibly even during apostolic times, but was hampered by heresies and foreign invasions from the 4th to the 13th Centuries.  Portugal was conquered by the Muslim Moors in 711.  It took from the 9th Century to 1249 to drive the Moors out of Portugal.  Portugal provided many missionaries during Europe’s discovery of new lands during the 15th and 16th Centuries.  

About 81 percent of Portugal’s 10.3 million people are Catholic and 4 percent follow another faith tradition.  About 15 percent have no particular religion.  Portugal has three Roman-rite Catholic provinces—Braga, Lisbon, and Evora.  A military diocese was established in 1966. 

Province of Braga

The province consists of the northern Portugal.  The Diocese of Braga was established at least by 380 (and possible as early as the First Century) and became a metropolitan archdiocese in the mid-400s. It was suppressed in the 8th Century during Moorish rule and was restored as a diocese in 1071.  It once again became a metropolitan archdiocese in 1107.

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Mary in Braga with built in a Romanesque style between the 11th and 13th Centuries.  Over the centuries, the Cathedral has been modified to incorporate Gothic, Moorish, Manueline, and Baroque styles.  Items of particular interest include the Romanesque main door and façade with gargoyles and sculpted figures including Raynard the Fox, the Manueline style main altar, the gilt wood carved choir stalls and double organ dating to the 18th Century, and magnificent chapels containing the tombs of archbishops and Portuguese royalty.  Pope Pius X declared the Cathedral to be a minor basilica in 1905.  See se-braga.pt.

The top three pictures are from a local website and the rest are from Wikipedia.

The Province has eight suffragan dioceses.

• The Diocese of Porto was established in the 4th Century, was suppressed in 716, restored in 881, and suppressed again in 1091.  It became the Diocese of Porto in 1112.
• The Diocese of Viseu was established in 572, suppressed in 718, restored in 875, suppressed again in 1000, and restored in 1020.
• The Diocese of Lamego was established in 569, suppressed in 714, restored in 880, suppressed again in 990, and restored in 1143.
• The Diocese of Coimbra was established in the 6th Century, suppressed in the 7th Century, and restored in 1088.
• The Diocese of Braganca-Miranda was established in 1770 and acquired its current name in 1780.
• The Diocese of Vila Real was established in 1922.
• The Diocese of Aveiro was established in 1774, was suppressed in 1881, and restored in 1938.
• The Diocese of Viana do Castelo was established in 1977.

Province of Lisbon (Patriarchal See of Lisbon)

The province consists of central Portugal.  The Diocese of Lisbon was created in the 4th Century, but suppressed in 716.  It was restored in 1147, became the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Lisbon in 1393, and the Patriarchal See of Lisbon in 1716. In that year, Pope Clement XI gave special privileges to the Archbishop of Lisbon, including the title of Patriarch.

The Patriarchal Cathedral of St. Mary the Great in Lisbon was built between 1147 and the early 13th Century, but has been damaged by earthquakes many times and restored.  Thus it employs several architectural styles, including Romanesque, Gothic, and Baroque.  The façade with two towers resembles a fortress, which is not an accident given Portugal’s early history.  The Cathedral’s baptismal font was used in 1195 to baptize St. Anthony of Padua, who was born in Lisbon.  Excavations in the 14th Century cloisters have found Roman, Visigoth, and Arabic ruins.  The ambulatory contains three 14th Century Gothic tombs. 

The first picture is from TripAdvisor and the others are from Wikipedia.

The Province has seven suffragan dioceses.

• The Diocese of Guarda was created in the 6th Century as the Diocese of Egitania.  It was suppressed in 715 and was restored under its current name in 1199.
• The Diocese of Funchal was created in 1514—it served as a metropolitan archdiocese for 18 years in the 16th Century.
• The Diocese of Angra was created in 1534.
• The Diocese of Portalegre-Castelo Branco was created as the Diocese of Portalegre in 1550 and acquired its current name in 1956.
• The Diocese of Leiria-Fatima was created as the Diocese of Leiria in 1545, but suppressed in 1881.  It was restored in 1918 and acquired its current name in 1984.
• The Diocese of Santarem was created in 1975.
• The Diocese of Setubal was created in 1975.

Province of Evora

The province consists of southern Portugal.  The Diocese of Evora was created in the 4th Century, suppressed in 714, restored in 1165, and became the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Evora in 1540.

The Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption in Evora was built in the 12th Century on the highest point of the town.  It was enlarged in a Gothic style between 1280 and 1340 and has been enlarged and embellished since then.  The façade is made of rose granite and has large statues of the Apostles dating to the 1330s. There are two towers which have distinctive spires.  The 16th Century oak choir stalls have sculptural reliefs of courtly life, hunting parties, and farm life.  The main chapel was built in a Baroque style in the 18th Century and has green, white, and red and black marbles.  A side chapel has a statue of a pregnant Virgin Mary facing the Archangel Gabriel.  The Cathedral museum has a 17th Century reliquary with relics of the True Cross made of gilded silver and enamel, and encrusted with 1426 gems—840 diamonds, 402 rubies, 180 emeralds, two sapphires, one hyacinth, and one cameo.  Pope Pius XI named the Cathedral a minor basilica in 1929.  

All pictures are from Wikipedia.

The Province has two suffragan dioceses.

• The Diocese of Faro was created as the Diocese of Ossonoba in 306, suppressed in 688, restored as the Diocese of Silves in 1189, and acquired its current name in in 1577.
• The Diocese of Beja was created as the Diocese of Pax Iulia in 500.  It was suppressed in 715 and restored under its current name in 1770.

Definitions

The Catholic Church is mostly divided into ecclesiastical provinces—a province consists of a metropolitan archdiocese and one or more dioceses.  The province and the archdiocese are led by an archbishop.  Each of the dioceses is called a suffragan diocese and is led by a bishop.  Archbishops have some responsibilities for the province, but all bishops answer directly to the Pope.  There are also archdioceses that are not part of a province that are directly under the jurisdiction of the Pope.  There are also jurisdictions that are missionary territories below the level of a diocese.  These include apostolic vicariates, apostolic administrations, ordinariates, and missions sui juris.  

Most Catholics in the world belong to the Latin or Roman rite.  Rite refers to liturgical practices, ecclesiastical discipline, and spiritual heritage.  Many Catholics belong to one of two dozen Eastern rite churches.  Eastern rite churches trace their heritage to Eastern Europe and the Middle East.  Eastern rite churches sometimes use different terminologies.  For example, a diocese might be called an eparchy and is led by an eparch.  A vicariate apostolic is called an exarchy or apostolic exarchate and is led by an exarch. 

A basilica is an honorary title bestowed on a church by the Pope because of the church’s antiquity, dignity, historical importance, or significance as a center of worship.  Some cathedrals are also basilicas.  Each basilica has a ceremonial umbrella in the papal colors of white and yellow and a ceremonial bell.  Both of these are symbolic of the Pope’s special relationship to the basilica.