Roman Catholic Diocese Of Roermond
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Diocese of Roermond () is a
diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...
of the
Latin Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...
of the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
, located in the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
. The diocese is one of the seven suffragan dioceses in the
ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian churches, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical structures. An ecclesiastical province consist ...
of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Utrecht. The territory of the diocese covers the Province of Limburg. Its
cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...
episcopal see is the Cathedral of St. Christopher in
Roermond Roermond (; or ) is a city, municipality, and diocese in the Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg province of the Netherlands. Roermond is a historically important town on the lower Roer on the east bank of the river Meuse. It received City rights i ...
. Its main
pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...
sites are and Valkenburg. The Dean of Roermond is responsible for the parishes in that city and a few other municipalities in the diocese.


History

Originally established on 12 May 1559, on territories split off from the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Cologne (Keulen, now in Germany) and Diocese of Liège (Luik, now in Belgium). During the
Napoleonic era The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and history of Europe, Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly (French Revoluti ...
, on 1801.07.15 it lost territory to establish the Apostolic Vicariate of Grave–Nijmegen, on 1801.11.29 the diocese was suppressed, its territory being divided between the above vicariate and to establish the (German) Diocese of Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle). It was re-established in 1840 by the
Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...
as (pre-diocesan)
Apostolic Vicariate An apostolic vicariate is a territorial jurisdiction of the Catholic Church under a titular bishop centered in missionary regions and countries where dioceses or parishes have not yet been established. The status of apostolic vicariate is often ...
of Limburg. In 1853 it was promoted as Diocese of Roermond and gained territory from the Belgian Diocese of
Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...
. During the 1960s, the relatively strong demarcation between the Catholic south on one side and the
Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...
west and north on the other side of the Netherlands started to diminish. In the second half of the twentieth century a rapid secularization and strong loss of religious affiliation have taken place in Limburg.


Statistics and population

The diocese has roughly 817,000 registered
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
s (about 72.3% of the population of Limburg). Roughly 3 percent of the population in the Diocese Roermond attends
Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
on Sundays (as per official Church (KASKI) data). The Roermond diocese is one of the two in the Netherlands that is in a majority-Catholic region, as per the most recent KASKI data. As per 2014, it pastorally served 1,091,000 Catholics (96.0% of 1,136,000 total) on 2,209 km² in 303 parishes with 471 priests (219 diocesan, 252 religious), 71 deacons, 1,210 lay religious (440 brothers, 770 sisters) and 24 seminarians. Limburg is mostly
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
by tradition and still uses the term and certain traditions as a base for its cultural identity, though the vast majority of the population is now largely irreligious in practice. Research among Dutch Catholics in 2006 shows that only 27% of the Dutch Catholics can be regarded as a
theist Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of at least one deity. In common parlance, or when contrasted with ''deism'', the term often describes the philosophical conception of God that is found in classical theism—or the conc ...
, 55% as an ietsist / agnostic theist and 17% as agnostic.God in the Netherlands' (1996-2006), by Ronald Meester, G. Dekker,


Episcopal Ordinaries

;Suffragan Bishops * Willem Damasus Van der Lindt (1562–1588) * Hendrik van Cuyk (1596–1609) * Jacobus a Castro (1611–1639) * Andreas Creusen (1651–1657) * Eugène, Count d'Allamont (1659–1666) * Lancelot de Gottignies (1670–1673) * Reginald Cools, O.P. (1677–1700) * Angèle, Count d'Ongnies et d'Estrees, O.F.M. Cap. (1701–1722) * François-Louis Sanguessa, O.F.M. (1722–1741) * Jan-Baptist de Castillion (1742–1743) * Joseph Anselme François Werbrouck (1743–1746) * Jean-Antoine de Robiano (1746–1769) * Jan Hendrik van Kerens, S.J. (1770–1775) * Philippus, Empire Count van en tot Hoensbroeck (1775–1793) * Jan, Baron van Velde tot Melroy en Sart-Bomal (1794–1801) ;Apostolic Vicar of Limburg * Joannes Augustus Paredis (1840.12.18 – 1853.03.04 ''see below''),
Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...
of Hirina (1840.12.18 – 1853.03.04) ;Suffragan Bishops * Jan Augustus Paredis (''see above'' 1853.03.04 – death 1886.06.18) * Frans Boermans (1886–1900) * Jozesh Hubertus Drehmans (1900–1913) * Lorenz Schrijnen (1914–1932) * Jozef Hubertus Willem Lemmens (1932–1958) * Jan Michiel Jozef Antoon Hanssen (1958-1958) * Pieter Jan Antoon Moors (1959–1970) * Jan Baptist Matthijs Gijsen (1972–1993) ** Alphons Castermans, auxiliary (1982–1997) * Frans Jozef Maria Wiertz (1993–2017) ** Everard de Jong, auxiliary (1999–) * Harrie Smeets (2018–2023) * Ron van den Hout (2024–present)


See also

* Catholic Church in the Netherlands


References


External links


GCatholic.org - data for all sections

Website of the diocese of Roermond


-
Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...
article * Wikipedia page in Dutch about the cathedral {{DEFAULTSORT:Roermond, Roman Catholic diocese Roman Catholic dioceses in the Netherlands Roman Catholic dioceses established in the 16th century Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 19th century Culture of Limburg