1723, a schism of several thousands of leading Dutch Catholics breaking up with the Roman Holy See. In 1725, in a clear act of anti-Catholicism and in an attempt to divide the country's Catholics and stimulate the Old Catholic Ultrajectine organization, the States General of the Netherlands banned the apostolic vicars from the United Republic. Mission sui iuris of Batavia The vicariate was reduced to a mission sui iuris by Pope Benedict XIII in 1727. The feudal Lordship of Utrecht was disestablished when the Batavian Republic was created in 1795. There was an official freedom of religion. Churches did not have to be hidden anymore, new seminaries for priests were founded, and several monasteries were reinstated. The Holland Mission ended when the mission sui iuris was suppressed and the modern ecclesiastical province was erected in 1853. Modern Dutch ecclesiastical province of Utrecht The modern Metropolitan Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht was erected by Pope Pius IX in 1853 from the territory of the mission during a restructuring which erected its ecclesiastical province, the sole one for the Kingdom of the Netherlands. His 1853 papal letter marked the reestablishment of the episcopal hierarchy in the Netherlands. The city of Utrecht was raised, once more, to a Roman Catholic archdiocese and received the four suffragan dioceses of Haarlem, 's-Hertogenbosch, Breda and Roermond. Joannes Zwijsen was appointed the first modern archbishop and was also apostolic administrator of the Diocese of 's-Hertogenbosch. In 1858; the cathedral chapters of the dioceses were organized and in 1864 the first provincial synod was held. List of Apostolic Vicars Apostolic Vicars in Utrecht Sasbout Vosmeer (1584–1614) Philippus Rovenius (1614–1651) Jacobus de la Torre (1652–1660) Boudewijn Catz (1661–1663) Johannes van Neercassel (1663–1686) Petrus Codde (1688–1704) Theodorus de Cock (1702–1704) Gerhard Potcamp (1705) Adam Daemen (1707–1717) Johannes van Bijlevelt (1717–1725) Apostolic Vicars administrating from Brussels Joseph Spinelli (1725–1731) Vincentius Montalto (1731–1732) Silvester Valenti Gonzaga (1732–1736) Franciscus Goddard (1736–1737) Lucas Melchior Tempi (1737–1743) Petrus Paulus Testa (1744) Ignatius Crivelli (1744–1755) Carolus Molinari (1755–1763) Batholomeus Soffredini (1763) Thomas Maria Ghilini (1763–1775) Joannes Antonius Maggiora (1775–1776) Ignatius Busca (1776–1785) Michael Causati (1785–1786) Antonius Felix Zondadari (1786–1790) Caesar di Brancadoro (1792–1794) Ludovicus Ciamberlani (1794–1828) Franciscus Cappacini (1829–1831) Antonius Antonucci (1831–1841) Innocentius Ferrieri (1841–1847) Joannes Zwijsen (1847–1848) Carolus Belgrado (1848–1853) See also Act of Abjuration Counter-Reformation Eighty Years' War Habsburg Netherlands History of religion in the Netherlands William the Silent Notes References Further reading History