Church, State and society

In the spring of 1651, the village of Schalkwijk (Utrecht) was the scene of a battle. Just outside the village the nobleman Adriaan Ram van Schalkwijk (1599-1663) owned a castle, surrounded by a moat and fortified by four sturdy towers. The south tower housed a Catholic chapel, served by a resident priest and several assistants. Clandestine services were held here for Catholics from the village and the surrounding areas. In 1648 the lord of Schalkwijk had brought up the stone baptismal font from the village’s church. It was unused by the Reformed, who preferred to baptise children over a simple bowl, filled with ordinary water, to prevent association with the Catholic rites of baptism. ¹ Placing the old font in his house chapel, which was furnished with enough benches to seat a sizeable congregation, he underlined its function as the successor of the parish church for the Catholic majority in his village. All this was not unusual: well to do Catholics, male and female, from noble and patrician families all over the Dutch Republic hosted Masses and supported resident or itinerant priests, and so ensured the survival of a Catholic community. ² What was unusual was how Ram van Schalkwijk deliberately offended the Reformed political authorities.