Vierhonderd jaren missie in Nederlandsch-Indië, 1593–1934 (“Four Hundred Years of Mission in the Netherlands Indies, 1593–1934”) was the commemorative jubilee volume published at Batavia in 1934 by the Algemeen Comité van Voorbereiding tot de Feestelijke Herdenking van 400 jaar Missie in Ned.-Indië (General Committee of Preparation for the Festive Commemoration of 400 Years of Mission in the Netherlands Indies), on the occasion of the four-hundredth anniversary of the establishment of the first permanent Catholic mission station in the archipelago at Ternate in 1593. The volume — a substantial compilation of the institutional history of the Dutch-colonial Catholic mission, organised by vicariate and by mission station — is the principal documentary source for the Catholic mission of Koeta Radja-Atjeh and for the biography of Pastoor H. C. Verbraak, the soldatenpastoor of Atjeh.
Publication and occasion
The volume was published at Batavia in 1934 by the Algemeen Comité van Voorbereiding — the General Committee of Preparation for the jubilee, formed by the Central Council of Catholic Social Bonds (Centrale Raad van Kath. Sociale Bonden) in response to an article by Mgr. Visser in De Koerier calling for a general celebration in the Indies of the four-hundredth anniversary of the first permanent Catholic mission station. The committee — under the name Algemeen Comité van Voorbereiding tot de Feestelijke Herdenking van 400 jaar Missie in Ned.-Indië — solicited the formation of an Eere-comité (Honorary Committee) and, through circulars to the Catholic Social Bonds and the clergy, organised both the ecclesiastical and the extra-ecclesiastical celebrations of the jubilee.
Scope and structure
The volume is organised by vicariate (Batavia, Padang, etc.) and, within each vicariate, by mission station (statie). The chapters cover the institutional history of the Catholic mission from the Portuguese period (with the martyrdom of Dionysius and Redemptus at Atjeh in 1638) through the Jesuit, Capuchin, and Franciscan periods, to the early-twentieth-century division of the mission field among the various congregations. Each vicariate chapter concludes with an enumeration of the staties — including, for the Padang vicariate, the Koeta Radja-Atjeh station.
The Atjeh-related content
The volume is the principal documentary source for several Atjeh-related subjects:
- The martyrdom of the Carmelites Dionysius and Redemptus at Atjeh in 1638 — recorded in the chapter on the Portuguese period (pp. 54–55).
- The beatification of the two martyrs by Pope Leo XIII on 25 March 1900 — recorded in the chapter on the vicariate of Mgr. E. S. Luypen (p. 53).
- The 1885 consecration of the first Catholic church at Kota-Radja by Pastoor Verbraak — recorded in the chapter on the Jesuit period (p. 52).
- The 1896 building of the chapel-of-ease at Olehleh — recorded in the same chapter (p. 52).
- The 1898 Pedir-expedition and the extension of Verbraak’s chaplaincy to Pedir — recorded in the Verbraak sketch (p. 129).
- The 1898 account of the Koeta Radja-Atjeh station under the Zusters van Schijndel — recorded in the chapter on the Padang vicariate (p. 96).
- The biography of Pastoor H. C. Verbraak — the sketch “Pastoor H. C. Verbraak” (pp. 127–133), reproducing S. Kalff’s “Een trits Indische Pastoors” from Koloniaal Missie Tijdschrift, Jaargang XII.
- The unveiling of the Verbraak bronze statue at Bandoeng on 27 January 1922 — recorded at the close of the Verbraak sketch (p. 133).
- The foundation of the Pastoor Verbraak-Stichting in the early 1920s — recorded in the chapter on Mgr. van Velsen’s vicariate (p. 62).
Significance
The Vierhonderd jaren missie volume is significant for the encyclopedia of Achehnese history as the principal documentary source for the Catholic institutional presence in Atjeh — and, in particular, for the biography of Pastoor H. C. Verbraak and the history of the Catholic mission of Koeta Radja-Atjeh. The volume’s reproduction of Kalff’s sketch of Verbraak — the principal biographical source for the soldatenpastoor — and its record of the 1885 Kotta-Radja church, the 1896 Olehleh chapel, the 1898 Pedir extension, the Zusters van Schijndel schools, the 1922 Bandoeng statue, and the Pastoor Verbraak-Stichting together constitute the documentary foundation of the Catholic mission record of Atjeh, and the principal source on which the present encyclopedia’s articles on those subjects rest.
See Also
- A. P. F. van Velsen
- Batavia
- Brother Redemptus à Cruce
- Catholic Mission of Koeta Radja-Atjeh
- E. S. Luypen
- Francisco de Sosa de Castro
- Generaal Dijkstra
- Leo XIII
- Martyrdom of Dionysius and Redemptus at Atjeh (1638)
- Missigit Raja
- Olehleh
- Padang
- Panteh Perak
- Pastoor H. C. Verbraak
- Pastoor Verbraak-Stichting
- Pater Dionysius of the Nativity
- Pedir Expedition (1898)
- S. Kalff
- Unveiling of the Verbraak bronze statue (27 January 1922)
- Visser
- Zusters van Schijndel
- 1593
- 1638
- 1885
- 1896
- 1898
- 1900
- 1922
- 1934
Source
Vierhonderd jaren missie in Nederlandsch-Indië, 1593–1934 (Batavia: Algemeen Comité van Voorbereiding tot de Feestelijke Herdenking van 400 jaar Missie in Ned.-Indië, [1934]).