Reestablishment of the episcopal hierarchy in the Netherlands

On 4 March 1853, Pope Pius IX restored the episcopal hierarchy in the Netherlands with the papal bull Ex qua die arcano, after the Dutch Constitutional Reform of 1848 had made this possible. The re-establishment of the episcopal hierarchy led to the April movement () protest in 1853.

After becoming head of state of the Spanish Empire (including the Low Countries), crusading Habsburg king Philip II of Spain reorganised the Dutch dioceses in 1559. Utrecht became an archdiocese and together with the suffragan dioceses of Haarlem (central and North Holland), Middelburg (Zeeland), Deventer (Overijssel and Gelderland), Groningen (Groningen) and Leeuwarden (Friesland), they would form the northern ecclesiastical province of Utrecht. Roermond and 's-Hertogenbosch became part of the southern ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Mechelen (further roughly including present Belgium).

After the Dutch Revolt, the northern Netherlands formed the independent Dutch Republic, where Protestant Calvinism was privileged while Catholicism was severely restricted. The first Archbishop of Utrecht, Frederik V Schenck van Toutenburg, was removed from office, thereby ending the short-lived archdiocese. In 1592, Rome declared the province of Utrecht a mission area, the Dutch Mission 'Batavia', soon headed by an apostolic vicar. 's-Hertogenbosch later also became an apostolic vicariate when normal episcopal administration became impossible after the Westphalian Peace of Münster in 1648.

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