Gerardus Gul

Gerardus Gul

Gerardus Gul , actually Gerrit Gul (born October 27, 1847 in Egmond aan Zee , † February 9, 1920 in Utrecht ) was the eleventh old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht from 1892 until his death .

Life

Youth and first activities

After studying at the old Catholic seminary in Amersfoort he received on 21 November 1870 by Hermann Heykamp the priesthood . After a short time in the parishes of Amsterdam (Willibrord and St. Johannes), Zaandam (St. Maria Magdalena) and Utrecht (St. James) and as professor of theology at the seminary in Amersfoort, he became pastor of the church of St. Vitus in 1886 Hilversum , where the hidden old church ( schuilkerk ) was replaced by a new church and a rectory. From 1890 he was a member of the Metropolitan Chapter.

Episcopate

Gerardus Gul in the bishop's robe around 1910

On February 23, 1892, he was elected Archbishop of Utrecht to succeed Johannes Heykamp . After this election, confirmation by the Pope was not requested for the first time. The episcopal ordination received Gul on May 11, 1892 in Hilversum , consecrator was Casparus John Rinkel , Bishop of Haarlem , together with the bishop of Deventer Cornelius Diependaal , the German Bishop Joseph Hubert Reinkens and the Swiss Bishops Eduard Herzog . As archbishop, Gul chose the motto: "No truth without love". Gerardus Gul experienced the end of the isolation of Old Catholics in the Netherlands in his episcopate. He participated in the episcopal ordinations of Nicolaus Bartholomeus Petrus Spit , Antoni Stanisław Kozłowski , Josef Demmel , Jacobus Johannes van Thiel , Franciszek Hodur , Arnold Harris Mathew , Jan Maria Michał Kowalski , Georg Moog , Nicolaas Prins and Henricus Theodorus Johannes van Vlijmen , through him the Apostolic Succession was thus also spread outside the Old Catholic Church. Gul was associated with the " Petite Église " in France and the Old Catholic churches in Nantes and Paris . A planned trip to Saint Petersburg became impossible due to the First World War . Church life also made progress. The introduction of the mother tongue in the liturgy (1909) was of particular importance. Church associations also developed; B. the Old Catholic Fund for Support, which worked within the church, and the association "Peter Buys", which should carry the principles of the Old Catholic Church outwards.

The introduction of a synod also took place under his episcopate.

literature

• Dick J. Schoon : Van bisschoppelijke Cleresie dead Oud-Katholieke Kerk. Bijdrage tot de geschiedenis van het katholicisme in Nederland in de 19de eeuw. Valkhof Pers, Nijmegen 2004, ISBN 90-5625-165-1 , pp. 750-753.
• Petrus Johannes Maan : Gul, Gerrit (1847–1920). In: Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland 1. Den Haag 1979, online (version of March 13, 2008), accessed on February 28, 2011.

predecessor	Office	successor
Johannes Heykamp	Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht 1892–1920	Franciscus Kenninck