It is indisputable that Herman and Henry de Jong (et al) have Roman Catholic roots (back to 500 AD). During the Reformation, a great many Netherlanders branched off as Protestants, and those two trunks have been growing (and now thinning) side by side ever since — not without getting into tangles. At first the Protestants were suppressed by the Catholics (especially the Spanish), but when the Reformed Christians gained the upper hand, the tables were turned and many Catholic churches were forced into hiding (not so much in the south).

As the edge wore off and Dutch toleration and practicality prevailed, Dutch society experimented with ‘pillarization’, and the Catholics along with Protestants and socialists were encouraged to develop institutionally (church, school, press). By 1853 the Catholic Church in the Netherlands began to flourish again, once more outpacing their Reformed cousins in membership.

In Winschoten, the Grote Kerk or Marktpleinkerk began life as the St. Vitus Kerk, around 1275. It changed hands (and names) during the Reformation (and is still to this day a Protestantse Kerk). Catholics were forced to practice their faith in secret, and only in 1799 (two centuries later) did they have a church building again ( a simple hall, restored once in 1822). By the 1870s, Catholics finally had the wherewithal to build an imposing, three-aisled psuedo-bascilica, once more taking up the name of the St. Vitus Church in 1880.

So, by 1944, the year of this story, the ‘cathedral’ of St. Vitus was already generations old. It’s likely that Herman had never been inside before this Christmas morning mass, after their eighteen minute, 5 a.m. brisk winter walk. For the self professed Calvinist, having grown up within the boxy, plainly furnished Vennekerk, this must have made quite the impression.

Ten years later, Herman de Jong followed this ecumenical path with fifty years of serving as organist and choirmaster in mainline Canadian churches, including the liturgical Lutherans and Anglicans (but never the Catholics).