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Marists in Holland The Society of Mary moved into the Netherlands when in the beginning of the twentieth century theology students at the international scholasticate of Differt (Belgium) became so numerous that the international apostolic school (= minor seminary), housed in the same building, had to moved elsewhere. This led to the foundation, in 1910, of an inter-national apostolic school under the responsibility of the French Province of Paris, in Hulst, just across the Belgian-Dutch border. During World War I, 1914-1918, the international character of the school disappeared and the school began to attract vocations from the sur-rounding villages. In 1922, again under the responsibility of the French province of Paris, a second house was opened in Glanerbrug, just inside the German-Dutch border, to house a common noviciate for German and Dutch candidates. The presence of the Marist Fathers in both houses, and their activities in the surround-ing areas attracted so many vocations that up to today the majority of Dutch Marists come from the towns and villages around these two houses. In 1925 Marists left from the Netherlands to Norway. In 1928 the first Dutch Marist left for Oceania. In 1930 a Dutch Marist became superior in Hulst. In 1937 The Marists accepted the first parish. In 1947 what until then had been a region of the Paris Province became a Province in its own right. Within a short time, the Province accepted several parishes, opened a large secondary school and built its own scholasticate (Lievelde). Around 1960 there were about 100 Dutch Marists in all, of whom about 30 were working in Oceania, mostly in the Solomon Islands, but also in New Caledonia, Bougainville, Samoa and Vanuatu. Since then numbers have gradually gone down. The Province now has just under 50 members, three of them in Norway (one Norwegian, one Irishman). Seven Dutch Marists still work in Oceania. Apart from the former scholasticate, which now receives groups and individual people for pastoral and spiritual renewal, Marists today are mainly active in parishes, hospital ministry, airport ministry etc.
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