Caribbean
Sint Maarten

 

For a brief historical outline of the Netherlands Antilles click here.

For some religious data, click  here.

 

History of St.Maarten/St.Martin.

Sint Maarten (Dutch spelling) or Saint Martin (French, Spanish, Italian, English spelling) was named for St.Martin of Tours on whose feast day, November 11, 1493, Columbus first saw these white sand shores.


The Arawaks were subjugated by the warlike Carib Indians from South America a short time before the arrival of the Spanish who followed in Columbus' wake. The English word cannibal, we note in passing, is derived from an Arawak word which referred to the Caribs.

The Arawaks were a relatively cultured people who introduced agriculture, fashioned pottery and whose social organization was headed by hereditary chieftain who derived their power from personal deities called zemis.
The Caribs, on the contrary, concentrated on warfare. They killed and ate the Arawak men, then married the Arawak women. How the Arawak women felt about that is not recorded, but it is interesting to note that the surviving language was Arawak.

 

1550
As the Spanish conquered each island, they rounded up its Indians and put them to work. By 1550, a few Arawaks remained on Cuba and Trinidad. The Caribs' territory was not completely conquered until the mid-seventeenth century when most of them perished in the struggle between the French, English, Dutch, Danes and Spanish for control of the West Indies.

 

1620s
 The Dutch first began to ply the island's ponds for salt in the 1620's.

Despite the Dutch presence on the island, the Spaniards recaptured St.Martin in 1633 and one year later built a fort at Pointe Blanche to assert their claim. The Spaniards introduced the first slaves to the area in the sixteenth century but the main influx of slaves took place in the eighteenth century with the development of sugar plantations by the French. Slavery was abolished in the first half of the nineteenth century, whereupon the British imported Chinese and East Indians to take the place of slaves. Thus, these islands are peopled by a mixture of Amer-Indian, African, Asian and European peoples. West Indian cultures are, consequently, exceedingly rich and varied, can scarcely be matched in other parts of the world.

 

In the mid-sixteenth century pirates, privateers and smugglers were attracted by the increasing volume of shipping, especially since cargo included Mexican or Peruvian silver. Spanish defences, although extensive, could not prevent all raiding in so large an area. Sir John Hawkins, Sir Francis Drake, Sir Henry Morgan and William Dampier were among the English buccaneers; at the same period the Dutch "Sea Beggers" (Geuzen) and French Huguenot privateers were active. Private ring, theoretically abolished in 1856 by the Declaration of Paris, was eliminated only in the twentieth century as the Seventh Hague Convention by the states' assumption of full responsibility for all armed merchant ships.

 

The Dutch have been on (and off) Saint Martin since the 1620s, and it was here that Peter Stuyvesant lost his leg, earning the nickname Peg Leg, while unsuccessfully attacking the then controlling Portuguese forces. The scene of the battle was Little Bay hill and legend has it that Stuyvesant landed his ships in the bay beyond, Cay Bay, then led his men up Cay Bay Hill in a surprise attack on the Portuguese at Fort Amsterdam. Despite Stuyvesant's subsequent necessity for a wooden leg, he went to America where he governed Nieuw Amsterdam before the British took it and renamed it New York.

 

Indians, pirates, slaves, affluence and poverty, war ... St.Maarten/St.Martin has seen them all. Her peoples have endured, have come up smiling, not inanely smiling but courteously smiling, smiling with dignity, smiling with pride. Two governments guide 37 square miles in peace.

 

On 23 June 2000 the population of Sint Maarten (33.119) announced to prefer the Status Aparte like Aruba. Sint Maarten as well as Curaçao are new countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on 15 December 2008, but Sarah Wescot, minister of Saint Maarten, would adjourn this date till  2010. The tatus Aparte of the Netherlands is realised on 10 October 2010.

 

The Ecclesiastical organisation.


 The island Sint Maarten belonged to the Vicariate Prefecture of Curaçao from 1772 till 1842. The parish in Philipsburg was founded in 1841. From 20 December 1842, it was a part of the Vicariate Apostolic of Curaçao. 

The Dutch-born priest Arnoldus R. ten Brink (1841-1853), the first pastor, took the pastoral care of the island in 1841. In 1844, he laid the corner stone for the first Catholic church at its present location on Front Street in Philipsburg. It is not surprising, therefore, that this church was named St. Martin of Tours. However, the parish grew so that church was expanded several times. He built from 16.07.1844 till 1847 a wooden church. His successor, Stephanus J. Nieuwenhuis (26.12.1825-28.07.1888), arrived in 1844.

 

The Dutch Dominicans on Sint Maarten.
 

The first name is the religious name.
The second the baptismal name.

By his decree of 9 July 1868, Pope Pius IX entrusted the Netherlands Antilles as a mission territory to the Dutch Dominicans  By 1933 the parishioners realized that the construction of a larger church was necessary. On May 30, 1952 the present church was constructed, at the cost of 132, 659 Dutch guilders.

As the population on the Dutch Side of the island grew, so did the Catholic community.
In addition to the main church in  Philipsburg, other churches (belonging to the same parish) were established. The church of Cole Bay was built in 1847 only to be destroyed by fire in 1872 and never rebuilt. In 1897 a small chapel was constructed in Simpson Bay to be replaced in 1965 by the present small church of Mary Star of the Sea.

Front of the church 'Mary, star of the sea' in Simpson Bay (1965).

Netherlands Antilles 2008, Mi - , Sc -.

 

On 28 April 1958, Pope Pius XII elevated the Apostolic Vicariate of Curaçao to a diocese. It was those years, - 1957 and 1958 -, when all the vicariates in the Caribbean became dioceses. The first Bishop was Michael, Joannes Maria Holterman, O.P. (1956 - 1973).
The diocese of Curaçao is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Port of Spain, and a member of the Antilles Episcopal Conference.

 

In 1977, the Risen Christ Church was completed in South Reward. As the population moves to the northeast corner of the Dutch side of St. Maarten, the parish is looking for a site for a future church in the area of Belvedere.

Source: website of the parish Saint Martin of Tours.

Many Dominicans were there for the pastoral services. Among others:
Leo, Dominicus, Cornelius van Dijk (7 April 1912, professed 18 September 1931, ordination 25 July 1936, on the Antilles 4 October 1938, return to Nederland -- + 30 November 1994). Emmanuel, Theodorus Küstner (18 August 1928, professed 18 September 1948, ordination 25 July 1954, on the Antilles 29 August 1958,  return to Nederland -- + --). Johan, Pieter Mackenbach (24 December 1932, professed 18 September 1955, ordination 25 July 1961, on the Antilles -29 August 1962,  return to Nederland  ---). 

The Dutch Sisters Dominicans
 of the Congregation of Saint Catherine of Siena (1841),
Voorschoten (Nederland)

9 April 1965,the beginning if the White-Yellow-Cross

Mi 685, Sc 628: Dominican Districts-Sister. (10c).

 

9 November 1908, the opening of the Rose of Lima Hospital.
16 January 1935 a new Rose of Lima Hospital.

Mi 686, Sc 629: Rose of Lima Hospital.(55c).

 

May 1890, the beginning of the Saint Joseph school.
Mi 687, Sc 630: Saint Joseph School. (60c) . FDC

 

When the Dutch Dominicans took over the pastoral care (1868), the pastoral car was in the hands of the secular priest Ten Brink (1841), and in1853 of vicar Stephanus, Johannes, Joseph Nieuwenhuis (26 December 1825, on the Antilles 26 December 1844, ordination 29 August 1849, return to Nederland 1887,+ 28 July 1888). In 1875, he requested  the Dominican Sisters of Voorschoten (Nederland) to organize the education of the children. But Mother superior, sister Dominica Wamsteeker, O.P., had not enough sisters.

Saint Joseph school.

Stephanus Nieuwenhuis offered after his death on 28 July 1888, a great legacy to the Dominicans , - two houses, a  piece of land, and 10,000 Gulden -, to built schools on the island.
The Apostolic Vicar Mgr Alphonsus, Maria, Henricus Joosten, O.P. (11 December 1837, professed 14 November 1858, ordination 10 August 1863, on the Antilles 16 May 1888, return to Nederland 7 March 1895, + 18 December 1896) and Vicar Jordanus, Adelbertus, Antonius  Onderwater, O.P. (9 November 1850, professed 24 September 1870, ordination 15 August 1876, on the Antilles 17 June 1881,  + 13 October 1891) approached the new  General Superior Sister Catharina Walraven, O.P. When a great number of sisters offered themselves to go,.
She sent to the Antilles: Sister Regina Egelie, prioress, the Sisters Catharina Dankelman, Helene Jacobs, Gonzales Eyckenbroek, Raymunda Reygers and Huberta Hakkenberg.
 

On Saturday morning 3 May 1890 the Dominican sisters arrived on Sint Maarten, Philipsburg, and started in their house the St Joseph school for 132 children and 62 pre-schoolers in a nursery class.

The Rose de Lima Hospital.
On 9 November 1908 Jordanus, B.A. Gijlswijk, O.P. (19 November 1870-22 December 1944) and the Dominican sister Regina Egelie opened the Rose of Lima Hospital on Backstreet. 
It consisted of 2 tiny wooden houses and it comprised a room for patients, an operating room and space for the doctor. All patients of the islands Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius and Saba, without discrimination of religion, were admitted to the hospital.

The White-Yellow Cross.
 The Dominican sister Edelberta de Barbanson, O.P. (6 October 1915) started 'The White-Yellow-Cross' on 09 April 1965, and the 'district nursing' on 15 March1968.
The White and Yellow Cross Foundation which had been managing the Sint Rose Hospital from the time of its humble beginnings in Backstreet, became an independent entity.

Saint Martin's home.
Opened as 'Sweet Repose' on 30 May 1946, by Mrs. H. Conner, the senior citizen’s home was run by Mrs Albertine Cockley, who together with a cook cared for the first four residents of the home. During the first years it was difficult to get enough aged persons. It also happened that a resident returned home because he or she was home-sick or would rather remain again in his own environment. 'Sweet Repose' was expanded upon in April 1963 and again two years later when on April 1st, 1965 it was renamed the Saint Martin’s Home. The White-Yellow-Cross took the responsibilities of the St. Martin’s Home, under the presidency of Sister Edelberta de Barbanson, O.P.

On 7 December 2002,  the Sint Rose Hospital and the St. Martin’s Home were demolished to make way for a new Shopping Arcade and Mall. The new facility, will continue to bear the name of Sint Rose not only because of the historical link, but also due to the fact that revenues from property rentals will continue to provide the elderly of Sint Maarten with loving care and attention - albeit at another more appropriate location. Developers of the Sint Rose Arcade included a special “Remembrance Plaza” to memorize the sons and daughters of the soil who were born at the Sint Rose Hospital. It features specially cut granite stones with the birth dates and names of persons born in the former hospital.

 

Sources: Richard E. Miller, April 2007.
This page on internet originally submitted on November 24, 2008, by Richard E. Miller of Oxon Hill, Maryland. Craig Swain was the editor who published this page.

 

From Sint Maarten the Dominican Sisters of Voorschoten (Nederland) started their work on Sint Eustatius (1899-1990), Curaçao (1892-1953), Saba (1905-1977), and Aruba (1909-1979).

 

Literature and sources:

Monteiro, Dr. Marit. 2008.  Gods Predikers. Dominicanen in Nederland (1795-2000). Marit Monteiro en Uitgeverij Verloren. Hilversum. ISBN 978-90-8704-030-7.
 
De Jong, Ton en Hendrikse, Norbert. 2008. De gezegende erfenis. Nalatenschap van 1200 Nederlandse religieuzen op Curaçao.Ton de Jong, Hilvarenbeek. ISBN 978-907747-23-0. NUR 686.

Marcha, Dr. Waldemar. 2009.  Gods Wijngaard in De West. Caribic Publishing B.V. Uitgeverij WP, Amsterdam. ISBN 978-090-6665-928-5.NUR 523.
Ecclesiastical History, special p. 663-678.
Dominican Sisters  of Voorschoten, special p. 243-263.

 

 

 

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