Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg


The Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg was a short-lived Latin Catholic suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the Archbishop of Utrecht, with episcopal see at Middelburg, on Walcheren island in the Dutch Zeeland province.

History

Established on 12 May 1559 as Diocese of Middelburg on territory, covering the southwestern Dutch province of Zeeland, canonically split-off from the huge, France-based Diocese of Cambrai, which was simultaneously promoted an Archdiocese, like the then Diocese of Utrecht, which became Middelburg's Metropolitan.
In 1603, during the Eighty Years War, the bishopric was suppressed, without a formal successor, its territory being included in the pre-diocesan Dutch Mission 'Batavia', while its incumbent was transferred to the richer, safer see of Bruges in Flanders.
The 1803.03.22 establishment of the Apostolic Vicariate of Breda, including the same territory, is considered as a restoration of the Middelburg see.
Foundations for Middelburg's "stately and picturesque" cathedral were first laid in the 10th century; additional construction continued through the Middle Ages.

Episcopal ordinaries

;Suffragan Bishops of Middelburg