Sint Nicolaasga
Encyclopedia
Sint Nicolaasga is a village in the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 province of Friesland
Friesland
Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...

. It is located in the municipality of Skarsterlân
Skarsterlân
Skarsterlân is a municipality in the province of Friesland in the Netherlands. The municipality was created January 1, 1984 by merging the municipalities of Doniawerstal and Haskerland, the part of Utingeradeel consisting of the villages Akmarijp and Terkaple and the village Nieuwebrug that used...

, and has about 3270 inhabitants (2004). Until the municipal reorganisation in 1984 Sint Nicolaasga was part of the former municipality Doniawerstal
Doniawerstal
Doniawerstal was a municipality in southwest Friesland, south of Sneek. It consisted mainly of grassland and lakes. Its capital was Langweer. The municipality was dissolved in 1984; part went to Wymbritseradiel and part went to Skarsterlân. At the time of its dissolution it had its Dutch name; in...

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History

The oldest listing of the village is about 1399 by the name Sinte Nyclaesga. At the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

 in 1580 the priest of Sint Nicolaasga, Nicolaus Hollandinus, went into exile and the church, the cemetery and the property of the parsonage changed hands. For a long time the religious exercises of the Catholics took place in a hidden church on de Heide. Only in 1853 a new church was built, which has served till 1885. Then people started to build a church that still stands. It's called the church of Saint Nicholas (Sint-Nicolaaskerk). The patron saint of the parish is Nicolaas van Myra. Near the church also stands a Lourdes Grotto
Lourdes grotto
A Lourdes grotto is a term used to describe a replica of the original grotto at Lourdes or a grotto honouring Our Lady of Lourdes unassociated with the Lourdes site...

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