Johannes Jacobus van Rhijn

Johannes Jacobus van Rhijn served as the twelfth Archbishop of Utrecht from 1797 to 1808.

Before serving as Archbishop of Utrecht, van Rhijn served as a parish priest in Utrecht.

Following the death of Walter van Nieuwenhuisen, Archbishop of Utrecht, on Good Friday, April 14, 1797, van Rhijn was consecrated Archbishop of Utrecht by Bishop Adrianus Johannes Broekman of Haarlem and Bishop Nicolas Nellemans of Deventer. He was subsequently excommunicated for the act by the Roman Catholic Church.

C.B. Moss suggests that, perhaps linked to the fact that “Napoleon, who was now the real ruler of the Netherlands, [and] was determined to put an and to the independence of the Church of Utrecht,” van Rhijn died suddenly on June 24, 1808. Neale suggests that van Rhijn was poisoned.