Vilsteren is a village in the municipality of Ommen

Ommen

Ommen is a municipality and a Hanseatic city in the Vecht valley of the Salland region, which is at the heart of the province of Overijssel in the eastern Netherlands. Historical records first name Ommen in the early 12th century and it was officially founded as a city in 1248...

 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 Overijssel

Overijssel

Overijssel is a province of the Netherlands in the central eastern part of the country. The region has a NUTS classification of NL21. The province's name means "Lands across river IJssel". The capital city of Overijssel is Zwolle and the largest city is Enschede...

. It is situated just off the left bank of the Vecht

Vechte

The Vechte or Vecht , often called Overijsselse Vecht in the Netherlands to avoid confusion with its Utrecht counterpart, is a river in Germany and the Netherlands...

 in between Dalfsen

Dalfsen

Dalfsen is a municipality and a town in the Salland region of the Dutch province of Overijssel.The present municipality of Dalfsen was created on 1 January 2001 through the merger of the municipalities of Nieuwleusen and Dalfsen....

 and Ommen, about 17 kilometres east of the provincial capital of Zwolle

Zwolle

Zwolle is a municipality and the capital city of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands, 120 kilometers northeast of Amsterdam. Zwolle has about 120,000 citizens.-History:...

.

The village Vilsteren has a population of around 200. The statistical area "Vilsteren", which also can include the surrounding countryside, has a population of around 380.

History

The village of Vilsteren is named after Herman of Vilsteren, a vassal of the Archbishop of Utrecht

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht

The Archdiocese of Utrecht is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands. The archdiocese is the metropolitan for 6 suffragans, the dioceses of Breda, Groningen-Leeuwarden, Haarlem-Amsterdam, Roermond, Rotterdam, and 's-Hertogenbosch....

 in 1381. During the 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...

, Vilsteren was one of the few villages to remain Roman Catholic

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 in what is now the Protestant Bible Belt

Bible Belt (Netherlands)

The Bible Belt is the name given to a strip of land in the Netherlands, which is inhabited chiefly by conservative Protestants...

.