Leiden's Hooglandsekerk derives its name from its location on relatively high ground (hoge land) across the Nieuw Rijn River from the parish of the Pieterskerk. "High" in Leiden means a rise of about ten feet! The patron saint is St. Pancras, as that of the Pieterskerk is St. Peter. The church began as a chapel, then became an ordinary parish church. In 1366 a "chapter" or college of twenty-four priests was created for this church and a series of building campaigns resulted in the present structure, which remains incomplete. Many were members of patrician families from Leiden and the region. Although the Hooglandse Kerk remained a parish church with a pastor, the additional priests (or "canons") had other duties. They met together seven times throughout the day to say or sing mass, and to officiate at memorial masses throughout the year on the anniversaries of deaths of wealthy donors who had established funds for such recurrent services. Numerous guilds had their chapels in the church (like those in the Pieterskerk and Vrouwekerk, as well). The church has the dimensions of a cathedral and action was taken ca. 1525 to establish a bishop for Holland here, but finally nothing came of it. Such a conception of its own significance, however, underlies the grandiose dimensions and high achitectural quality of the Hooglandsekerk. In 1559, with reorganization of the Netherlandish dioceses, Haarlems's collegiate church of St. Bavo became the cathedral instead.

In 1572, Leiden officially became Reformed and the Hooglandsekerk has served the Dutch Reformed congregation since then. The University of Leiden's ecumenical "studenten ecclesia" also holds its services here on Sunday mornings, after those of the Reformed.

For more on this church: Bangs, Church Art and Architecture in the Low Countries before 1566. (in Dutch:) B. N. Leverland, St. Pancras op het Hogeland, Kerk en kapittel in Leiden tot aan de Reformatie (Hilversum: Verloren, 2000).