The unnamed woman from the eastern city of Enschede "claims 100,000 euros ($129,000) from the Roman Catholic Church which she holds responsible," local station RTV Oost said on its website.
"According to the woman her husband was abused for years by religious fathers in a mission house in Brabant without it ever being discovered."
The abuse allegedly took place in the late 1930s.
"He was depressed for years and committed suicide, aged 58," the station said, adding the woman was looking for people who suffered the same experience.
It was unclear why she decided to sue after 20 years.
An independent Dutch inquiry last year into child abuse committed by Catholic priests found "tens of thousands" of victims over a 65-year period.
The Deetman Commission report, released in mid-December last year identified 800 perpetrators of sexual crimes within the Catholic Church between 1945 and 2010.
The Church has been rocked for several years now by a series of scandals involving paedophilia including in Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Germany and the United States.