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Home > Catholic Encyclopedia > O > St. Olaf Haraldson


ST. OLAF HARALDSON

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Martyr and King of Norway (1015-30), b. 995; d. 29 July, 1030. He was a son of
King Harald Grenske of Norway. According to Snorre, he was baptized in 998 in
Norway, but more probably about 1010 in Rouen, France, by Archbishop Robert. In
his early youth he went as a viking to England, where he partook in many battles
and became earnestly interested in Christianity. After many difficulties he was
elected King of Norway, and made it his object to extirpate heathenism and make
the Christian religion the basis of his kingdom. He is the great Norwegian
legislator for the Church, and like his ancestor (Olaf Trygvesson), made
frequent severe attacks on the old faith and customs, demolishing the temples
and building Christian churches in their place. He brought many bishops and
priests from England, as King Saint Cnut later did to Denmark. Some few are
known by name (Grimkel, Sigfrid, Rudolf, Bernhard). He seems on the whole to
have taken the Anglo-Saxon conditions as a model for the ecclesiastical
organization of his kingdom. But at last the exasperation against him got so
strong that the mighty clans rose in rebellion against him and applied to King
Cnut of Denmark and England for help. This was willingly given, whereupon Olaf
was expelled and Cnut elected King of Norway. It must be remembered that the
resentment against Olaf was due not alone to his Christianity, but also in a
high degree to his unflinching struggle against the old constitution of shires
and for the unity of Norway. He is thus regarded by the Norwegians of our days
as the great champion of national independence, and Catholic and Protestant
alike may find in Saint Olaf their great idea.



After two years' exile he returned to Norway with an army and met his rebellious
subjects at Stiklestad, where the celebrated battle took place 29 July, 1030.
Neither King Cnut nor the Danes took part at that battle. King Olaf fought with
great courage, but was mortally wounded and fell on the battlefield, praying
"God help me". Many miraculous occurrences are related in connection with his
death and his disinterment a year later, after belief in his sanctity had spread
widely. His friends, Bishop Grimkel and Earl Einar Tambeskjelver, laid the
corpse in a coffin and set it on the high-altar in the church of St. Clement in
Nidaros (now Trondhjem). Olaf has since been held as a saint, not only by the
people of Norway, but also by Rome. His cult spread widely in the Middle Ages,
not only in Norway, but also in Denmark and Sweden; even in London, there is on
Hart Street a St. Olave's Church, long dedicated to the canonized King of
Norway. In 1856 a fine St. Olave's Church was erected in Christiania, the
capital of Norway, where a large relic of St. Olaf (a donation from the Danish
Royal Museum) is preserved and venerated. The arms of Norway are a lion with the
battle-axe of St. Olaf in the forepaws.




SOURCES

STORM, "Snorre Sturlason's Olav den Helliges Saga"; MUNCH, "Det norske Folks
Historie"; SARS, "Udsigt over den norske Historie"; DAAE, "Norges Helgener";
OEVERLAND, "Illustreret Norges Historie" (not reliable); VICARY, "Olav the King
and Olav King and Martyr" (London, 1887).


ABOUT THIS PAGE

APA citation. Hansen, N. (1911). St. Olaf Haraldson. In The Catholic
Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11234a.htm

MLA citation. Hansen, Niels. "St. Olaf Haraldson." The Catholic Encyclopedia.
Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911.
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11234a.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by John Looby.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

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