Catholicism in Norway

The Catholic Church in Norway is as old as the Kingdom itself. Norway was designated as a mission field before the country was Christianised. 

Norway was organised from 830 to 1103 under the Archbishop of Reims in France. Many missionaries visited Norway, including Saint Ansgar of Bremen (801-865), known as ‘the Nordic Apostle’.

Christianity had spread across the country by 1030, and Norway had gained its first Saint, King Olav, who fell at the Battle of Stiklestad that year. 

In 1070, building of a cathedral over his grave at Nidaros (now Trondheim) started, and Norway was a Christian, Catholic country by 1152.
 
Monasteries, convents, churches and cathedrals were built in the centuries that followed, and the Church became a major force in the life of the country. 

In 1537 during the Reformation, King Christian III of Denmark (who ruled Norway then) imposed Lutheranism and suppressed Catholicism. 

All monasteries and convents were closed and their property confiscated, churches and cathedrals were either made Protestant or fell into disuse.

Catholic groups survived until the 18th century, despite threat of punishment. In the 1790s, there was an illegal but tolerated Catholic congregation in Christiania (former name of Oslo). 

In 1843, the first Catholic parish since the Reformation was established in Christiania. 

A few years later, Catholic places of worship were opened at Alta, Bergen and Tromsø.                                                                                              

Most Catholics in Norway then were expatriates or of foreign heritage, which gave rise to a common prejudice that Catholicism was an alien faith. 

Catholic Sisters who worked in hospitals and schools helped dispel the anti-Catholic prejudice, as did notable novels by Catholic authors – most famously 1928 Nobel laureate Sigrid Undset (1882-1928).
 
Catholicism is growing rapidly in Norway today, in part due to the burgeoning numbers of job immigrants from Catholic countries. 

Catholicism now is the second largest faith in the country by membership after the Evangelic Lutheran Church of Norway.

Growing Catholic populations have brought about needs for 10 new or enlarged churches to accommodate worshipers. 

Stavanger’s newly expanded St. Svithun church opened in October 2012. With 550 seats, it’s the largest Catholic Church in Norway. 

Likewise, the existing Bredtvedt Church in Oslo’s populous Groruddalen was leased for ten years and the new St. Johannes parish around it created on 15 March 2013.

Facts:

• Membership: 115,234 registered Catholics, about 2.3% of population (12 October 2012).
• Three Church Districts: Oslo, Trondheim and Tromsø.
• 37 parishes.
• 40 Catholic churches and chapels as well as chapels in convents and monasteries.
• Further information: Oslo Catholic Bishopric, Akersveien 5, 0177 Oslo, Tel: 23219500.