29 July is St Olaf’s Day, the feast day of the patron saint of Norway. But who was St Olaf, and what do we know about him? This is the story …
Christianity in Norway
Christianity reached Norway in AD 995, when it was introduced by Olav Tryggvason to the island of Moster in Vestland, in southwest Norway, where the first church in Norway was built. He also founded the city of Trondheim in 997.
In 1995, Moster hosted celebrations marking the millennium of Christianity in Norway. However, most people still followed the old traditional Norse beliefs and worshipped gods such as Odin, chief of the gods, and Thor, the god of thunder.
Viking Raider
Around this time, Olaf Haraldsson was born, the son of King Harald Grenske of Norway, and he was a descendant of Harald Fairhair (850–933), the first King of Norway. Like other men of his era, he embarked on Viking expeditions, travelling widely across northern Europe and gaining a reputation as a formidable warrior. He went to Estonia in 1008 and came to England in 1009 when the Vikings attacked London. Olaf was with a group that attacked East Anglia in 1010, and he helped to sack Canterbury in 1011, where they captured the saintly archbishop and murdered him in 1012. The witness of the holy archbishop might have had an effect upon him.
Conversion to Christianity
At this time, Normandy was part of the Viking world, having been conquered by the Vikings in 881, and its name means "land of the Northmen". In 1013, Olaf went to Normandy and stayed there for the winter with Duke Richard II, who was a Christian. There he discovered the Christian faith for himself, and he was baptised at Rouen in Normandy. Olaf then went back to England, not as an enemy but as a friend, and he spent a year there making Christian contacts. He helped the Christian King Ethelred of England fight against the pagan Danes at the Battle of London Bridge in 1014.
Return to Norway
Olaf was told in a dream to return to his homeland. He returned to Norway in 1015 and set out to unite a fragmented kingdom and turn it into a Christian nation. After the Battle of Nesjar in 1016, he established himself as ruler of a united Norway as King Olaf II. He invited missionaries through his contacts in Normandy and England, such as his English friend Grimkell (Grimketel), who became Bishop of Nidaros.
Christian Law Code
In 1024, King Olaf and Bishop Grimkell summoned a Church synod at Moster, where they introduced a Christian religious code based on laws in England, often regarded as the foundation of Norway’s Church legislation. The code covered ecclesiastical rules concerning the building and maintenance of churches, the rights and duties of church officials, the observance of holy days, instructions on baptism, conditions for burial, and rules for marriage.
It also reformed some Norse practices. It restricted the old Norse custom of placing weak infants outside to die from exposure, abolished the sacrifice of slaves to demons, and encouraged slaves to be freed instead. In June 2024, the millennium of Christian law in Norway was celebrated at Moster.
Death at Stiklestad
Olaf's determination to strengthen royal and ecclesiastical power, together with some of his brutal methods of conversion involving force and torture, earned him powerful enemies. In 1028, he was driven into exile after opposition from Norwegian nobles aligned with Canute (Knut) the Great, who was King of Denmark and England. Two years later, he returned in an attempt to reclaim his throne. On 29 July 1030, Olaf was killed at the Battle of Stiklestad, aged about 35. King Olaf and his men were granted Christian burials.
Sainthood
When Canute (Knut) became king and proved deeply unpopular, people looked back on the reign of King Olaf II with nostalgia. Though he had been defeated and killed in battle, Olaf’s death transformed his reputation, and he came to be regarded as a martyr.
Reports of miracles soon emerged around his grave, and on 3 August 1031 he was declared a saint by Bishop Grimkell. The day on which Olaf was killed in 1030 became his saint’s day. In 1164, St Olaf was recognised as an official Catholic saint by Pope Alexander III. Olaf became known in Latin as Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae (the Eternal King of Norway).
St Olaf became a symbol of Norwegian independence and pride. He is often represented by an axe, which appears on the shield of the Norwegian coat of arms. He is considered the patron saint of Norway, the Faroe Islands, carvers, difficult marriages, and kings.
Nidaros Cathedral
A church was built over St Olaf’s burial site at Nidaros. The site became an important pilgrimage destination, and in 1070 it became Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim. The cathedral became the ecclesiastical capital of Norse Christianity and the coronation site for all future kings of Norway.
The Archdiocese of Nidaros came to have jurisdiction over the churches throughout the Norse lands, including Norway, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland. It also included the Orkney Islands, the Shetland Islands, and Sodor (the Hebrides and the Isle of Man), which were lost to Scotland in 1266. When the Reformation came to Norway, the cathedral became Lutheran in 1537, and in the upheaval St Olaf’s remains were lost or destroyed.
Churches Dedicated to St Olaf
The cult of St Olaf spread rapidly throughout northern Europe during the Middle Ages. More than 300 churches were dedicated to St Olaf in areas that had close connections with the Viking world. Churches were dedicated to him in Sweden, Finland, Estonia, the Faroe Islands, and Britain.
In English, his name is variously spelt Olaf, Olav, or Olave, and there are many churches dedicated to St Olaf, St Olav, or St Olave across the British Isles where there are links with the Vikings. When Bishop Grimkell returned to England, he brought the story of King Olaf with him, and that might explain why the first church anywhere in the world to be dedicated to him was St Olave’s Church in York, founded in 1055. Some modern churches have also been dedicated to him, such as St Olave’s Church in Ramsey on the Isle of Man, built in 1862, which has a fine stained-glass window of St Olave.
Churches in the USA
From 1825, about a million Norwegian emigrants left to live in North America, especially in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and North Dakota, where they founded Lutheran churches and often dedicated them to St Olaf, just as Scots dedicated theirs to St Andrew.
Churches in London
St Olave’s Church in Hart Street, London, is built on the site of the Battle of London Bridge. It was originally called St Olave-towards-the-Tower, and it was later rebuilt. During the Second World War, when King Haakon VII of Norway was in exile in London, he sometimes worshipped at the church. Rotherhithe was an area of docks where many Norwegian ships came into London. In 1927, a new Norwegian church was consecrated there to St Olav, and it was used by the Norwegian government-in-exile during the war.
St Olav’s Way
There is an ancient pilgrimage route from Oslo to Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim known as St Olav’s Way, or Pilegrimsleden. There are marker stones and rest stations along the route. It is the Scandinavian equivalent of the Camino de Santiago and remains a popular hiking trail. There are other pilgrimage routes to Trondheim, including one from Sweden called St Olavsleden, as well as routes from Denmark and Finland.
Olsok
The celebration of St Olaf’s Day each year is known as Olsok in Norwegian. Modern Olsok celebrations combine religious devotion, cultural heritage, historical remembrance, and national identity. The largest commemorations take place in Trondheim and at Stiklestad. Some people walk St Olav’s Way to Nidaros Cathedral in time for the celebrations. Olsok provides an occasion for services, concerts, lectures, exhibitions, and other cultural events. At Stiklestad, where Olaf fell in battle, outdoor performances, historical re-enactments, church services, and educational events attract visitors from across Norway and abroad.
Today, Olsok is mainly celebrated across Norway and in the Faroe Islands, where it is called Ólavsøka. Beyond Norway, St Olaf's Day is marked in places with Scandinavian heritage and by churches dedicated to St Olaf (also spelt St Olav or St Olave).
Order of St Olav
In 1847, King Oscar I founded the Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav for Norwegians who have rendered distinguished service to Norway and mankind, with up to twenty people appointed each year.
Heimskringla
The stories of St Olaf and other Scandinavian kings were written in Norse sagas, which were collected together as the Heimskringla. It was recently reported that Norwegian Christian footballer Erling Haaland and his father, Alf-Inge Haaland, bought a copy of the Heimskringla and donated it to the library in Bryne so that others can read and study the stories.
Plans are now afoot to mark the millennium since the death of St Olaf in 2030.
