Olaf swiftly became Norway's patron saint; Bishop
Grimketel performed his canonisation only a year after his death. The cult of Olaf unified the country and consolidated the Christianisation of Norway. He is also recognized as the patron saint of the
Faroe Islands. Owing to Olaf's later status as Norway's patron saint, and to his importance in later medieval historiography and in Norwegian folklore, it is difficult to assess the historical Olaf's character. Judging from the bare outlines of known historical facts, he appears to have been a fairly unsuccessful ruler, whose power was based on an alliance with the much more powerful King
Cnut the Great; who was driven into exile when he claimed power of his own; and whose attempt at a reconquest was swiftly crushed. This calls for an explanation of the status he gained after his death. Three factors are important: the later myth surrounding his role in the Christianisation of Norway, the various dynastic relationships among the ruling families, and the need for legitimisation in a later period.
Conversion of Norway Olaf Haraldsson and
Olaf Tryggvason (Olaf Haraldsson's
godfather) are both traditionally regarded as the driving forces behind Norway's final conversion to Christianity. But large stone crosses and other Christian symbols suggest that at least Norway's coastal areas were deeply influenced by Christianity long before Olaf's time; with one exception, all of Norway's rulers since
Håkon the Good (c. 920–961) were Christians, as was Olaf's main opponent,
Cnut the Great. What seems clear is that Olaf made efforts to establish a church organization on a broader scale than before, among other things by importing bishops from
England,
Normandy and
Germany, and that he tried to enforce Christianity in the inland areas, which had the least communication with the rest of Europe, and which economically were more strongly based on agriculture, so that the inclination to hold on to the former fertility cult was stronger than in the more diversified and expansive western parts of Norway. Many believe Olaf introduced Christian law into Norway in 1024, based upon the
Kuli stone, but this stone is hard to interpret.
Saint Olaf Liturgical cult , Norway in London , southern Sweden. , a medieval town in
Satakunta,
Finland Sigrid Undset noted that Olaf was baptised in
Rouen, the capital of
Normandy, and suggested that Olaf may have used priests of Norman descent for his missionaries. Normans were somewhat familiar with the culture of the people they were to convert and in some cases may have been able to understand the language. Among the bishops Olaf is known to have brought with him from England was
Grimketel (). He was probably the only one of the missionary bishops left in the country at the time of Olaf's death, and he stood behind the
translation and
beatification of Olaf on 3 August 1031. Grimketel later became the first bishop of
Sigtuna in Sweden. At this time, local bishops and their people recognised and proclaimed a person a saint, and a formal
canonisation procedure through the papal
curia was not customary; in Olaf's case, this did not happen until 1888. But Olaf II died before the
East-West Schism and a strict
Roman Rite was not well-established in Scandinavia at the time. He is also venerated in the
Eastern Orthodox Church. Grimketel was later appointed bishop in the
diocese of Selsey in southeastern England. This is probably why the earliest traces of a liturgical cult of Olaf are found in England. An
office, or prayer service, for Olaf is found in the so-called
Leofric collectar (c. 1050), which Bishop
Leofric of
Exeter bequeathed in his last will and testament to
Exeter Cathedral. This English cult seems to have been short-lived. Writing around 1070,
Adam of Bremen mentions pilgrimage to
St. Olaf's shrine in
Nidaros, but this is the only firm trace we have of a cult of St. Olaf in Norway before the mid-12th century. By this time he was also being called ''Norway's Eternal King''. In 1152/3, Nidaros was separated from Lund as the
archbishopric of Nidaros. It is likely that whatever formal or informal veneration of Olaf as a saint may have existed in Nidaros before that was emphasised and formalised on this occasion. Miracles performed by St. Olaf appear for the first time in
Þórarinn loftunga's skaldic poem
Glælognskviða, or "Sea-Calm Poem", from about 1030–1034. One is the killing and throwing onto a mountain of a sea serpent still visible on the cliffside. Another took place on the day of his death, when a blind man regained his sight after rubbing his eyes with hands stained with Olaf's blood. The texts used for the liturgical celebration of St. Olaf during most of the Middle Ages were probably compiled or written by
Eystein Erlendsson, the second
Archbishop of Nidaros (1161–1189). The nine miracles reported in
Glælognskviða form the core of the catalogue of miracles in this office. St. Olaf was widely popular throughout Scandinavia. Numerous churches in Norway, Sweden, and Iceland were dedicated to him. His presence was even felt in Finland and many travelled from all over the Norse world in order to visit his shrine. Apart from the early traces of a cult in England, there are only scattered references to him outside the Nordic area. Several churches in England were dedicated to him (often as
St Olave); the name was presumably popular with Scandinavian immigrants.
St Olave's Church, York, is referred to in the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 1055 as the place of burial of its founder,
Earl Siward. This is generally accepted to be the earliest datable church foundation dedicated to Olaf and is further evidence of a cult of St. Olaf in the early 1050s in England.
St Olave Hart Street in the
City of London is the burial place of
Samuel Pepys and his wife.
Another St. Olave's Church south of
London Bridge gave its name to
Tooley Street and to the ''St Olave's
Poor Law Union'', later the
Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey: its workhouse in
Rotherhithe became
St Olave's Hospital and then an old people's home a few hundred metres from ''St Olav's Church'', which is the
Norwegian Church in London. It also led to the naming of
St Olave's Grammar School, which was established in 1571 and was in Tooley Street until 1968, when it moved to
Orpington, Kent. The village of
St Olaves in Norfolk bears the name as it is the location of the remains of a 13th-century Augustinian priory dedicated to Olaf. St. Olaf was also, together with the
Mother of God, the patron saint of the chapel of the
Varangians, the Scandinavian warriors who served as the bodyguard of the
Byzantine emperor. This church is believed to have been near the church of
Hagia Irene in Constantinople. The icon of the
Madonna Nicopeia, presently in
St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, which is believed to have been traditionally carried into combat by the Byzantine military forces, is believed to have been kept in this chapel in times of peace. Thus St. Olaf was also the last saint venerated by both the Western and Eastern churches before the
Great Schism. The basilica of
Sant'Ambrogio e Carlo al Corso in Rome has a Chapel of St. Olav. Its altarpiece contains a painting of the saint, shown as a martyr king defeating a dragon, representing victory over his pagan past. It was originally a gift presented to Pope
Leo XIII in 1893 for the golden jubilee of his ordination as a bishop by Norwegian nobleman and
papal chamberlain Baron
Wilhelm Wedel-Jarlsberg. The chapel was restored in 1980 and reinaugurated by Bishop
John Willem Gran, bishop of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Oslo. In
Germany, there used to be a shrine of St. Olaf in
Koblenz. It was founded in 1463 or 1464 by
Heinrich Kalteisen at his retirement home, the
Dominican Monastery in the
Altstadt ("Old City") neighborhood of Koblenz. He was the
Archbishop of Nidaros in Norway from 1452 to 1458. When he died in 1464, he was buried in front of the shrine's altar. However, the shrine did not last: the Dominican Monastery was secularized in 1802 and bulldozed in 1955. Only the
Rokokoportal ("
Rococo Portal"), built in 1754, remains to mark the spot. In the
Faroe Islands, the day of St. Olaf's death is celebrated as
Ólavsøka, a nation-wide holiday. Recently the
pilgrimage route to
Nidaros Cathedral, the site of St. Olaf's tomb, has been reinstated. The route is known as The Pilgrim's Way (
Pilegrimsleden). The main route, approximately 640 km long, starts in the ancient part of
Oslo and heads north, along
Lake Mjosa, up the
Gudbrandsdal Valley, over
Dovrefjell and down the
Orkdalen Valley, ending at Nidaros Cathedral in
Trondheim. A Pilgrim's Office in Oslo gives advice to pilgrims, and a Pilgrim Centre in Trondheim, under the aegis of the Cathedral, awards certificates to pilgrims when they complete their journeys. However, the relics are no longer exposed in the cathedral, and it is not sure where exactly in the cathedral crypt his remains are buried.
Folklore For centuries, Olaf figured in folk traditions as a slayer of
trolls and giants, and as a protector against malicious forces. He was said to have healing power, which attracted people to his shrine, and various springs were claimed to have sprung forth where he or his body had been. Around the 12th century, folk traditions and iconography of Olaf absorbed elements of the gods
Thor and
Freyr from
Norse mythology. Like Freyr, he became associated with fertility, which led to his adoption as a
patron saint by farmers, fishermen, sailors and merchants of the
Hanseatic League, who turned to him for good yield and protection. From Thor, he inherited the quick temper, physical strength and merits of a giant-slayer. Popular tradition also made marks in the ecclesiastical material. Early depictions of Olaf portray him as clean-shaven, but after 1200 he appears with a red beard, which may have been absorbed from Thor. The
Passio a miracule beati Olavi, the official record of Olaf's miracles, contains an episode where Olaf helps a man escape from the
huldrefolk, the "hidden people" of
Norwegian folklore. The Norwegian Saint-Olaf Church was built in 1926, rue Duguay-Trouin, near the home of the Scandinavian sailors. The Norwegian Seamen's Mission wanted to build a Lutheran place of worship for visiting sailors. A bone from Saint Olaf's arm is kept as a relic in the crypt of
Rouen Cathedral. In 2014 the city and the diocese of Rouen celebrated the millennium of the baptism of Saint Olav with the Norwegian representatives of the
Catholic Church and the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway.
In Epcot A statue of a young Olaf Haraldsson can be found erected in front of the
Stave Church replica in the
Norway Pavilion in
Walt Disney World's
Epcot.
Other references to St. Olaf ,
Åland •
St. Olav's Cathedral, Oslo, the main cathedral of the
Roman Catholic Church in Norway • St. Olav's Chapel, in Covarrubias, Spain •
Olavshallen Concert Hall in Trondheim •
St. Olaf's Church, Balestrand in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway •
Sankt Olof situated in
Simrishamn Municipality,
Skåne County,
Sweden • St. Oluf's Church, now
St. Oluf's Cemetery in
Aarhus, Denmark, originates from before 1203, but has been in ruins since 1548. •
St. Olaf's Church in
Jomala,
Åland •
St. Olaf's Church, the tallest and possibly oldest church in
Tallinn,
Estonia • St. Olaf's Church in
Nõva, Estonia • St. Olaf's Church in
Vormsi, Estonia • St. Olaf's Church ruins in
Väike-Pakri, Estonia • St. Olaf's Chapel ruins in
Suur-Pakri, Estonia •
Saint Olav's Church in
Kirkjubøur,
Faroe Islands •
St. Olaf's Church, Tyrvää in
Sastamala,
Finland •
St. Olaf's Castle (
Olavinlinna) in
Savonlinna, Finland •
St. Olaf College was founded by Norwegian-American immigrant
Bernt Julius Muus in
Northfield, Minnesota during 1874. • Saint Olaf Catholic Church in downtown
Minneapolis • Saint Olaf Catholic Church in
Norge, Virginia • Saint Olaf Catholic Church and School in
Bountiful, UT • St. Olave's Anglican Church, Toronto, ON, Canada • The primary school and GAA club in Balally, Dublin, Ireland, both named for St. Olaf •
Tower of St. Olav, the only remaining tower of
Vyborg Castle • The
coat of arms of the
Church of Norway contains two axes, the instruments of St. Olaf's martyrdom. • The oldest picture of St. Olaf is painted on a column in the
Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. •
The Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav was founded in 1847 by
Oscar I, king of Norway and Sweden, in memory of the king. • , a Dutch student organisation with St. Olaf as its patron. • St Olaf St a secondary street in Lerwick, Shetland • St Olaf is a character in the Norwegian TV series Beforeigners. • St Olaf’s Church in Wasdale which is England’s smallest parish church. • St Olaf Hotel in
Cruden Bay,
Scotland (near site of 1012 battle) == See also ==