Post intelligent and civil comments. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the NLM
Beautiful. I wonder what the St. Olaf Cathedral looks like.
Very nice to see that there are also Catholic Norwegian churches in the tradition of the stave churches (see one of the best known examples [Borgund] here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wiki...he-Borgund.jpg)
.
The Cathedral, however, is not too impressive (hardly surprising for the capital of a country which has a protestant state "church"; I remember being somewhat disappointed when I sought it out on the half day I spent in Oslo). It was built in the 1850s by two German architects in the neogothic style, and has suffered some "spirit of Vatican II" modifications. This is the exterior and this the interior. However, it preserves the arm of St Olav, the only surviving relic of the Saint, which makes it vey special.
An interesting fact about the bishop of Oslo shown in the post: Msgr. Eidsvig was named in 2005 and was before an Augustinian canon in the glorious canonry of Klosterneuburg in Austria.
The link to the Borgund church in my comment above unfortunately includes the closing bracket; the correct link is http://upload.wikimedia.org/wiki...che-
Borgund.jpg
I'd love to see a photo of that church in pre-conciliar days. When I was in Bergen two years ago, I was impressed with the quality of the liturgy. There were altar girls, but they wore surplices and the priest was wearing a very nice damask silk chasuble. Unfortunately, I couldn't understand a word of it.
I know the Lutherans in Scandinavia have a liturgical tradition themselves. They've preserved ad orientem posture and kneeling for communion, so it may be some of the positive aspects of the celebration of Mass in that region can be attributed to their inluence.
Here are some pictures from the church of Our Lady in Porsgrunn in "pre-conciliar days": http://porsgrunn.katolsk.no/history.html
And here some pictures from a mass in Reinli stave church (12th century) last year: http://galleri.katolsk.no/displa...?album=25&
pos=1
What a great post, thank you! I noticed that the Tabernacle has returned to the apse of the cathedral, when I was there in the late 90's, I remember it was on one of the side altars. The cathedral is simple because when Catholicism was given complete liberty there again in the 1850's, I imagine that what few Norwegian Catholics remained had very little money to work with. The almost 1,000 year old gothic Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim is glorious, though, and was the seat of the archbishop-primate of Norway for centuries before the Reformation. The Lutheran Church of Norway is still headquartered there, and it is the site of the coronation of Norwegian kings. The loss of Scandinavia, and it's glorious Catholic past, to Lutheranism during the Reformation for the Church is truly something to lament.
Emilio,
I don't think money was the reason, since Queen Josephine of Leuchtenberg (who remained a Catholic) donated generously to the constructuion of St. Olav's. It was more that in the officially protestant Sweden and Norway, Catholic churches could not be too ostentatious.
TLM in a stave church? I am floored. How much does airfare to Norway run?
Was OLP next to a prison camp in 1930?
Look at the barbed wire fence to the left of it.
gregor,
i don't think the cathedral looks too bad. give it a real altar behind that table and it looks very presentable again.
If anyone wanted to build a stave church in this country and have TLM masses in it, I'd love to design it...someday.
Matthew: Walt Disney beat you to it! See the links below. But there is no TLM or any other Mass in this stave "church"...
http://www.awesomeflorida.com/im...ot-norway-
b.jpg
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com...tionPage&
bhcp=1
I am Norwegian and attend the weekly Mass in Porsgrunn when I am able. (I live several hours away)The parish priest there is probably among the most tradition-minded diocesan priests you can find. He celebrates the NO too, but very reverently and no altar girls allowed. Homilywise, he is great and expounds doctrine in a hard-hitting way.
As for the rest of the NO....Do not be fooled by some traditional externals with regards to the celebrations of regular NO Masses. They are filled with altar girls and eucharistic ministers, although I have heard from very reliable sources that at least in Bergen, these practises are sought quietly reduced. The priests who currently resides in Bergen are also of the right mindset. We can expect a lot from them, according to what I hear.
The "ruling class" of the Catholic establishment in Norway is very liberal and most priests do not wear any clerical garb. In addition, there has over many years been a heavy German and Dutch influence, which has rendered the Church in Norway utterly liberal doctrinally. You won't see modest dress in church and mantillas are normally never seen. Regarding headcovering for women..., I know for a fact that the parish priest in Oslo (at the Cathedral) has ordered mantillas to be put in the back of the church for women to use if they don't have one. (which is basically all of them) Way to go, Father!!!
Ever since the Motu last year, more and more conservatives/semi-trads are coming out of hiding and with the new bishop (installed two years ago), things have definitely gotten better, although he is not TLM-friendly at all. It must be said that apart from that, he has turned many things in the right direction.
In addition to that, there are two weekly private TLMs offered in Stavanger. This priest impressed me very much with his extremely well-prepared celebration, the very first time he celebrated according to the extraordinary form. You could never guess that he taught himself from dvd's and books.
Oh..and one thing... Please remember that the whole country had about 12 traditional Catholics until the Motu and no Masses except occasional visits from the SSPX. The development has been great considering that fact!
Please pray for us here in Norway.
St. Olaf, ora pro nobis
PS! You Americans already have a stave church. Look up Rapid City and you'll find it. I've seen it myself and I am sure the liberal Lutherans there would lend it to you, as an ecumenical favour..;)
varus,
Great news from the Norwegian front!
there is a very lovely Stave Chapel, a family one, in Door county, Wisconsin. I used to have a coffee table volume that had great pectures. perhaps some of you may have visitied it.
Since the stave church in Heddal is in the same parish as Porsgrunn I wouldnt be surprised if TLM was celebrated there also soon. After all, it was only last year that a catholic mass was celebrated there for the first time since the reformation... I would post some pictures of it if I knew how to. I think I was the only one who took pictures from that mass.
Why on Earth would Norwegian women wear mantillas en mass(e)? They have their own lovely forms of traditional headgear, and of course they can also wear stylish modern hats....
I mean, sure, you can always get in touch with your inner Spanish grandee, but there are a lot of other legitimate traditional headcoverings out there. I hate to see people make these kinds of narrow assumptions that traditional women can only wear one thing.
Maureen,
Right you are.
I am norweigan and I have a mantilla. Its easier to bring and wear than a hat. And what is wrong with traditions?
Maureen,
Of course there are a lot of other proper headcoverings out there... Veils and mantillas, hats and traditional Norwegian veils (which looks like scarfs ) are fine. Don't read more into what I wrote than there is due reason to read into it.
Perhaps I wasn't precise enough, but I thought mentioning mantillas would cover the whole ground. That is what most people refer to, so that is what I used.
5 Visitors Online
Commenting by HaloScan
