In Trondheim, Norway sits in majestic splendour the northernmost cathedral of medieval Christendom. The seat of the medieval archbishop and center of the Catholic church in medieval Norway, the archbishop or metropolitan of Trondheim/Nidaros not only presided over the medieval Norwegian church, but was the head of an ecclesiastical province that extended to Shetland and Orkney, the Isle of Man, Iceland, Greenland and beyond that Vinland and Markland in North America.
Trondheim cathedral most importantly held the shrine of St Olaf, Norway’s eternal and apostolic king, who was martyred in 1030. His feast day, the day he was martyred, is still kept by Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans and Orthodox. At first his relics were kept in a smaller church, but eventually the great Gothic cathedral was built and housed his relics and shrine.
Throughout the middle ages until the Reformation, there was a huge tradition of pilgrimage to Trondheim. I had the chance to go there on Easter Monday of 1985 as an undergraduate, part of a memorable trip visiting relatives in western Norway. I have strong memories of spending time and worshipping in the great cathedral, and praying at the site of the shrine. Not long after that the pilgrimage trail to Trondheim was revived in Norway, and is still thriving, part of a wider revival and appreciation of the many and varied spiritual benefits of pilgrimage. I also remember looking from the shore on a very cold day at the island where Cistercian monks had lived until the Reformation; where now, not far from those ruins, Cistercian nuns have returned and have a thriving community, welcomed alike by Crown and people of all faiths.
I am reminded today of a story a friend told me of his visit to Trondheim cathedral many years ago. He stood outside the cathedral and watched a worker, a stone mason, slowly descend a high scaffold from where he had been doing some intricate repairs. My friend asked him whey he was doing that, as that work was not really visible to anyone. The man smiled and laconically said that God could see, God sees everything.
And so He does. Blessings on this feast of St Olaf.
Festina Lente 