List of Catholics from Nordic countries
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
List of Catholics from Nordic countries is a list of post-Reformation Catholics from a mostly non-Catholic part of the world. The position of Nordic Catholics has at times been difficult, but the Catholic populations of the Nordic countries have seen some growth in the region in recent years, particularly in Sweden. However, at present none of the Nordic nations have a Catholic population above 2% ([1]).
In Sweden, Roman Catholics were allowed to settle and practice their religion again in 1781 according to the patent of tolerance of Gustavus III ([2]) and the Vicariate Apostolic of Sweden was erected in 1783. It was elevated to a diocese in 1953 ([3]).
The Norwegian Constitution of 1814 denied Jews and Jesuits entrance in Norway. It also stated that attendance in a Lutheran church was compulsory. The ban on Jews was lifted in 1851, but members of the Society of Jesus would not be allowed to enter Norway until 1956.
[edit] Notable Modern Nordic Roman Catholics
- Anders Arborelius is the first native Swedish-born Catholic bishop (1998) since the Reformation (see [4]), convert.
- Count Nils Bielke (1706-1765), converted in Rome in 1731, and became a Roman senator and papal chamberlain (see [5]), convert
- Queen Christina of Sweden, convert
- Blessed Elisabeth Hesselblad, convert (see[6]).
- Halldor Laxness: Icelandic novelist; winner of 1955 Nobel Prize for Literature
- Helena Nyblom (1843-1926), Danish-born Swedish writer, convert
- Count Christopher de Paus (1862-1943), a Norwegian land owner who converted and became a papal chamberlain and Roman Count, convert
- Jón Sveinsson - A Jesuit author from Iceland; wrote in Icelandic, but lived in France, convert
- Olaf Thommessen - Oslo politician and businessman (of Norwegian and French descent); not a convert
- Sigrid Undset - Norwegian writer, convert
- Gunnel Vallquist (b. 1918), Swedish writer, critic and translator, Member of the Swedish Academy, convert (see[7])
