Faroese religion is part of the Lutheran evangelical movement. The second largest Protestant movement is the Open Brethren community. The Faroe Islands, located between Scotland and Iceland, are partly ruled by Denmark and as such the people have long practiced the same religion as the Danes.
The Faroe Islands became a Catholic country in about 1000. Originally belonging to Norway, Faroe fell under the jurisdiction of Denmark in 1523. The last Catholic Bishop of the Faroe Islands was Amundur Olavson; he was replaced by the first Lutheran bishop, Jens Gregersøn Riber, in 1540 .
There exists ancient evidence about when this country became Christian in the Færeyinga saga. The saga states that the king of Norway told Sigmund to go by ship to the Faroe Islands with orders from the King. Sigmund's orders were clear: he was supposed to make the 18 small islands Christian, which is what he did, according to the saga. This event is believed to have taken place around 1000 and the Faroese did not establish an organised Catholic Church before around 1100, so there do appear to be some inconsistencies in the saga.
The third largest religious group are charismatic movement.
Today the Catholic Church is an extremely small minority. There are also small groups of Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses and Bahá'ís in the country.
|
||||||||||||||