“Christina stood on the hill of Feginsbrekka and saw Trondhjem at her feet, glittering in the golden light of the sunset. Impressed, the young woman fell at the foot of the last cross, where thousands of pilgrims had thanked God for reaching out to them on their journey through a beautiful but dangerous world.
The bells in the churches and convents were ringing vespers when Christina entered the cemetery that surrounded the cathedral. For a moment she dared to raise her eyes to the western portico and immediately lowered them, dazzled.”
This is how Sigrid Undset, the Norwegian writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928, describes the arrival of a noble penitent on a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Olav in the 14th century in her most famous work, Christina, Daughter of Lavrans. A powerful novel about medieval Norway, in which human misery and the demands of faith wrestle each other.
The daughter of an important archaeologist and a great scholar of the Norse sagas, Sigrid Undset was well aware of what the St. Olav0s Way meant to Northern Europe in the Middle Ages. The main route, Gudbrandsdalsleden, passes right by her house in Bjerkebæk. Today, pilgrims walking from Oslo to Trondheim can stop in Lillehammer to visit the author’s house museum.
Who was St. Olav?
In former Nidaros, now Trondheim, on the shores of the Atlantic, stands the most important Gothic cathedral in Scandinavia. It was built to house the relics of a king considered a Christian saint and martyr: Olav II Haraldsson.
Born into a pagan noble family in 995, Olav was a proper Viking who participated in years of plundering and raiding, including Canterbury, England, in 1011. He is even credited with the destruction of London Bridge.
Known as “The Great” because of his striking size, he must have been a fearsome and brutal warrior in battle. He wanted to reunite all the Viking kingdoms into one –and fought for it for a whole decade. For political reasons, he had to spend some time in Normandy, where Duke Richard introduced him to the Christian faith. There, he was eventually baptized.
Chronicles and biographies claim that Olav embraced the new faith with enthusiasm. When he returned to Norway, he promoted the Christianization of the country by bringing in English missionaries. He spread the Christian faith in Norway, putting an end to many pagan practices, including child sacrifice. The Kuli Stone, a monolith containing the first written mention of Christianity in the country, is believed to date from this period.
His actions gained him the enmity of many of the local noblemen –in part because he abolished many of their abusive privileges over their vassals. After an internal rebellion, Olav was expelled from the country by Canute of Denmark and had to go into exile in Kiev.
Divine mission
But for Olav, Christianizing Norway was much more than a political matter; he considered it his spiritual mission. He soon decided to return to Norway and reclaim the throne. He did not succeed –at least not in his lifetime.
Olav died in the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030, while trying to conquer Nidaros. Soon enough, he was credited with numerous miracles and healings. People began to make mass pilgrimages to his tomb, and the following year the Archbishop of Nidaros declared him a saint by popular acclaim. Devotion to him converted the remaining Vikings to Christianity in record time.
It is difficult to measure Olav’s influence in Scandinavia. The Great Norwegian Encyclopedia has its own word for this phenomenon: Olavsarven (something like “Olavmania”). St. Olav’s axe became part of the Norwegian coat of arms in the 13th century, and churches named after him multiplied throughout the Christian world. His feast, called Olsok or St. Olav’s Vigil, is celebrated yearly on July 29th.
St. Olav’s Way became the third European pilgrimage route after Rome and Santiago. It is not just one single road, but a network of nine different paths from the north, south and east of Scandinavia that end in Trondheim. The oldest and most famous is the Gudbrandsdalsleden, from Oslo.
And although pilgrimages and relics declined with the Protestant Reformation, Lutherans have always regarded St. Olav as a national hero. In fact, the martyred king has been deemed the Eternal King of Norway since the 12th century.
Today, St. Olav’s Way continues to attract thousands of pilgrims every summer (the way is almost impassable in winter) with its beautiful scenery and array of archaeological remains and wooden churches. A Camino (and a story) worth experiencing firsthand.
