Catholic Diocese of Oslo

The diocese of Oslo (in Latin: Dioecesis Osloënsis and in Norwegian: Oslo katolske bispedømme) is a diocese immediately subject to the Holy See of the Catholic Church in the southern part of Norway.

Territory

This diocese covers thirteen fylkes: Oslo, Aust-Agder, Akershus, Østfold, Hordaland, Buskerud, Hedmark, Rogaland, Østlandet, Vest-Agder, Vestfold, Oppland and Telemark.

The episcopal see is in the city of Oslo, where the Cathedral of Saint Olaf is located, located in the center of the Norwegian capital.

History

Prior to the Protestant Reformation

The diocese of Oslo was first erected in 1068. It was originally a suffragan of the archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen until in 1104 it became a suffragan of the archdiocese of Lund. The diocese of Hamar was established and separated from Oslo in 1152. In 1153 it became part of the ecclesiastical province of the archdiocese of Nidaros.

The last Catholic bishop of Oslo, Hans Rev, joined the Protestant Lutheran Reformation in 1527 and the Catholic diocese was abolished de facto in 1537, as it continued as the Lutheran diocese of Oslo by order of King Christian III of Denmark. That same year the Norwegian Catholic dioceses of Bjørgvin and Stavanger and the archdiocese of Nidaros were abolished and in 1542 the diocese of Hamar was abolished, all of which became Lutheran and their properties confiscated by the crown.

After the Protestant Reformation

The few remaining Catholics in Norway and northern Europe were secretly placed in 1582 under the jurisdiction of the apostolic nuncio in Cologne. When the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith was created in 1622, it took charge of the missions in Denmark and Norway, placing the apostolic nuncio in Brussels at its head. In 1688 the territory of the Kingdom of Denmark and Norway became part of the apostolic vicariate of the Nordic Missions, with the bishops of Paderborn acting as administrators of the apostolic vicariate. In 1834 the Catholic missions in Norway became part of the Apostolic Vicariate of Sweden, based in Stockholm. While Norway north of the Arctic Circle became the Apostolic Prefecture of the North Pole in 1855, the rest of Norway remained with the Swedish vicariate.

On August 7, 1868, Norway became a mission area and the sui iuris mission of Norway was erected, with territory dismembered from the apostolic vicariate of Sweden (today the diocese of Stockholm) and the dissolved apostolic prefecture of the North Pole, through the brief In hac beatissimi of Pope Pius IX. On August 17, 1869, the sui iuris mission was elevated to apostolic prefecture by the brief Ecclesiae universae of Pope Pius IX. On March 11, 1892, the apostolic prefecture was elevated to an apostolic vicariate with the brief Quum Nobis of Pope Leo XIII.

On June 1, 1913, by virtue of the decree Septentrionum insulas of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, the Svalbard islands, until then outside any ecclesiastical jurisdiction due to being uninhabited, were annexed to the apostolic vicariate, which assumed the name of the apostolic vicariate of Norway and Spitsbergen. This denomination remained until December 15, 1925, when the previous denomination was reestablished.

On April 7 and 8, 1931, it gave up part of its territory in favor of the erection of the sui iuris missions of Central Norway (today the territorial prelature of Trondheim) and Northern Norway (today the prelature territorial of Tromsø) respectively. Consequently, on the 10th of the same month it assumed the name of the apostolic vicariate of Oslo.

On June 29, 1953, the apostolic vicariate was elevated to a diocese with the bull Faustum profecto of Pope Pius XII.

Chronology of the bishops

Before the Reformation

• Asgaut (?-1073 passed)
• Thorolf †
• Aslak †
• Gerhard †
• Koll Torkelsson † (before 1100-after 1130)
• Peter
• Vilhelm (†-1157 died)
• Torsteinn † (1157/1158-circa 1169 died)
• † Helge (1170-1190 died)
• Nikolas Arnesson † (1190-9 May 1225 died)
• Orm (Ottar) † (1226-1244 died)
• Torkell † (circa 1245-1248 died)
• Håkon † (1248-1265 named Nidaros Archbishop)
• Andreas (1267-1287 died)
• Eyvind † (1288-1303 passed away)
• Helge † (1304-1322 died)
• Salomon Toraldson † (1322-1351 died)
• Sigfrid, O.P. † (13 August 1352-1358 passed away)
• Hallvard Bjørnarsson † (October 23, 1359-circa 1371 died)
• † Jon (27 October 1372-September 1385 died)
• Eystein Aslaksson † (11 April 1386-after 25 February 1407 passed away)
• Jakob Knutson † (10 September 1407-circa 1420 passed away)
• Jens Jakobssøn † (8 July 1420-1453 passed away)
• Gunnar Tjostulvsson Holk † (20 June 1453-1482 passed away)
• Nils Audensson Kalib † (August 27, 1483-1489 died)
• Herlog Vigleiksson Korning † (July 1489-after May 29, 1505 passed away)
• Anders Mus (24 October 1505-1521 resigned)
• Hans Mule † (1521-24 September 1524 died)
• Hans † Rev (1525-1527 deposed)

After the Reformation

Norwegian Apostolic Prefects

• Bernard, M.S. † (5 April 1869-1887 resigned)
• Johannes Baptiste Olaf Fallize † (6 February 1887-11 March 1892)

Apostolic Vicaries of Norway

• Johannes Baptiste Olaf Fallize † (11 March 1892-21 June 1922 resigned)
• Johannes Hendrik Olav Smit † (11 April 1922-11 October, 1928, nominated official of the Roman Curia)
  • Olaf Offerdahl † (11 October 1928-12 March 1930 named Apostolic Vicar) (apostolic minister)
• Olaf Offerdahl † (12 March 1930-7 October 1930 passed away)
  • Henrik Irgens (October 1930-10 April 1931) (apostolic minister)

Apostolic Vicaries of Oslo

• • Henrik Irgens (10 April 1931-12 July 1932) (apostolic minister)
• Jacques Mangers, S.M. † (12 July 1932-29 June 1953)

Bishops of Oslo

• Jacques Mangers, S.M. † (29 June 1953-25 November 1964 resigned)
• John Willem Nicolaysen Great, O.C.S.O. † (25 November 1964 by succession-26 November 1983 resigned)
• Gerhard Schwenzer, SS.CC. (26 November 1983 by succession-29 July 2005 resigned)
• Markus Bernt Eidsvig, C.R.S.A., since 29 July 2005

Parishes

The diocese includes 26 parishes:

Foundation	Parish	Locality	Temple
1843	San Olaf	Oslo (center)	Cathedral of San Olaf
1854	Saint Paul	Bergen	Saint Paul
1870	San Pedro	Halden	San Pedro
1878	Santa Brígida	Fredrikstad	Santa Brígida
1889	Our Lady	Porsgrunn	Our Lady
1890	San Hallvard	Oslo (Enerhaugen)	Church and monastery of San Hallvard
1890	San Óscar	Kristiansand	San Óscar
1898	San Swithun	Stavanger	San Swithun
1899	San Lorenzo	Drammen	San Lorenzo
1911	San Francisco Javier	Arendal	San Francisco Javier
1924	San Torfinn	Hamar	San Torfinn
1926	Santa Maria	Stabekk (Bærum)	Santa Maria
1926	San José	Haugesund	San José
1929	San Olaf	Tønsberg	San Olaf
1935	Santa Teresa	Hønefosss	Santa Teresa
1952	San Magnus	Lillestrøm	San Magnus and Santa Clara
1956	Santa Maria	Lillehammer	Santa Maria
1989	San Miguel	Moss	San Miguel
1992	Santa Maria	Askim	Santa Maria
1993	San Francisco	Larvik	San Francisco
2007	St. Thomas	Valdres (Fagernes)	Santa Maria in Lillehammer and Santa Teresa in Hønefoss
2007	San Gudmund	Alto Romerike (Jessheim)	San Gudmund
2007	Santa Clara	Kongsvinger	Santa Clara
2010	Saint John the Baptist	Sandefjord	Saint John the Baptist
2013	Saint John the Evangelist	Oslo, Bredtveit	Saint John the Evangelist
2018	Santa Elisa	Eikeli (Bærum)	Church of Christ

Chaplaincies for immigrants

The majority of the Catholic faithful in the diocese of Oslo are immigrants or their Norwegian children. Of the more than 200,000 faithful of the diocese, only 30,000 were born in Norway. There are chaplaincies for the communities: Burmese, Filipino, Francophone, Anglophone African, Croatian, Lithuanian, Polish, Slovak, Hispanic, Tamil, Hungarian and Vietnamese. Among the Eastern Catholics, the Eritreans with the Eritrean Catholic Association are present; The Chaldeans have a priest under the care of the Chaldean Apostolic Visitor in Europe based in Södertälje (Sweden); Ukrainian Greek Catholics have a priest in Oslo and depend on the Apostolic Exarchate of Germany and Scandinavia since April 17, 1959.

Statistics

According to the Pontifical Yearbook 2020, the diocese had a total of 143,768 baptized faithful at the end of 2019.