Ansgar
| Saint Ansgar | |
|---|---|
 Ansgar, etching by Hugo Hamilton (1830) | |
| Apostle of the North | |
| Born | September 8 801 in Amiens |
| Died | 3 February 865 (aged 63) in Bremen |
| Venerated in | Eastern Orthodox Church, Roman Catholicism, Lutheran Church, Anglican Church |
| Feast | February 3 |
| Patronage | Denmark |
- "Ansgarius" redirects here.
Saint Ansgar, Anskar or Oscar, (September 8?, 801 – February 3, 865) was an Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen. The see of Hamburg was designated a "Mission to bring Christianity to the North," and Ansgar became known as the "Apostle of the North."
Life
Ansgar was born in Amiens, France. After his mother’s early death he was brought up in nearby Corbie Abbey, where he made rapid progress in his education. According to the Vita Ansgarii ("Life of Ansgar"), as a young boy received a vision in which he learned that his mother was in the company of the Virgin Mary. As a result, his formerly careless attitude toward spiritual matters quickly changed to one of absolute seriousness.
In 822 Ansgar was one of a number of missionaries sent to found the abbey of Corvey (New Corbie) in Westphalia, and there became a teacher and preacher. Ansgar was a product of the phase of Christianization of Saxony, present day northern Germany which had begun under Charlemagne and continued by his son and successor, Louis the Pious. After Saxony's Christianization was more or less completed, Ansgar and other missionaries looked further north for fresh fields in which to sow the seeds of the Gospel.
When Harald Klak, the newly baptized king of parts of Denmark, returned to his country from exile, Ansgar returned with him. Ebbo, the archbishop of Reims, had previous attempted missionary work there without much success. Angar founded a school at Schleswig in South Jutland, but his missionary activities provoked storm of opposition from the local inhabitants, resulting in the expulsion of Ansgar and other missionaries from the area. Ansgar then returned returned to the Frankish realm.
In 829, Louis I appointed Ansgar missionary to Sweden, in response to a request from the Swedish king Björn at Hauge for a mission to the Swedes. Although the embassy was attacked on its way and was thought to have abandoned its mission, Angar succeeded in entering the country. He was favorably received by the king and given permission to preach. With an assistant, the friar Witmar, he made converts for six months at Birka on Lake Mälaren. They organized a small congregation there, with the king's steward, Hergeir, as its most prominent member. In 831, Ansgar returned to Louis' court at Worms and was appointed to archbishop of Hamburg in 831.
Hamburg was a new archbishopric with the right to send missions into all the northern lands and to consecrate bishops for these territories. After being consecrated in November 831 and receiving the approval of Pope Gregory IV, Ansgar went to Rome to receive the pallium, the symbol of his authority as the pope's representative. He received this symbol of his office directly from the pope, who named him papal legate for the northern lands. This position had previously been bestowed upon Ebbo of Reims, but the jurisdiction was now divided by mutual agreement, with Ebbo retaining Sweden for himself.
For a time Ansgar devoted himself to the needs of his own diocese, which was still missionary territory with only a few churches. He revived the abbey of Turholt in Flanders and established a school there.
After Louis the Pious died in 840, his empire was divided, to Ansgar's disadvantage. As a result, Ansgar lost possession of the abbey of Turholt. Taking advantage of the divided Frankish kingdom, Eric, the king of Danes of Jutland, unexpectedly sent a fleet of 600 ships and sacked Hamburg in 845. The marauding Danes seized or destroyed the treasures and books of Ansgar's churches, and the entire diocese was left in ruins. Moreover, Ansgar was left without a means of collecting revenue to carry out his duties. Ansgar was for some time a fugitive and was also deprived of his Flemish possessions by King Charles the Bald.
Many of Ansgar's assistants deserted him. However, Louis the German came to his aid. After failing to recover Turholt for him, the king awarded him the vacant diocese of Bremen, where Angar took up residence in 848. This, however, aroused the anger of the bishop of Cologne, to whom Bremen had been subject. (Only after prolonged negotiations did Pope Nicholas I finally approve the union of the dioceses of Hamburg and Bremen about a decade later.)
Through the political turmoil of the late 850s, Ansgar continued his mission to the northern lands. During the Danish civil war he established good relations with two kings, Horik the Elder and his son, Horik II. During this time, he was able to secure the recognition of Christianity as a tolerated religion and established a church in Sleswick.
He also devoted his energy to the Swedish mission, spending two years there in person (848-850). This proved to be a critical moment when once again a pagan reaction threatened, which Ansgar succeeded in averting. In 854 Ansgar returned again to Sweden, during the reign of king Olof in Birka. This king was well disposed to Christianity, and Ansgar's biographer relates that during a raid against Apuole in Courland, the Swedish Viking's prayed prayed and received God's help in plundering the Curonians.
Ansgar eventually returned to Bremen, where he died in 865.
Visions
Although a historical document and primary source written by a man whose existence can be proven historically, the Vita Ansgarii("The Life of Ansgar") is a biased source like all medieval saints' lives.[citation needed] It is partly concerned with Ansgar's visions, which, according to the author Rimbert, encouraged and assisted Ansgar's remarkable missionary feats.
Through the course of this work, Ansgar repeatedly embarks on a new stage in his career following a vision. According to Rimbert, his early studies and ensuing devotion to the ascetic life of a monk were inspired by a vision of his mother in the presence of Saint Mary. Again, when the Swedish people were left without a priest for some time, he begged King Horik to help him with this problem, then after receiving his consent, consulted with Bishop Gautbert to find a suitable man. The two together sought the approval of King Louis, which he granted when he learned that they were in agreement on the issue. Ansgar was convinced he was commanded by heaven to undertake this mission, and was influenced by a vision he received when he was concerned about the journey, in which he met a man who reassured him of his purpose and informed him of a prophet that he would meet, the abbot Adalhard, who would instruct him in what was to happen. In the vision, he searched for and found Adalhard, who commanded "Islands, listen to me, pay attention, remotest peoples," which Ansgar interpreted as God’s will that he go to the Scandinavian countries as "most of that country consisted of islands, and also when, 'I will make you the light of the nations so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth,' was added, since the end of the world in the north was in Swedish territory" (Life of Ansgar, 17-18).
Statues dedicated to him stand in Hamburg and Copenhagen as well as a stone cross at Birka. A crater on the Moon, Ansgarius, has been named for him. Ansgar is the patron saint of Denmark. His feast day is 3 February.
See also
- Hochkirchlicher Apostolat St. Ansgar
| New creation | Archbishop of Hamburg 834-865 |
Succeeded by: Rimbert |
| Preceded by: Leuderich |
Bishop of Bremen 848-865 |
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- This article includes content derived from the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, 1914, which is in the public domain.
- Pryce, Mark. Literary Companion to the Festivals: A Poetic Gathering to Accompany Liturgical Celebrations of Commemorations and Festivals. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003.
- Tschan, Francis J. History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen. New York: Columbia University Press, 1959.
- Wood, Ian. The Missionary Life: Saints and the Evangelisation of Europe, 400 – 1050. Great Britain: Longman, 2001.
- Life of Ansgar
External links
- Ansgar at Birka History of Birka
- Vita Ansgari, English translation from Medieval sourcebook
- German History Forum
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