 |
|
|
St. Olav's spring inside the cathedral |
|
|
On a late summer evening in 1030 A.D. a local farmer called Torgil and his son Grim bury the body of King Olav Haraldsson in a sandbank by the river Nid. One year later the grave is opened. . .
Miracles have occurred, and in August 1031. Olav is declared a saint by Bishop Grimkjell. The body of Saint Olav is moved from the sandbank by the river to the altar in the church of St. Clemens, one year and five days after the King fell in the battle at Stiklestad. The sick and infirm and those who have sinned begin to make their way to Nidaros to be healed and absolved of their sins at the shrine of the saintly King.
Jerusalem of the North
Around 1070 King Olav Kyrre initiated the construction of a stone church above the site of the saint's grave and St. Olav's shrine was moved there from the church of St. Clemens. The number of pilgrims was rising, and the bishop at Nidaros grew powerful and rich. Around 1130 the church was expanded with a transept. In 1152 Nidaros was made into an Archdiocese and construction on the cathedral continued. The city was developing into the Jerusalem of the North. Going north to Nidaros gave hope and deliverance, and arriving at the destination justified any hardships encountered on the journey.
Norwegian Nobel laureate Sigrid Undset describes the awe of her main character in the trilogy of the same name, Kristin Lavransdatter, upon seeing the cathedral:
The bells were ringing to Vespers in churches and cloisters when Kristin came into Christ's churchyard. She dared to glance for a moment up at the church's west wall - then blinded, she cast down her eyes. Human beings had never compassed this work of their own strength - God's spirit had worked in holy Øystein, and in the builders of this house that came after him.
(Quote from The Mistress of Husaby by Sigrid Undset)
After the Reformation in 1537, pilgrimages and the worship of saints was prohibited, and left to the elements, the pilgrim paths to Nidaros were soon neglected and overgrown. However, around 1970 the interest in pilgrimages returned and Trondheim entered a new era as the destination for pilgrimages by travellers from far and wide.
|
