Roman Catholicism in the Faroe Islands

The Roman Catholic Church in the Faroe Islands goes back to the year 999, disappeared with the Reformation in 1538 and has only existed since 1931 again continuously to this day within the name immediately Diocese of Copenhagen.

Its membership includes about 130 believers from 23 nations living in the Faroe Islands. Your church is designed by the architect Faroese Arni Winther Marienkirche ( Mariukirkjan ) in Torshavn.

The Evangelical Lutheran state religion of the Faroe Islands on the other hand is represented by the Faroese People's Church.

Prehistory

See main article: Christianization of the Faroe Islands

In 1100 the Faroe Islands have been collected for independent diocese Faroe Islands, and in 1111 the first bishop took office in Kirkjubøur what is now part of Tórshavn on. The next 400 years over resided in Kirkjubøur 34 Catholic bishops. The last bishop was Ámundur Olavsson, who held office until 1538.

Dating back to the 14th century cathedral dedicated to Saint Magnus and Thorlákur Þórhallsson; the same patronage you will also be set on the Orkney Islands.

Reformation

See main article: Reformation in the Faroe Islands

Christian III. of Denmark had in 1535 the Norwegian Imperial Parliament suspended and Norway, including the Faroe Islands incorporated into the Danish kingdom. 1537, certain of the king, the church in Norway - and thus also in the Faroe Islands - to reform. In the reformation of the old bishop's seat was abolished, priests and school closed ( about 40 percent), confiscated all the land in the Faroe Islands, which was owned by the Catholic Church in favor of the Crown. Church language was Danish.

Bavarian Intermezzo

After the introduction of religious freedom with the first Danish constitution in 1849, attempts were made to bring back Catholicism to the Faroe Islands. 1857 came the Bavarian priest Georg Bauer on the islands. He built a church in Rættará in Tórshavn, but found little resonance. When he left the Faroe Islands in 1870, he had no successor, and the church fell into disrepair.

In 1900 a Catholic only lived in the Faroe Islands, in Hvítanes. She was there for a private chapel and was visited once a year by a priest from Copenhagen, who officiated at Mass for them.

The Franciscan

In 1931, two newly trained priests, EC Boekenogen and Thomas King, tasked again to call a Catholic community to life. In a house that had been made ​​available to the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary ( FMM ) available, which arrived in the same year in the Faroe Islands, a small church was established on 23 May 1931.

Among the first people who found their way to the new church, belonged to some old citizens who had gone as children to Father Bauer in the church. The small church in the Bringsnagøta no longer offered soon enough space. Therefore, the Marienkirche was born on June 1, 1934 along with the St. Frans school that had the Franciscan Sisters can build inaugurated.

The Franciscans were known in the Faroe Islands for the following things:

• They collected returnable bottles and put the proceeds into their St. Frans school, or donate it to the hungry in the world.
• They also sold crafts for the same purpose.
• They took few students as foster children to.
• They let Faroese teacher in the Faroese language teaching, even though they themselves were foreigners from all over Europe.
• They learned self Faroese and spoke an accent, the people " Nuns accent " called, and never disappeared.
• They were with their school the rest of the school system always one step ahead. In comparative tests, their charges were usually the best.
• They taught in their school the children in the Lutheran faith, even though they themselves were Roman Catholics.
• They were by this their tolerant living role model for many locals.

In 1985 the St. Frans school over to the commune Tórshavn, when the Franciscans were too old to continue to lead them. It now has 350 students and 30 teachers. The characteristic red school building of 1934, which the Faroese architect HCW Tórgarð has designed, reminiscent of generations of Tórshavnern who were trained here. 1987 a new school building was inaugurated.

St. Mary's Church today

The present church was consecrated on 30 August 1987. This church is also the monastery church of the Franciscan Sisters. This is where the community gathers every Sunday at 11 clock to the fair.

In the garden around the church all kinds of herbs, many of which come from sites in the southern hemisphere, where similar growth conditions as prevail in the Faroe Islands to grow. You are supposed to symbolize that the St. Mary's Church is a part of the Catholic world community.