Editing Saint Olaf (section)

==== Liturgical cult ====
[[File:Olav fra Austevold kirke.jpg|upright|thumb|Statue of St. Olav from [[Austevoll Church]], Norway.]]
[[File:St Olave, Seething Lane, London EC3 - East window - geograph.org.uk - 1077535.jpg|thumb|upright|St. Olaf in stained-glass window at [[St Olave's Church, Hart Street]] in London]]
[[File:Sankt Olof i Sankt Olof.jpg|thumb|upright|Medieval depictions of Saint Olaf adopted features from Thor. This wooden statue is from Sankt Olofs kyrka in [[Scania]], southern Sweden.]]
[[File:Ulvila.vaakuna.svg|thumb|upright|Saint Olaf in the coat of arms of [[Ulvila]], a medieval town in [[Satakunta]], [[Finland]].]]
[[Sigrid Undset]] noted that Olaf was baptised in [[Rouen]], the capital of [[Normandy]], and suggested that Olaf may have used priests of Norman descent for his missionaries. Normans were somewhat familiar with the culture of the people they were to convert and in some cases may have been able to understand the language. Among the bishops Olaf is known to have brought with him from England was [[Grimketel]] ({{langx|la|Grimcillus}}). He was probably the only one of the missionary bishops left in the country at the time of Olaf's death, and he stood behind the [[translation]] and [[beatification]] of Olaf on 3 August 1031.{{efn|name=beat}} Grimketel later became the first bishop of [[Sigtuna]] in Sweden.

At this time, local bishops and their people recognised and proclaimed a person a saint, and a formal [[canonisation]] procedure through the papal [[curia]] was not customary; in Olaf's case, this did not happen until 1888. But Olaf II died before the [[East-West Schism]] and a strict [[Roman Rite]] was not well-established in Scandinavia at the time. He is also venerated in the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]].{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Grimketel was later appointed bishop in the [[Bishop of Selsey|diocese of Selsey]] in southeastern England. This is probably why the earliest traces of a liturgical cult of Olaf are found in England. An [[Liturgy of the Hours|office]], or prayer service, for Olaf is found in the so-called ''[[Leofric, Earl of Mercia|Leofric collectar]]'' (c. 1050), which Bishop [[Leofric (bishop)|Leofric]] of [[Exeter]] bequeathed in his last will and testament to [[Exeter Cathedral]]. This English cult seems to have been short-lived.

Writing around 1070, [[Adam of Bremen]] mentions pilgrimage to [[St. Olav's shrine|St. Olaf's shrine]] in [[Nidaros]], but this is the only firm trace we have of a cult of St. Olaf in Norway before the mid-12th century. By this time he was also being called ''Norway's Eternal King''. In 1152/3, Nidaros was separated from Lund as the [[archbishopric of Nidaros]]. It is likely that whatever formal or informal veneration of Olaf as a saint may have existed in Nidaros before that was emphasised and formalised on this occasion.

Miracles performed by St. Olaf appear for the first time in [[Þórarinn loftunga]]'s skaldic poem ''Glælognskviða'', or "Sea-Calm Poem", from about 1030–34.<ref>Margaret Clunies Ross, {{'}}''Reginnaglar''{{'}}, in ''News from Other Worlds/''Tíðendi ór ǫðrum heimum'': Studies in Nordic Folklore, Mythology and Culture in Honor of John F. Lindow'', ed. by Merrill Kaplan and Timothy R. Tangherlini, Wildcat Canyon Advanced Seminars Occasional Monographs, 1 (Berkeley, CA: North Pinehurst Press, 2012), pp. 3–21 (p. 4); {{ISBN|0578101742}}.</ref> One is the killing and throwing onto a mountain of a sea serpent still visible on the cliffside.<ref>[http://kulturminneatlas.avinet.no/object/dbarticle_preview.aspx?id=745 Serpent image] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320143322/http://kulturminneatlas.avinet.no/object/dbarticle_preview.aspx?id=745 |date=20 March 2017 }}</ref> Another took place on the day of his death, when a blind man regained his sight after rubbing his eyes with hands stained with Olaf's blood.

The texts used for the liturgical celebration of St. Olaf during most of the Middle Ages were probably compiled or written by [[Eystein Erlendsson]], the second [[Archbishop of Nidaros]] (1161–1189).{{efn|Eysteinn Erlendsson is commonly believed to have written [[Passio Olavi|''Et Miracula Beati Olaui'']]. This Latin hagiographical work is about the history and work of St. Olaf, with particular emphasis on his missionary work.<ref>Eysteinn Erlendsson, Archbishop of Nidaros</ref>}} The nine miracles reported in ''Glælognskviða'' form the core of the catalogue of miracles in this office.

St. Olaf was widely popular throughout Scandinavia. Numerous churches in Norway, Sweden, and Iceland were dedicated to him. His presence was even felt in Finland and many travelled from all over the Norse world in order to visit his shrine.<ref>Orrman, Eljas. "Church and society". In: ''Prehistory to 1520''. Ed. Knut Helle. Cambridge University Press, 2003.</ref> Apart from the early traces of a cult in England, there are only scattered references to him outside the Nordic area.

Several churches in England were dedicated to him (often as ''St Olave''); the name was presumably popular with Scandinavian immigrants. [[St Olave's Church, York]], is referred to in the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' for 1055<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britannia.com/history/docs/1053-55.html |title=The AngloSaxon Chronicle |publisher=Britannia |access-date=21 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303193223/http://www.britannia.com/history/docs/1053-55.html |archive-date=3 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> as the place of burial of its founder, [[Earl Siward]]. This is generally accepted to be the earliest datable church foundation dedicated to Olaf and is further evidence of a cult of St. Olaf in the early 1050s in England. [[St Olave Hart Street]] in the [[City of London]] is the burial place of [[Samuel Pepys]] and his wife. [[St Olave's Church, Southwark|Another St. Olave's Church]] south of [[London Bridge]] gave its name to [[Tooley Street]] and to the ''St Olave's [[Poor Law]] Union'', later the [[Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey]]: its workhouse in [[Rotherhithe]] became [[St Olave's Hospital]] and then an old people's home a few hundred metres from ''St Olav's Church'', which is the [[Scandinavian churches in London|Norwegian Church in London]]. It also led to the naming of [[St Olave's Grammar School]], which was established in 1571 and was in Tooley Street until 1968, when it moved to [[Orpington]], Kent. The village of [[St Olaves]] in Norfolk bears the name as it is the location of the remains of a 13th-century Augustinian priory dedicated to Olaf.

St. Olaf was also, together with the [[Virgin Mary|Mother of God]], the patron saint of the chapel of the [[Varangians]], the Scandinavian warriors who served as the bodyguard of the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] emperor. This church is believed to have been near the church of [[Hagia Irene]] in Constantinople. The icon of the [[Madonna Nicopeia]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.umbc.edu/MA/index/number1/fenl1/fe1_8.htm |title=The invention of tradition |publisher=Umbc.edu |access-date=21 May 2012}}</ref> presently in [[St. Mark's Basilica]] in Venice, which is believed to have been traditionally carried into combat by the Byzantine military forces, is believed to have been kept in this chapel in times of peace. Thus St. Olaf was also the last saint venerated by both the Western and Eastern churches before the [[East–West Schism|Great Schism]].

The basilica of [[Sant'Ambrogio e Carlo al Corso]] in Rome has a Chapel of St Olav. Its altarpiece contains a painting of the saint, shown as a martyr king defeating a dragon, representing victory over his pagan past. It was originally a gift presented to Pope [[Leo XIII]] in 1893 for the golden jubilee of his ordination as a bishop by Norwegian nobleman and [[Papal Gentlemen|papal chamberlain]] Baron [[Wilhelm Wedel-Jarlsberg]]. The chapel was restored in 1980 and reinaugurated by Bishop [[John Willem Gran]], bishop of the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Oslo]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bgran.html |title=Bishop John Willem Nicolaysen Gran, O.C.S.O. Deceased |publisher=Catholic-Hierarchy |author=David M. Cheney |date=22 August 2015 |access-date=1 September 2017}}</ref>

In [[Germany]], there used to be a shrine of St. Olaf in [[Koblenz]]. It was founded in 1463 or 1464 by [[Henrik Kalteisen|Heinrich Kalteisen]] at his retirement home, the [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] Monastery in the ''Altstadt'' ("Old City") neighborhood of Koblenz. He was the [[Archdiocese of Nidaros|Archbishop of Nidaros]] in Norway from 1452 to 1458. When he died in 1464, he was buried in front of the shrine's altar.<ref>{{in lang|no}} Audun Dybdahl, "[http://nbl.snl.no/Henrik_Kalteisen Henrik Kalteisen]", in: ''Norsk biografisk leksikon'' [''Norwegian Biographical Dictionary'']. Retrieved 24 October 2011.</ref> However, the shrine did not last: the Dominican Monastery was secularized in 1802 and bulldozed in 1955. Only the ''Rokokoportal'' ("[[Rococo]] Portal"), built in 1754, remains to mark the spot.<ref>See Harald Rausch, "''[http://www.weissergasse-koblenz.de/index.php?menuid=22&reporeid=40 Das Ende der Weißergasse]''", ''PAPOO'', posted 2 February 2011 {{in lang|de}}, and Reinhard Schmid, "''[http://www.klosterlexikon-rlp.de/mittelrhein-lahn-taunus/koblenz-dominikanerkloster.html Koblenz – Dominikanerkloster]''", ''Klöster und Stifte in Rheinland-Pfalz'' [''Monasteries and Churches in Rhineland-Palatinate''  {{in lang|de}} for more details.</ref>

In the [[Faroe Islands]], the day of St. Olaf's death is celebrated as [[Ólavsøka]], a nation-wide holiday.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11234a.htm |title=''St. Olaf Haraldson'' (Catholic Encyclopedia) |publisher=Newadvent.org |date=1 February 1911 |access-date=21 May 2012}}</ref>

Recently the [[pilgrimage]] route to [[Nidaros Cathedral]], the site of St. Olaf's tomb, has been reinstated. The route is known as The Pilgrim's Way (''Pilegrimsleden''). The main route, approximately 640&nbsp;km long, starts in the ancient part of [[Oslo]] and heads north, along [[Lake Mjosa]], up the [[Gudbrandsdal]] Valley, over [[Dovrefjell]] and down the [[Orkdalen]] Valley, ending at Nidaros Cathedral in [[Trondheim (city)|Trondheim]]. A Pilgrim's Office in Oslo gives advice to pilgrims, and a Pilgrim Centre in Trondheim, under the aegis of the Cathedral, awards certificates to pilgrims when they complete their journeys. However, the relics are no longer exposed in the cathedral, and it is not sure where exactly in the cathedral crypt his remains are buried.