Inside Sweden's Rich Catholic History & What It's Like Today
Earlier this month, EWTN Sverige broadcasted “Gotland - an Opening to the Sacred,” a documentary on the profound Scandinavian Catholic heritage located off the Swedish coast.
In the middle of the Baltic sea, Ulf Silfververling narrates, taking us into the Catholic life in Scandinavia, home to communities rich in spirit and devotion to Christ.
Sweden, which historically broke from Rome during the Reformation in Sweden in 1593, made Lutheranism the official state religion. Catholics in the nation, once barred from attending Sacred Mass in the country and martyred for their faith, still remain hopeful.
Charles Talley, OFM, of Kristi Lekamen parish in Visby, states, “This is really a church family. We have the smallest Catholic parish in all of Sweden, with just about 175 members. The largest church in Sweden has nearly 11,000 members, so there is quite a distinction. We’re small, but small can be so wonderful.
"The Parish we have today would consist of an equal number of people of Swedish background and culture, sometimes third and fourth generation, which is unusual in this country. And also wonderful individuals and families who come from maybe five or six different countries: Poland, Italy, Spain, Lebanon, and Syria in the Middle East. They’ve given a wonderful sense of the world as it is today and the Church internationally.”
Both Masses on Sunday are always full, in what is considered this modest parish.
“All of the churches for the most part within the walls of the city of Visby today belong to religious congregations, to different religious orders: Benedictines, Cistercians, Dominicans, Franciscans.
"Franciscans came to Gotland. In fact, this is the first place they came and saw all of Sweden–in the year 1236. Saint Francis died in 1226. Within 10 years after his death, Franciscan Friars were able to come from Italy to Scandinavia.”
However, the Protestant Reformation changed the world as they knew it, essentially converting their beloved Catholic churches. The 92 medieval churches in Gotland are filled with incredible architecture depicting centuries of Catholic tradition, deriving from the prosperity of the nation in the 12th century.
Father Talley noted,“When the Protestant Reformation came, the churches in the countryside were converted or moved from the Catholic tradition to the Lutheran tradition and they were maintained as parish churches even to today.
"The one church which stands in the city of Visby undisturbed during all that time was the church originally for the use of the German Merchants. That became the Lutheran Cathedral, but kept the name of Saint Mary’s, which is the [Protestant] Cathedral of Visby today.
"We can say that Visby functioned as a kind of center for the Hanseatic League. It was kind of Dubai for the Baltic. All of the other churches and buildings which belonged to religious congregations and orders were allowed to go into ruin.”
For nearly 500 years, Catholicism in Sweden was the norm, but blatant anti-Catholic laws from the Reformation nearly eliminated the Catholic population. While the country of Sweden is making strides in growing the Catholic faith, Gotland needs not to be overlooked.
Thankfully, in May of 2018, three lay persons started EWTN Nordic in Sweden, in efforts to share Mother Angelica’s vision of spreading the Eternal Word.
Filled with medieval ruins, relics, and the faithful, let us pray for Sweden and for all hearts to be softened to return to our Mother and Christ’s Church.