Roman Catholic Territorial Prelature of Trondheim

Territorial Prelature of Trondheim Praelatura Territorialis Trudensis Trondheim Stift – Midt-Norge
Saint Olaf Church, Trondheim
Location
Country	Norway
Ecclesiastical province	Immediately Subject to the Holy See
Metropolitan	Trondheim, Trondheim Region, Sør-Trøndelag
Statistics
Area
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2013) 696,914 12,877 (1.8%)
Parishes	5
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Latin Rite
Established	1979 (1030–1537)
Secular priests	5
Current leadership
Pope	Pope Francis
Bishop	Sede Vacante
Apostolic Administrator	Bernt Ivar Eidsvig
Emeritus Bishops	Georg Müller
Website
katolsk.no/mn

This article is about the modern Catholic prelature. For the medieval archdiocese, see Archdiocese of Nidaros

Trondheim, Norway is the seat of the Roman Catholic Territorial Prelature of Trondheim, which before March 1979 was the Apostolic Vicariate of Central Norway. The prelature leadership is currently vacant following the resignation of Bishop Georg Müller in 2009 and is being administered by Bernt Eidsvig, Bishop of Oslo. The prelature includes parishes in Trondheim, Kristiansund, Levanger, Molde, and Ålesund.

History

After the Norwegian Reformation drove the Catholic archbishop out of the archdiocese of Nidaros (Trondheim) in 1537, there were no indications of organized Catholic practice there until 1844, when five residents asked the priest in Oslo to visit them, apparently to help one of their children prepare for First Holy Communion. Trondheim then formed part of the Apostolic Vicariate of Sweden, before the new Apostolic Prefecture of Norway took over in 1869 (upgraded to Apostolic Vicariate of Norway in 1892).

In 1872, a Catholic parish was established in Trondheim, with French-born Claude Dumahut as the pastor. In 1875, the church bought property at Stiklestad in the hopes of building a chapel there to commemorate the martyrdom of St. Olav at the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030. Though the parish was founded, and continues to be led by clergy from the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, several monastic orders, among them Salesians, Sisters of St. Joseph, Order of St. Elisabeth, tried with mixed success to establish themselves in the area. A seminary was established in 1880, graduating a small group of priests 1885 that made the first pilgrimage to Stiklestad in hundreds of years.

Additional parishes were founded in Trondheim (Sacred Heart in 1881, and St. Olav in 1902; later merged as St. Olav), Molde (1923), and in 1930 the chapel at Stiklestad was complete in time for the 900th anniversary of the battle there. On 10 April 1931 the Apostolic Vicariate of Norway was divided into three Catholic jurisdictions, one for southern Norway (called Apostolic Vicariate of Oslo, 1931–1953; Diocese of Oslo since, when the first Catholic bishop was consecrated in Norway since the Reformation) and another for Norway north of the polar circle (called Missionary District of Northern Norway, 1931–1944; Apostolic Prefecture of Northern Norway, 1944–1955; Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Norway, 1955–1979; Prelature of Tromsø since). The third Catholic jurisdiction, the one for central Norway (called Missionary District of Central Norway, 1931–1935; Apostolic Prefecture of Central Norway, 1935–1953; Apostolic Vicariate of Central Norway, 1953–1979), became the Prelature of Trondheim in 1979.

During the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, the mostly German-born clergy in the area took part in the Norwegian resistance movement; one of them, Antonius Deutsch, was subsequently decorated by king Haakon VII.

In 1989, Pope John Paul II visited Trondheim and held an ecumenical service in the Nidaros Cathedral and a Catholic mass at a nearby sports facility. In 1993, the Church of Norway authorized a full Catholic mass to be held in the Nidaros Cathedral, for the first time since the Reformation.

Leadership

Under the apostolic vicariate in Sweden (until 1868)

• 1843–1868 - Laurentius J. Studach (resident in Sweden)

The apostolic prefecture in Norway (1869-1892)

• 1869–1887 - Bernard Bernard
• 1887–1892 - Johannes Olav Fallize

The apostolic vicariate in Norway (1892-1931)

• 1892–1922 - Johannes Olaf Fallize
• 1922–1928 - Johannes Olav Smit
• 1928–1930 - Olav Offerdahl
• 1930–1931 - Henrik Irgens (apostolic administrator)

The missionary district of Central Norway (1931-1935)

• 1931–1932 - Henrik Irgens (apostilic administrator)
• 1932–1935 - Cyprian Witte SS.CC.

The apostolic prefecture Central Norway

• 1935–1945 - Cyprian Witte SS.CC.
• 1945–1953 - Antonius Deutsch SS.CC.

The apostolic vicariate Central Norway

• 1953–1974 - Johannes Rüth SS.CC.
• 1974–1979 - Gerhard Schwenzer SS.CC.

Trondheim prelature

• 1979–1983 - Gerhard Schwenzer SS.CC.
• 1983–1988 - Gerhard Schwenzer, administrator sede vacante
• 1988–1997 - Georg Müller SS.CC., administrator sede vacante
• 1997–2009 - Georg Müller SS.CC.
• 2009–present - Bernt Ivar Eidsvig C.R.S.A., administrator sede vacante

See also

• Roman Catholic Church in Norway
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Oslo
• Roman Catholic Territorial Prelature of Tromsø

Sources

• History of Trondheim prelature on the Catholic church's website in Norway