THE CHURCH IN NORWAY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 188, 3 November 1876, Page 14

THE CHURCH IN NORWAY.

++ A iiitee from Bergen, Norway, to the ' Missions Catholiques ' furnishes some interesting details on the solemn dedication of the church of St. Paul, which was celebrated in that city on the 29th of last June. Even the Protestants rivalled the Catholics in zeal to give to the event the character of a national rejoicing. They flocked in crowds to the Catholic church, and in the evening they illuminated their houses and decorated their windows with flags and green boughs. All the consuls made it their duty and considered it an honor to attend the ceremonies in full costume. A stranger who might happen to be an eye-witness of this touching unanimity could not believe that he was in a city the vast majority of whose population are Protestants. Father Stub, a Barnabite, to whom the erection of the church is due, preached a sermon which profoundly mored the entire audience. Such an event, occurring in a country where Lutheran intolerance was carried so far that not more than a quarter of a century ago to become a Catholic was only an infallible preliminary step to the confiscation of one's property and to exile, is significant. In no part of Europe was heresy co completely triumphant as in the Scandinavian peninsula, and nowhere has the Government been more intolerant to the Church. Yet even there the Church has never completely lost her hold. The transfer of Norway from the dominion of Denmark to that of Sweden, at the readjustment of Europe after the fall of Napoleon brought no alleviation of their miseries to the Norwegian Catholics j for Sweden was even more intolerant than Denmark. The successors of Gustavus Wasa, who tarnished the glory of being the liberator of his country by becoming a tyrant and plunging that country into the depths of heresy, pretty thoroughly completed the work which he so unreasonably begun. His former oppressor soon followed him in the paths of error and revolted against the divine authority of the Church. The tyrannical rulers of both these countries'rivalled each other to exterminate every trace of Catholicity and every successive monarch tried to improve upon the cruelties of his predecessor, but still a few remained who were unwavering in their attachment to the successor of Peter. It is, moreover, a well-known fact, that many, especially in Norway, who in appearance confirmed with the doctrines of the [Reformation, preserve to the present day Catholic traditions, and may be heard repeating the Catholic prayers as they were repeated by all the people over three centuries ago. It was only the absolute intolerance of the government that prevented them from returning to the true fold long ago. Now that priests are allowed to return and build churches, and that the people are so enthusiastic at the eight of ceremonies that have for so long a time been forbidden to them, we hope that these people will soon return to the fold from which their fathers were so violently torn.