Norwegian jubilee pilgrimage honors the feast day of St. Sunniva
Oslo Coadjutor Bishop Fredrik Hansen speaks to “EWTN News Nightly” on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. / Credit: “EWTN News Nightly”
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 9, 2025 / 11:07 am (CNA).
In celebration of the Catholic Church’s jubilee year, hundreds of pilgrims have traveled by boat to the Norwegian island of Selja to honor the feast day of St. Sunniva, Norway’s only recognized female saint.
On July 8, the feast day of St. Sunniva, Catholics from multiple countries arrived at Selja, an island just off the west coast of Norway. The faithful gathered to recognize the ninth-century Irish princess whose martyrdom inspired Norway’s first Benedictine monastery and eventually its first diocese.
Oslo Coadjutor Bishop Fredrik Hansen told “EWTN News Nightly” that the island was “where the cross of Christ first arrived in our nation and in our country. So to be here is to celebrate our history, the development of Christianity, the coming of Catholicism to our country.”
“We use it now as part of our buildup to the anniversary in 2030, 1,000 years of evangelization,” Hansen said.
The island was home to the Selja Abbey before it was abandoned in 1537 amid the Protestant Reformation. The island is now a shrine to St. Sunniva that attracts pilgrims from across the globe.
Selja is one of many Catholic pilgrimage sites welcoming the faithful during the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope.
“It felt logical, I think, for all the Catholic bishops in Norway to designate this as a site of pilgrimage, a jubilee site for people to come and to refresh their faith,” Hansen said.
The celebration on the island began with prayer as the pilgrims walked the trail from the harbor to the ruins of the monastery, where they celebrated Mass. The faithful also learned more about St. Sunniva’s life and legacy.
According to legend, Sunniva was born in Ireland but left after her father’s death. She had rejected a pagan suitor who in turn threatened to destroy her land and oppress her people. The future saint left with a number of other refugees and traveled on a boat that had no sail; the legend claims that they let the current and wind take them where God intended, eventually making it to Selja.
Newly ordained Oslo priest Father Mathias Ledum, a frequent pilgrim to Selja, told “EWTN News Nightly” how Sunniva’s story was an inspiration to him when he was discerning his vocation.
“I came here on the pilgrimage, and I just felt the intercession of Sunniva very strongly for my vocation, and given her story, going from Ireland and setting out in a boat without any oars, without any sails, and just letting God take control,” Ledum said.
Once Sunniva arrived on the island, she and the others took shelter in a cave to escape abuse from enemies they encountered. Ledum said the refugees “prayed to God to be spared from this. And then the cave fell down on top of them. So they died.”
Many years later, according to tradition, a light was witnessed in the same cave Sunnivia once hid and died in. It is said to have spread over the whole island. Many said the cave and the relics within it had an inexplicable but pleasant fragrance.
“There were signs that … these were holy people,” Ledum said. “And then this place became the seat of the first diocese in Norway. Her relics were here. The seed was planted, and you could see … the living faith of Norwegians today.”
“It’s such a great pleasure to be here and to seek their intercession … and to continue to pray for the conversion of Norway,” the priest said.