John Willem Gran

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The Most Reverend John Willem Gran
Roman Catholic
Diocese	Oslo
Installed	25 November 1964
Term ended	26 November 1983
Predecessor	Jacques Mangers
Successor	Gerhard Schwenzer
Orders
Ordination	21 May 1957 by Johannes Theodor Suhr
Consecration	24 Mar 1963 by Jacques Mangers
Rank	Bishop
Personal details
Born	5 April 1920 Bergen, Norway
Died	20 March 2008(2008-03-20) (aged 87) Paris, France
Buried	Bergen, Norway
Nationality	Norwegian
Previous post(s)	Coadjutor Bishop of Oslo (1962-1964)

Willem Nicolaysen Gran (monastic name: John; 5 April 1920 – 20 March 2008) was the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oslo from 1963^[1] to 1983.

Life

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Gran traveled Europe at the end of the 1930s, with plans to take a degree in opera. When German forces

.

During World War II, Gran did military service, first stationed in London and then in peacetime he was posted in Norway, where in 1945-1946 he was a liaison officer at Akershus Fortress. During 1946–7, after discharge, he worked in the film industry as assistant director on Operation Swallow, which documented the Norwegian heavy water sabotage.

Gran felt an attraction to the monastic life, and in November 1949 he entered the

from Copenhagen.

Two years later he was sent to Rome for further theological studies and earned a licentiate. From 1960 to 1963 he served in the Order in Rome as a financial administrator. On 27 December 1962 Pope

after Jacob Mangers on 13 December 1964, and was in office until 26 November 1983, when he resigned.

As the newly appointed bishop, he was the only Norwegian to participate in the

.

In his later years he lived most of the time on Corsica. Bishop Gran died on 20 March 2008 in Paris, and was buried in Bergen on 3 April 2008. He was the first Catholic bishop to be buried in Bergen since 1522, when Bishop Andor Ketilsson was buried there.

Second Vatican Council

In 2001 he published "Det annet Vatikankonsil: oppbrudd og fornyelse"(The second Vatican council: departure and renewal), detailing his recollections of the council. He was part of the preparatory commission led by Cardinal Bea, and during the council he held a speech in favor of religious freedom.

References

Further reading

• Gran, John Willem (2004) A Hand on My Shoulder: Memoirs of John Willem Gran Cistercian Publication
• Gran, John Willem (2001) Det annet Vatikankonsil: oppbrudd og fonyelse

External links

• Catholic Hierarchy profile