Roman Catholic Territorial Prelature of Trondheim

Territorial Prelature of Trondheim Praelatura Territorialis Trudensis Trondheim Stift – Midt-Norge
The Cathedral Saint-Olav of Trondheim
Coat of arms
Location
Country	Norway
Territory	Trondheim, Trondheim Region, Sør-Trøndelag
Metropolitan	Immediately Subject to the Holy See
Statistics
Area	56,458 km2 (21,799 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2013) 696,914 12,877[1] (1.8%)
Parishes	5
Information
Denomination	Catholic Church
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	1979 (1030–1537)
Secular priests	5
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Erik Varden
Website
katolsk.no/mn

The Roman Catholic Territorial Prelature of Trondheim Is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholic Church, located in Norway. Before March 1979, it was known as the Apostolic Vicariate of Central Norway.

Erik Varden was appointed the bishop in 2019. The prelature includes parishes in Trondheim, Kristiansund, Levanger, Molde, and Ålesund.

History

The

in 1892.

When Norwegian Reformation drove the Catholic archbishop out of the

 – tried with mixed success to establish themselves in the area. A seminary was established in 1880, graduating a small group of priests in 1885, who 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 Roman Catholic Apostolic Vicariate of Norway was divided into three jurisdictions, originally two mission sui iuris (missions in areas with very few Catholics, often desolate or remote) and a marginally more populated apostolic vicariate. Over the remainder of the 20th century, as the Catholic population grew in these areas, and as transportation infrastructure overcame some of the remoteness, these jurisdictions have advanced through apostolic prefecture, apostolic vicariate, two have grown to territorial prelature, and one jurisdiction has grown to become a full diocese.

The jurisdiction for southern Norway started as the Apostolic Vicariate of Oslo (1931–1953), growing quickly enough to become the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oslo in 1953. The jurisdiction for Norway north of the polar circle started as the Missionary District of Northern Norway (1931–1944), growing to the Apostolic Prefecture of Northern Norway (1944–1955), the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Norway (1955–1979), and the Roman Catholic Territorial Prelature of Tromsø on 28 March 1979.

The jurisdiction for central Norway started as the Missionary District of Central Norway (1931–1935), growing to the Apostolic Prefecture of Central Norway (1935–1953),^[2] the Apostolic Vicariate of Central Norway (1953–1979), then the Roman Catholic Territorial Prelature of Trondheim.

During the

.

In 1989, Pope

, as well as 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 1537 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 (apostolic 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.
• 2009–2019 - Bernt Ivar Eidsvig C.R.S.A., administrator sede vacante
• 2020–present - Erik Varden, O.C.S.O.

See also

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

References

Sources

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

63°25′31″N 10°23′33″E / 63.4254°N 10.3924°E / 63.4254; 10.3924