The Old Doctrine and the Reformation

Added by Erla Brekkustova on August 2, 2024.
Saved under Culture
Tags: , , ,

Recently, there was an interesting article on the Mariukirkjan website [1]. It is an excerpt from a 1857 travel report by the Italian Catholic priest Mussa, who had a mission area in the Nordic polar regions, meaning Sámi land with Spitzbergen, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland.

The excerpt was so interesting that I looked up the original text, which is written in Italian. On the Mariukirkjan website, the Italian priest Fr. Bruno Mollicone translated it, but now machine translations are so good that I have read the entire text, which is an excellent description of both his own arrogance and the travel conditions almost 170 years ago.

One passage that I found quite interesting was about the many sects within the Protestant church, which started very shortly after the Reformation and has continued to this day [2], while the Roman Catholic Church largely remains a unified church:

I am happy to be able to tell you that in all of the Nordic countries, I have seen signs of religious upheavals. Protestantism, invented by humans, bears the mark of humans, ages like humans, and just like clothes made by humans for humans, it [Protestantism] has become old; people feel the need to change it, just as one changes worn-out clothes. There is therefore a great need for the missions to be expanded, and the time is right for this, the fruit is ripe. If this is not done, a change will still take place by establishing new sects, dressing in another human garment, and thus satisfying themselves again for a while; signs of this are already visible in some places. Therefore, it is necessary to promote the missions as much as possible so that we do not miss this opportunity that God shows us for the benefit of the only true church.

While stationed in Sámi land, Father Mussa received word that he was to oversee Greenland but was first to help Father Bauer in the Faroe Islands for a year. This led his thoughts to return to Catholic Italy and the contrast to the Protestant polar regions:

We therefore left Sámi land after mid-July and arrived in Hamburg before mid-August. When we disembarked and headed towards a hotel, I spotted a fruit stand with baskets of cherries and apricots; in the northern countries, they ripen later.
I could not better describe the feeling I experienced seeing these fruits than to compare the sight to what a dead man, returning to life, experiences. It was a true shock of wonder for me; I felt a joy rising within me, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Afterward, it became more somber. When I was alone, in the silence and darkness of the night, this thought returned to my mind and sparked a series of reflections that showed me both the flourishing wealth of my homeland and the harsh poverty in the polar regions. This gave me a strong temptation to return home.
Why should I go back to these harsh regions, where there is no trace of God’s blessing on nature? Why should I not return to my homeland, where natural wealth appears everywhere, and where everything and everyone is a constant hymn to the Creator? Why should I tear myself away from the company of people who would be happy to have me near, to go among people who condemn me? Can’t I preach and work also in my homeland? Do not my countrymen also have a soul that I can contribute to the salvation of? There, everything is beautiful, everything is pleasant, everything is magnificent…

However, Mussa concluded that his role was to go northward, experiencing a very stormy journey with the Fortuna, which he half interpreted as a response to his wish to stay home in beautiful Italy. Upon arriving in the Faroe Islands, he wrote this very captivating passage about Faroese Christianity:

Here, the people are Lutheran, but they are the least Lutheran Lutherans I have ever seen. In the church, they have both crucifixes and candles on the altar; in the homes, they have paintings and small statues of both the Virgin Mary and saints. Last Sunday, the priest preached against us in the church (from the Mariukirkjan website).

Statue of the Virgin Mary, originally in the church in Kirkjubøur, but now at the National Museum. Here in the distinctive style of Palle Gregoriussen.

It may seem somewhat surprising that Mussa sees a contradiction in having crucifixes and candles on the altar, and this should probably be taken as a trend, where particularly in some areas, great emphasis was placed on removing anything within the church that reminded of the Catholic era [3].

This probably did not happen to the same extent in the Faroe Islands, and according to the Handbook of the Faroese Church [4], both candles and crucifixes are suitable church items, even today, just as the priest can face the congregation if the church is arranged in such a way that it is possible:

In addition to the two prescribed altar candles, a seven-branched candlestick stands on the altar in many churches. If there are two seven-branched candlesticks on the altar, they should be identical. The same applies to other candlesticks. These candlesticks can also be placed elsewhere in the church. For example, a seven-branched candlestick is suitable near the baptismal font.
It is suitable to have a crucifix standing on the altar if the altarpiece does not depict Christ crucified, or a crucifix hangs above the altar, and it should then stand in the middle and towards the back. If a seven-branched candlestick stands on the altar, it is usually possible to have a small crucifix standing just in front of the candlestick.
….
If the conditions in the church are such that it is possible, the priest can stand behind the altar and then also face the congregation during prayers and hymns.

As mentioned, Mussa visited the Faroe Islands in 1857, or a good 300 years after the Reformation. Keeping in mind that one of the major differences between Lutherans and Catholics is the veneration of the Virgin Mary, it is interesting to note that the statue of the Virgin Mary, which is now at the National Museum in Hoyvík, still stood in Kirkjubøur church at that time (it was sent to the Danish National Museum in Copenhagen in 1875, [5]).

Sverri Dahl [6] points out that little or nothing was written down, or as he put it, “The esteemed ancestors in the Middle Ages hardly put pen to paper,” so we must assess the history with other materials than the written. However, Sverri wrote that “we do not know much about the Reformation in the Faroe Islands; it seems to have happened quietly. Many small churches and prayer houses were dismantled, but the church buildings themselves do not seem to have been cleared of everything that was Catholic. On the contrary, it seems that people took care of some of the old items with respect for what is holy.” Sverri points out that many items disappeared later.

That the Faroese did not change churches and homes so much after the Reformation, and perhaps did not change faith either, aligns well with what Palle Burla writes in his memoirs from 1997, where he says that the Faroese people are very Christian, but many rural people did not convert because, as they said, they belonged to the old church [7]. Palle Burla does not elaborate on what is meant by this statement, but the same phrase is used in stories about both an old church in Hov and a church that stood in Syðrugøta, and it is likely referring to the old Catholic teachings [8]. And if it is so that the foundation of our religious life was still largely Catholic in 1857 when Mussa wrote his travel report, then it is not so surprising that he felt at home.

Comments are welcome ;)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.