Norway holds funeral rites on Feast of St. Olaf

Norway began burying the dead yesterday a week after a gunman killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage. Mourners of all ages vowed they would not let the massacre threaten their nation's openness and democracy.

The day was also the feast of St. Olaf, a Norwegian King who is patron of the country, which is often marked by an ecumenical dialogue between the country’s Lutheran state Church and the Catholic Church.

“This is a situation most tragic, and in this situation it is most important to give a sign of the solidarity of the Catholic Church,” said Cardinal Kurt Koch, the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. He arranged his trip to Norway before the massacre of July 22^nd.

St. Olaf lived in the 11^th century, and reigned for 13 years. He is known for spreading Christianity throughout his kingdom.

“He was a pious man and stood up for the poor, and he also Christianized most the country, Iceland, Greenland, and the Orkneys, a remarkable man, “said Bernt Ivar Eidsvig, the bishop of Oslo. “The rites that he laid down have been the divine rites of the country ever sense.”

The feast of St. Olaf this year was marked by funerals and memorials for the dead, in both Lutheran and Catholic churches. Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg after one of these services said the attack would become a symbol of the Norwegian people's wish to be united in the fight against violence, and will be a symbol of how the nation can answer violence with love.

Listen: