Saint Ansgar

Life events

1. Born — 801

   Ansgar was born on 8 September 801 into a noble Frankish family near Amiens, in present-day France. After his mother's early death he was raised at the Benedictine monastery of Corbie in Picardy.

2. Other — 822

   In 822 Ansgar joined missionaries sent to found the abbey of Corvey (New Corbie) in Westphalia, serving there as teacher and preacher. He then accompanied King Harald Klak of Denmark northward into Jutland, but the school they established for the sons of courtiers closed after Harald's downfall in 827 and the death of Ansgar's companion Autbert.

3. Pilgrimage — 829

   In 829 King Louis the Pious sent Ansgar and the friar Witmar to Sweden at the request of King Björn at Hauge. Ansgar preached for six months at Birka on Lake Mälaren, organizing a small congregation around the wealthy widow Mor Frideborg and the royal steward Hergeir.

4. Consecrated — 831

   Returning to Louis' court at Worms in 831, Ansgar was appointed to the newly created Archbishopric of Hamburg-Bremen, which held jurisdiction over missions to all northern lands. He was consecrated bishop in November 831 with Pope Gregory IV's approval, then traveled to Rome to receive the pallium personally from the pope and was named papal legate for the northern lands.

5. Other — 845

   In 845 the Danes raided Hamburg, destroying the cathedral's treasures and books and leaving Ansgar without a functioning see or revenues. Many of his helpers deserted him in the aftermath.

6. Other

   After King Louis the German assigned him the vacant diocese of Bremen in 847, Ansgar moved there in 848. He simultaneously returned to Sweden in person from 848 to 850 to avert a threatened pagan reaction against the nascent Christian community at Birka.

7. Wrote — 865

   Ansgar is the reputed author of a collection of brief prayers titled Pigmenta (edited by J. M. Lappenberg, Hamburg, 1844). Adam of Bremen additionally attributed to him the Vita et miracula of Willehad, first bishop of Bremen, in his Gesta Hammenburgensis ecclesiæ.

8. Died — 865

   Ansgar died on 3 February 865 and was buried in Bremen. Pope Nicholas I declared him a saint shortly after his death; his successor Rimbert authored the principal biography, the Vita Ansgarii.

Relationships

Documented claims

• Ansgar became known as the 'Apostle of the North' because of his missionary journeys and the mandate given to the See of Hamburg-Bremen to bring Christianity to Northern Europe. (likely)
• The Vita Ansgarii records that a childhood vision of his deceased mother in the company of Mary converted Ansgar from a careless attitude toward spiritual matters to serious religious commitment; Rimbert regarded these visions as the principal motivator of Ansgar's missionary career. (legendary)
• Rimbert's Vita Ansgarii records that Ansgar wore a rough hair shirt throughout his archiepiscopate, subsisted on bread and water, and was noted for extensive charity to the poor. (likely)
• Ansgar's relics are preserved in two Hamburg churches: St. Mary's Cathedral (Domkirche St. Marien) and St. Ansgar's and St. Bernard's Church (St. Ansgar und St. Bernhard Kirche). (likely)
• Ansgar's feast on 3 February is observed as a Lesser Festival in the Church of England, the Episcopal Church, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, in addition to the Roman Catholic calendar. (certain)