"A Priest from Norway: Fr Kark M. Schilling" by Sigrid Undset

8/9/2019 "A Priest from Norway: Fr Kark M. Schilling" by Sigrid Undset.

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A PRIEST

FROM

NORWAY

TheVenerable

Karl M. Schi l l ing,C.R.S.P.



Con ents

P r e f a c e . . . . 4I n t r o d u c t i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . 6A H a n d s o m e o u n gN o r w e g i a n . . . . . g

F a l l i n gn L o v e ? . . . . . . . j 2

T h e R e t u r n f t h e " p r o d i g a l o n , ' . . . . . . 1 4A D i f f e r e n to v e . . . . . . . i 7The Barnab i te a thersn Norway . . .20F a r e w e l l . . . 2 3A S e r i e s f D i f f i c u l t r e s. . . . . . 2 6T h eP r i e s t h o o d . . . . . . . . 2 g

l n E x i l e . . . 3 2" L eB o nP e r e " . . . . . . . . . 3 5T h e H o l yM a no f M o u s c r o n . . . . . . . . 3 7P r a y e r n dP e n a n c e_ . . . . . . . 4 0

C h a r i t y . . . . 4 2

T h eE n d . . . . . 4 5

B i b l i o g r a p h i c a lo t e . . . 4 7

P r a y e r . . . . : . . . . . 4 8T h e B a r n a b i t e a t h e r s . . . . . . . 4 9



Preface

Sigr idUndse t 1882-149) soneo f thegrea tes t

Scand inav ian r i te rsof the modern ime: n 1928 .she won the Nobe lPr ize o r l i te ra tu re .

Daughte ro f an archeo log is t , nd ar t is t i ca l l y

ta len ted , he s tud iedwi th en thus iasmhe h is to ryand the anc ien tcus tomsof Nor thernEurooe . hewas the au thoro f au tob iograph icove ls "Jenny" ,1 9 1 ) ,s h es k i l l f l l yw r o t e o m p o s r t i o n sn s p i r e d ythe med ieva lCatho l icNorway , s the maste rp iece" Kr is t in Lavransda t te r " , 1920-22 ,and "Olav

Andunsson" , 925-27a bes tse l le r .

In 1912 ,Undse tmar r iedA. Svars tad , pa in te r ,a n d n 1 9 2 5 , h e e f th i m , e a r c h i n gn C a t h o l i c i s mcer ta in tyand a reason o r l i fe .She then devo tedherse l fexc lus ive ly o the educa t ionof her fourc h i l d r e n n d o h e r a r t .

A f te ra few r ips o l ta ly ,where hehada chanceto approach ru th and the beau ty f her d reams,n

1926 t Montecass inoheconver tedo Catho l ic ism.S ince hen ,her i te ra ry roduc t ion as nsp i red yav iv id Catho l ic conceo t ion o f the wor ld and i tinc luded many con t rovers ia l hemes, modernnove ls , ns t ruc t ive ooks ,and persona l houghts ,t h a tma d eh e r n t e r n a t i o n a l l vn o w n .



The Nobel Pr izeproc la imed er famousas aproduct ivewr i ter ,and as a re l ig iouspersonal i ty .Wi thmagnanimous es ture , hedonated he ent i re

amountof the pr ize o threechar i tab lenst i tu t ions ,and she set on the a l taro f the Blessed i ro in . n aChurchof Os lo , hesymbol ic aure l ece ive jon hatoccas ion.

Dur ing he as twor ldwar ,Undsetwent hroughhear tbreak ing ventsand fami lysor rowsand shehad o abandon ercount ry . rom heUni tedStates ,

she insp i redhe Norwegian es is tance i thar t ic lesand speeches, nd in 1947, he was awarded heGreatCrosso f St .Olav because f eminent i te raryact iv i ty nd except iona l erv iceso hercount ry" .

On June 10,1949Sigr idUndset , xhausted ythe suf fer ings that a lways accompanied herex is tence, ied of a bra in umor .

On A p r i l29 ,1967 , u r i ng n aud i ence i venb ythePope o HisMajes ty lavV,K ingof Norway, au lV l w i th admira t ion commemorated the greatnove l is tS igr id Undset ,whosewr i t ingssurpassedthe f ront iers of her count ry for a wor ldwiderecogni t ion nd fo r an enr ichment f the humancul tu a lpat r imony" .

The fo l lowing pages on the Venerab leKar lSch i l l ing are taken f rom the eighth chapter o fUndset 's Sagaof Sain ts" .

I am grate fu l o the VeryReverend mber toM.Faso la , os tu la tor enera l f theBarnabi te athersfor h is ass is tancen prepar inghe present d i t ion .

FR .A N D R E AM. E R B A .C .R .S .P .

Mi lan,September 967



lntrod ct ion

At the beginn ing f thee ighth hapter f "Saga

of Sa in ts" ,S igr id Undset br ie f ly de l ineates hehis tor ic events that caused the f lour ish ingofLu t he r an i smn t he S cand i nav i anoun t r i es1537 ) .

A f ter a descr ip t ion f the economic ,po l i t i ca l

and soc ia l cond i t ionsof Norwaydur ing the XVIcentury , he author af f i rms hat the "Churchhadbecome et teredo heState" hrough ecu lar iza t ionand the conf iscat ion f her es ta tes .Wi th ex t remeabi l i t y , hewr i te rdescr ibesheevents f thatepochand wi th re ference o h is tor ica l ocuments , hev iv id ly ecountsmovingep isodes f Catho l ic a i th ,which surv ived mong persecut ions;he nar ra tes

those nc identsu l l o f evangel ica l ie tyand char i tyin which the "poor people"were he protagon is ts

and she descr ibeshosehero icmoments n which

the pastorsof sou ls os t the i r l i ves .On the o therhand, Undsetdoes not ignore he er rorsand the

defect ions f thosewhoadvantageous lybandoned

the i rbe l ie fs or the Reformat ion.

Undoubted ly hat was a t rag ic and dramat icper iod u l l o f ser ious onsequences:rovocat ions

on one s ide and rebe l l io ns n the o ther ;churchesfa l l ing in to despa i r ;susp ic iousconf l i c tsamong

Catho l ics ,a i th fu l o andsympath izers i th theo ldr e l i g i on ;nde r g r oundr oups p r ead i ngl l o ve r h e



count ry ;g roupsof peop le so innocent " ha t heydid not even know that a re l ig ious evo lu t ion adtakenp lace ; nd he "Jesu i t cares"wh ichaf fec tedthe genera l ub l i c n sucha way hatpeop le eganto conce ive

he Catho l i c Church as someth inqter r ib le nd ter r i f y ing .

The process of "p ro tes tan t iz ing"cou ld becons idered ccompl ished i th the peace rea tyo fWestfal ia (16a8); in fact, after that treaty theconvers ionso Catho l i c ism ereex t remely are .

However , n the 1700 's , phenomenon a l led

"p ie t i sm" roused n many a deep ee l ingo f God,genera t ing ar ious e l ig ious ec ts n oppos i t ionothe Sta teChurch ,wh ich by tha t t ime was a meref o r m a l i s m n d w i t h o u ta n y a u t h e n t i c p i r i t u a l i t y .A lmost as a reac t ion peop le becameearnes t lyPro tes tan t " nd "Popery"became or thema nameof te r ro r .

"Aga ins t th is background" ,Undset wr i tes ,"s tandsthe persona l i t y f Kar lSch i l l i ng"

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"A Priest from Norway: Fr Kark M. Schilling" by Sigrid Undset