St. Henry of Uppsala

Feast: January 19. Henry was an Englishman living in Rome. He accompanied the papal legate, Cardinal Breakspear (later Pope Adrian IV) to Scandinavia in 1151 and was consecrated bishop of Uppsala, Sweden, the next year by the cardinal. During the reign of Saint Erik, King of Sweden, he was a missionary bishop for the Baltic area, living in Uppsala, Sweden, and working energetically for the establishment of the Christian faith. He took part in a crusade to Finland, organised by the king in 1155. When the king had returned home with his troops, Bishop Henry remained in Finland to continue organising ecclesiastical life. St. Henry was the first bishop of Finland. He died a martyr's death the winter after the crusade (on 19 or 20 January in 1156). A peasant named Lalli, who had been excommunicated for manslaughter, killed Henry on the ice of Lake Köyliö. Bishop Henry was first buried in the village church of Nousiainen but on 18 June, 1300, his earthly remains were transferred to the cathedral of Turku. On a small man-made island at the place where Saint Henry was killed, a memorial chapel was built, apparently in the 14th century. The chapel eventually fell into ruin and all that remains of it now are some scattered stones and timber. The island became a popular place of pilgrimage during the Middle Ages, and to this day Finnish Catholics gather there annually on a Sunday in mid-June to venerate the memory of St. Henry and to thank God for the grace he has shown to Finland and the Finns through the saint and his successors. No documents have been preserved of the canonisation of Bishop Henry. The first document in which he is referred to as "saint" is a letter of Pope Boniface VIII from the year 1296. St. Henry became the patron of the Cathedral of Turku and later the patron of the church and nation of Finland.

With grateful thanks to Catholic Online.and the Catholic Information Centre, Finland