Bishop of Oslo, Fredrik Hansen, has begun preparations for a canonization cause this autumn for Sigrid Undset, the Nobel laureate and lay Dominican who opposed the occupation of Norway during the Second World War.
Bishop Hansen made the announcement on July 8 before hundreds of Catholic pilgrims during the Mass for St. Sunniva on the island of Selja, celebrated in the Benedictine monastery ruins.
He noted that Undset is “far more than an author and Nobel Prize laureate,” calling her “a model of Christian faith, of a life lived in virtue, and of the pursuit of holiness.”
The Bishop explained: "She showed a constant and practical concern for the poor. She gave of herself in caring for her daughter, in her commitment to life and to the sanctity of life. Through her many books she has shaped countless believers, inspired them to live in Christ, and borne witness to our medieval saints.
"Like St Sunniva and her companions, Sigrid Undset too must be for us a model of life in Christ."
Bishop Hansen presented the matter to both the Nordic Bishops' Conference and to experts on the life of Sigrid Undset after examining her life and identifying cultus and devotion.
Undset was born on May 20, 1882 to atheist parents, but was received into the Catholic Church in November 1924 when she was 42. She became a lay Dominican four years later, her conversion causing such a sensation that it attracted international attention.
Best known for her trilogy Kristin Lavransdatter, which follows the birth, life and death of a woman in medieval Norway, she was awarded with the Nobel Prize for literature in 1928. Her works delved into religious issues, such as sin, morality, and redemption.
During the Soviet invasion of Finland in 1940, Undset donated her Nobel Prize to support the Finnish war effort, and a few months later was forced to flee Norway following the German invasion and occupation where her eldest son was killed in action. She spent the remainder of the war in the US writing in support of the Norwegian government-in-exile, returning in 1945. She died June 10, 1949 in Lillehammer, Norway.
