ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY
Saints celebrated on the 19th of January
SAINT HENRY, ARCHBISHOP OF UPSALA, MARTYR
Saint Henry was an Englishman, and preached the faith in the North with his countryman, Cardinal Nicholas Breakspear, the apostle of Norway, and legate of the holy see, afterwards Pope Adrian IV by whom he was raised to this see, in 1148.
HE SET OUT TO EVANGELISE FINLAND, TOO
St Eric, or Henry, (for it is the same name,) was then the holy king of Sweden. Our saint, after having converted several provinces, went to preach in Finland, which that king had lately conquered. He deserved to be styled the apostle of that country, but fell a martyr in it, being stoned to death at the instigation of a barbarous murderer, whom he endeavoured to reclaim by censures, in 1151.
PRAYERS FOR HIS INTERCESSION AT HIS TOMB
His tomb was in great veneration at Upsala, till his ashes were scattered on the change of religion, in the sixteenth century.
ENGLISH SAXON MISSIONARIES
Note 1. Stiernman, in his discourse ‘on the State of Learning among the Ancient Swedes,’ observes, that Sweden was chiefly converted to Christianity by English Saxon missionaries. The principal among these were Ansgar; Sigfrid, Roduard, Richolf, Edward, Eskil, David, and Henric, as he gives their names.
EARLY SWEDISH BISHOPS
In the history of the bishops and archbishops of Upsala, published by Benzelius, the first whose name is recorded is Everin, whom Benzelius supposes to be the person whom St Sigfrid consecrated to this see. He seems to have been one of his English colleagues. Stephen, the sixth bishop of Upsala, was the first archbishop.
Source: Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints
PRAYER:
Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Henry may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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