ABSALON, ARCHBISHOP OF LUND - 21 MARCH

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH

Saints celebrated on the 21st March

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ABSALON, ARCHBISHOP OF LUND 

Absalon of Lund, also known as Axel, a famous Danish prelate, was born in 1128, at Finnestoe in Seeland; he died March 21, 1201, in the Benedictine monastery of Sorøe (Sora) founded by his father. 

He was a graduate of the University of Paris, and taught for a while in the school of Ste. Geneviève. In 1158 he was made Bishop of Roskilde, and in 1178 Archbishop of Lund, Primate of Denmark and Sweden, and eventually Papal Legate. In this capacity he laboured zealously for the final extirpation of paganism in the Scandinavian world, notably on the Isle of Rügen, its last stronghold. 

He exercised great political influence under King Waldemar I (1155–81) and Canute VI. It was at his request that Saxo Grammaticus composed his "Historiæ Danicæ Libri XVI". A tribute to Absalon is found in the fourteenth book of that work. 

From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913

ABSALON'S ENTRY IN STADLER'S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SAINTS

Absalon, Danish. He was advisor to Waldemar I and Knut VI, born 1128, died 1201. He became bishop of Roskilde in 1158, also archbishop of Lund in 1178, fought successfully against the Wendish pirates several times since 1159. 

In 1167, to defend the Danish, he built a stronghold (poetically Axelhus) on the coast (in the area of today's Copenhagen). In 1184 he forced Duke Bogislaw I of Pomerania to recognise Danish suzerainty. 

Educated in Paris, he organised the Danish ecclesiastical system, obtained the adoption of the Zeeland Canon Law and caused Svend Aagesøn and Saxo Grammaticus to write their history of Denmark.