Saint Olaf of Norway

Saint Olaf:

In the case of this gentleman from Norway, the saying that you're never appreciated until you're gone holds true. Called 'Fat Olaf' or 'Olaf the Stout' all his life and not loved very much, it was only long after his death that he became known as Saint Olaf. Nothing like a couple of miracles at your grave to confer Sainthood, however reproachable your ways in actual life.

Life before he became a Saint:

Fat Olaf's correct name was Prince Olaf Haraldsson. The son of the Norwegian King Harald Grenske and his wife Asta Gudbrandsdatter, he was born in the year 995 and, as was the fashion amongst the Norwegians then, grew up to become a Norse Raider. But then, in 1010, he got himself baptized as a Christian and saw the evils of his ways and decided to reform. So he took himself off to England and spent the next few years assisting King Ethelred in repelling the Vikings.

After his father's death in 1015, he returned to Norway to assume the throne. But many of the Norwegians didn't care for his notions of Sovereign Kingship and were already being ruled by the Earl Sweyn, who had the support of the Danes and the Swedes. So Olaf immediately found himself squaring off in battle with these enemies. It took nearly an entire year of warfare before he could defeat Earl Sweyn, crush out all other petty rebellions, and claim the country wholly for himself.

Now that the kingdom was undisputedly his, he decided to impose his imprint on it. It was high time, he decided, that his Norwegians subjects were subjected to Christianity on a broader scale than ever before. And so he summoned English Christian Missionaries – there being none in the Americas of the day – to perform the mass religious transformations in Norway.

In those days, somewhat like in the present age, some people fell hook, line, and sinker for what the leader proposed and some, well, resisted. Olaf's leadership was of the 'You're either with us or against us' variety, and the people who opposed him usually came to a sad end. After several years of consistent brutality and warfare, he finally stumbled against the Danes in the 1026 Battle of the Helgea. This showed he could be defeated, and the Norwegian nobles then got together against him in 1029 and making common cause with his enemy, the Danish King Canute, toppled their Monarch off his throne. Olaf picked himself up and took off to shelter with Mother Russia. Two years later, he was back to battle some more and this time ended up dying on the Stiklestad battlefield on 29 July 1031. The Norwegians had him buried with proper honors and then heaved a collective sigh of relief.

The Rosy Road to Sainthood:

Olaf's son, Magnus, became King after him, and it was perhaps to give more authority to his rule that the first efforts to whitewash the late King Olaf began. In those times the Papal authority was not really needed to smooth the way towards Sainthood, and so the now good King Olaf was beatified posthumously by his favorite English Missionary, the Bishop Grimkillus (I wonder what that means in Latin; it's kind of suggestive in the wrong sort of way). King Olaf wasn't actually canonized until 1888.

Bishop Grimkillus returned to England to take over the Selsey Diocese and, by his efforts, the cult of Saint Olaf gained ground on English soil. It was already taking root in the home country, Norway, where people now developed suitable fables to grace the dead legend. One such tale tells of a blind man regaining his eye-sight immediately after King Olaf was slain, by scooping out his blood and applying it to his eyes. In those days, like in our times, nobody ever bothered to verify facts much. The word got around and soon many other miracles were thought of and subscribed to old Olaf. Atleast nine are recorded by Norway's second Archbishop, Eystein Erlendsson, in the liturgical texts, and were celebrated in the poem Geisli, that was read out in honor of Pope Adrian IV, during his visit when still the papal legate. All this literature was written in the Middle-Ages, a lot of water under the bridge to make your stories even shinier.

Sainthood:

With none of his peers around to contest it anymore, Fat Olaf now became firmly entrenched as Saint Olaf, the Eternal King of Norway, and his shrine in Nidaros became particularly popular. His fame spread all over Scandinavia and beyond and people came from all over to pray to him.Those that couldn't make it as frequently set up Churches dedicated to him in their own lands. There are several St. Olave's, St Olaf's, and St. Olav's Churches in Great Britain, Estonia, Sweden, and even the USA.