Norwegian Author Cause for Sainthood Launched

Sigrid Undset, a Nobel Peace Prize Winner, will have a cause for canonization launched by the Diocese of Oslo, Norway. Bishop Fredrik Hansen announced on Wednesday.

“She is far more than an author and Nobel Prize laureate,” he said. “For us, she is a model of Christian faith, of a life lived in virtue, and of the pursuit of holiness.”

The decision by Hansen was based on the fact that holiness can be obtained by lay and clergy alike. Through Undset, the Catholic Church in Norway has a concrete example of that calling lived out in public life, suffering, motherhood, and conversion.

Some of the examples Hansen laid out are: her defense of the Catholic faith, her opposition to Nazism and her work for Norway’s freedom during the war, and her “constant and practical concern for the poor.” He also highlighted her care for her disabled daughter, which he described as part of her “commitment to life and to the sanctity of life.”

He added that her books “shaped generations of believers, inspiring them to live in Christ and keeping alive the witness of Norway’s medieval saints.”

While Undset wasn’t a perfect person, she walked a path of gradual conversion, repentance, and a growing commitment to Catholicism. God’s grace worked through her and perfected her path to sanctity.

With her cause, it has the potential to build a model of holiness for the present age: flawed, formidable, intellectually serious, and ultimately transformed by grace into a witness to Christ.

The formal cause is set to be open in the fall.

I believe that Sigrid Undset's life and work have much to offer both the Church in Norway and the universal Church,” Hansen said.

When it’s all over, she will be the second Nobel Prize winner raised to the altars of sainthood.