If you’re in Copenhagen, Denmark, it’s St. Ansgar, a French monk and bishop who preached the Gospel in the ninth century in what is now Denmark. Eventually, the Danes and the Swedes and the Norwegians converted to the Catholic faith. Centuries later, during the Protestant Reformation, the kings took over the church and transformed it into a department of state, using its organization and wealth to create the absolute nation states that destroyed medieval civilization. Separated from Rome, the State Churches of Scandinavia adopted the Lutheran confession of faith as the expression of their belief. So thorough was this reform that, even today, it is difficult to be considered truly Danish or Swedish or Norwegian unless one is part of the Lutheran Folk Church, the religious expression of what it means to be part of a Scandinavian people.
St. Ansgar shares his feast day of Feb. 3 with St. Blase, protector against diseases of the throat. Given the severe winter weather, devotion to St. Blase usually trumps remembrance of St. Ansgar, at least outside of Scandinavia. Even in Scandinavia, devotion to saints is pretty rare. After using the church to create separate nations, each of which took the place of the universal Church and regulated the religious and every other dimension of peoples’ lives, the Scandinavian countries, like the Kingdom of Great Britain, seem to have outgrown their need for religion. The State suffices as the ultimate arbiter of meaning, and their societies are secularized.
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