Roman Catholicism in Finland
Encyclopedia
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
and curia
Curia
A curia in early Roman times was a subdivision of the people, i.e. more or less a tribe, and with a metonymy it came to mean also the meeting place where the tribe discussed its affairs...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
.
Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
has the lowest proportion of Roman Catholics in all of Europe, about 9,000 people. The overwhelming majority are foreign-born, particularly Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. About half of the priests are Polish. As of 2007 there are only two Finland-born priests, and only one of them works in Finland. The Bishop of Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
is Mgr. Teemu Sippo
Teemu Sippo
Teemu Jyrki Juhani Sippo SCI is the current Roman Catholic Bishop of Helsinki.- Life :Teemu Sippo was born as a Lutheran, and converted to Roman Catholicism in 1966 while he was in his late teens; four years later he decided to start studying to become a priest...
, appointed on June 16, 2009. He is the first Finn to serve as a Catholic bishop for over 500 years.
Due to the tiny number of Catholics in Finland, the whole country forms a single diocese, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helsinki
Roman Catholic Diocese of Helsinki
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Helsinki is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church based in Helsinki, which comprises the whole of Finland...
.
History
The first Catholic religious service following the death of the Catholic John III of Sweden
John III of Sweden
-Family:John married his first wife, Catherine Jagellonica of Poland , house of Jagiello, in Vilnius on 4 October 1562. In Sweden, she is known as Katarina Jagellonica. She was the sister of king Sigismund II Augustus of Poland...
was held in 1796 by the apostolic vicar of Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, the Italian-born Father Paolo Moretti.
The parish Vyborg
Vyborg
Vyborg is a town in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of the Bay of Vyborg, to the northwest of St. Petersburg and south from Russia's border with Finland, where the Saimaa Canal enters the Gulf of Finland...
was established 1799 in the Russian part of Old Finland
Old Finland
thumb|right|260px|The areas that Sweden lost to Russia in the wars of 1721 and 1743Old Finland is a name used for the areas that Russia gained from Sweden in the Great Northern War and in the Russo-Swedish War...
. After the rest of Finland became part of the Russian Empire in 1812, the parish covered the whole Grand Duchy of Finland
Grand Duchy of Finland
The Grand Duchy of Finland was the predecessor state of modern Finland. It existed 1809–1917 as part of the Russian Empire and was ruled by the Russian czar as Grand Prince.- History :...
. There were about 3000 Catholics in 1830. All the priests until the 1860s were Lithuanian Dominicans. The parish of Helsinki was founded 1856, possibly due the influence of the General Governor Friedrich Wilhelm von Berg's Italian wife, Leopoldina Cicogna Mozzoni (1786 -Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
17 February 1874). St. Henry's Cathedral
St. Henry's Cathedral
St. Henry's Cathedral in Helsinki, Finland, is dedicated to Henry, Bishop of Uppsala. It was constructed between 1858–1860. The architecture of the church is Gothic Revival with statues of Saint Henry, Saint Peter and Saint Paul decorating the exterior....
in Helsinki was finished in 1860.
In 1882 all the German priests and nuns were expelled. All foreign priests were expelled again in 1912. After Finland's independence and the departure of Russian military forces, the Catholic Church lost most of its members.
In 1920 an Apostolic vicariate was established in Finland. The Parish of Turku
Turku
Turku is a city situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River. It is located in the region of Finland Proper. It is believed that Turku came into existence during the end of the 13th century which makes it the oldest city in Finland...
was established in 1926, and in 1927 the Parish of Terijoki
Zelenogorsk, Saint Petersburg
Zelenogorsk , ' before 1948, is a municipal town in Kurortny District of the federal city of Saint Petersburg, Russia, located in part of the Karelian Isthmus on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, and a station on the St. Petersburg-Vyborg railroad. It is located about northwest of central Saint...
. The Government granted the Catholic Church in Finland the status of religious community in 1929. Finland established diplomatic relations with the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
in 1942 and Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
donated a significant sum of money to Finnish war orphans. After the war the Parishes of Vyborg and Terijoki, which had been located in territories that were ceded to Russia, were moved to Lahti
Lahti
Lahti is a city and municipality in Finland.Lahti is the capital of the Päijänne Tavastia region. It is situated on a bay at the southern end of lake Vesijärvi about north-east of the capital Helsinki...
, and a new parish was founded in 1949 in Jyväskylä
Jyväskylä
Jyväskylä is the capital of Central Finland and the largest city on the Finnish Lakeland, north-east of Tampere and north of Helsinki, on northern coast of lake Päijänne. The city has been continuously one of the most rapidly growing cities in Finland since World War II. The city is surrounded...
.
The Church of the Assumption of Mary was finished in Helsinki in 1954. The following year the apostolic vicarship was made a diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
. The Parish of Tampere
Tampere
Tampere is a city in southern Finland. It is the most populous inland city in any of the Nordic countries. The city has a population of , growing to approximately 300,000 people in the conurbation and over 340,000 in the metropolitan area. Tampere is the third most-populous municipality in...
was established in 1957, the Parish of Kouvola
Kouvola
Kouvola is a town and municipality in southeastern Finland. It is located northeast of the capital, Helsinki.The city has a population of and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is ....
in 1985 and the Parish of Oulu
Oulu
Oulu is a city and municipality of inhabitants in the region of Northern Ostrobothnia, in Finland. It is the most populous city in Northern Finland and the sixth most populous city in the country. It is one of the northernmost larger cities in the world....
in 1992.
Catholic Church Movements and Groups are also active in Finland. One of these, the Neocatechumenal Way
Neocatechumenal Way
The Neocatechumenal Way, also known as the Neocatechumenate, NC Way or, colloquially, The Way or The Neocats is an itinerary within the Catholic Church dedicated to the Christian formation of adults...
has established two Redemptoris Mater
Redemptoris Mater
Redemptoris Mater is the name for certain Roman Catholic seminaries which operate under the auspices of the Neocatechumenal Way and claim as their mission the formation of priests for the "New Evangelization". These seminaries are distributed worldwide, with nearly 1,500 seminarians currently in...
Seminaries in Finland and maintains a presence both in Helsinki and in other towns, most notably Oulu
Oulu
Oulu is a city and municipality of inhabitants in the region of Northern Ostrobothnia, in Finland. It is the most populous city in Northern Finland and the sixth most populous city in the country. It is one of the northernmost larger cities in the world....
.
Ethnic Finnish Catholics, as with Catholics in other historically Protestant Northern European countries, tend to tilt conservative or traditionalist. Perhaps the most well-known at this time is the head of the nationalist True Finn party, Timo Soini
Timo Soini
Timo Juhani Soini is a Finnish politician, and co-founder and current leader of the True Finns party. He was a member of the European Parliament from 2009 until 2011, when he returned to the Parliament of Finland. Well-known as an EU-sceptic populist, he was elected a member of the Espoo city...
.
Churches
There are seven Catholic parishes in Finland:- Helsinki: St. Henrik's Cathedral
- Helsinki: St. Mary's Church
- Turku: St. Brigit and Blessed Hemming Church
- Jyväskylä: St. Olav's Church
- Tampere: Holy Cross Church
- Kouvola: St. Ursula's Church
- Oulu: Holy Family of Nazareth Church
Religious Orders
The Bridgettine order is active in Finland with convents in Turku and Koisjärvi, near Lohja. A Carmelite convent, the Monastery of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in FinlandMonastery of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Finland
Monastery of Our Lady of Mount Carmel or the Carmelite Monastery is a small Catholic monastery in Espoo, Finland. The monastery currently has six nuns.- External links :*...
was established in Espoo in 1988.
The relics of Henry
The ownership of relics of Bishop Henry caused some controversy between the National Board of Antiquities, the Catholic Church in Finland, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of FinlandEvangelical Lutheran Church of Finland
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland is the national church of Finland. The church professes the Lutheran branch of Christianity, and is a member of the Porvoo Communion....
. In 1998 the priest of Parish of St. Henry in Helsinki wished to relocate the relic in the Cathedral of Saint Henry in Helsinki
St. Henry's Cathedral
St. Henry's Cathedral in Helsinki, Finland, is dedicated to Henry, Bishop of Uppsala. It was constructed between 1858–1860. The architecture of the church is Gothic Revival with statues of Saint Henry, Saint Peter and Saint Paul decorating the exterior....
, although it was previously exhibited in the Lutheran Cathedral of Turku
Cathedral of Turku
Turku Cathedral is the Mother Church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, and the country's national shrine. It is the central church of the Archdiocese of Turku and the seat of the Archbishop of Finland, Kari Mäkinen...
. The National Board of Antiquities eventually chose to place the relics in the Cathedral of Saint Henry in Helsinki
St. Henry's Cathedral
St. Henry's Cathedral in Helsinki, Finland, is dedicated to Henry, Bishop of Uppsala. It was constructed between 1858–1860. The architecture of the church is Gothic Revival with statues of Saint Henry, Saint Peter and Saint Paul decorating the exterior....
.
External links
- Homepage of the Catholic Church in Finland
- http://www.kolumbus.fi/birgitta.turku/index.htm Bridgettine Sisters in Finland