Saint of the day for February 1: The story of Saint Ansgar, patron saint of Denmark

The "apostle to the north" (Scandinavia) had enough frustrations to become a saint, and he did. He became a Benedictine in Corbie, France, where he had studied. Three years later, when the king of Denmark converted, Ansgar went to that country for three years of missionary work, without notable success. Sweden asked for Christian missionaries, and he went there, undergoing pirate capture and other hardships along the way. Less than two years later, he was called back to become abbot of New Corbie (Corvey) and bishop of Hamburg. The pope made him legate for the Scandinavian missions. Funds for the northern apostolate stopped with the death of Emperor Louis. After 13 years of work in Hamburg, Ansgar saw it razed to the ground by the invasion of the Northmen; Sweden and Denmark returned to paganism.

He directed new apostolic activities in the North, traveling to Denmark and helping to convert another king. With the strange expedient of casting lots, the king of Sweden allowed the Christian missionaries to return.

Ansgar's biographers note that he was an extraordinary preacher, a humble and ascetic priest. He was devoted to the poor and the sick, he imitated the Lord by washing their feet and serving them at the table. He died peacefully in Bremen, Germany, without fulfilling his wish to be a martyr.

Sweden became pagan again after his death and remained so until the coming of the missionaries two centuries later. Sant'Ansgar shares his liturgical feast with San Biagio on February 3.

Reflection

History records what people do rather than what they are. Yet the courage and perseverance of men and women like Ansgar can only come from a solid foundation of union with the original courageous and persevering missionary. Ansgar's life is another reminder that God writes straight with crooked lines. Christ takes care of the effects of the apostolate in his own way; he is concerned first with the purity of the apostles themselves.