Born in Glastonbury, England (?); died at Vaxjo, Sweden, c. 1045.
Tradition says that the patron saint of Sweden is an Englishman,
Sigfrid, who reached Sweden as a result of a call from King
Olaf Tryggvason of Norway, who had been converted himself by another
Englishman, Saint Alphege. Sigfrid is said to have been born in
Northumberland, become a priest at York or Glastonbury, and was sent by
King Ethelred as a missionary to Norway with two other bishops, Grimkel
and John.
They laboured under the protection of the archbishop of Bremen
(Germany). After converting many pagans, Sigfrid continued on to Sweden
in 1008. Saint Ansgar had planted the seeds of faith in Sweden in 830;
but the country had relapsed into paganism soon after his time. A second
wave of missionary saints, including Sigfrid, followed about two
centuries later.
There he built himself a wooden church at Vaxjo in southern Sweden, and
laboured with success in the Smaeland and Vastergotland districts. He
converted twelve of the principal men of the province, then many others
followed their example. The fountain near the mountain of Ostrabo, since
called Wexlow) in which Sigfrid baptized the catechumens, long retained
the names of the first 12 converts, engraved on a monument.
Others, including the King Saint Olaf Skotkonung of Sweden, were
attracted out of curiosity to see the rich fabrics and beautiful vessels
used during the celebration of the Divine Service, to hear his
preaching, and to observe the dignity and majesty of the Christian
worship. That attracted them first. But it was the example of the lives
of Sigfrid and his companion missionaries that open their eyes of faith
and led to the baptism of so many others including the king, who was
baptized at Husaby (one of the sites in Sigrid Undset's book
Kristin
Lavransdatter) in a spring that later bore Sigfrid's name and was the
channel of many miracles.
Sigfrid ordained and consecrated two native bishops to govern
neighbouring territories, but he retained the episcopacy of Vaxjo while
he lived. His three nephews--
Unaman, a priest; Sunaman, a deacon; and Winaman, a subdeacon
--were his chief assistants in his apostolic
efforts.
Sigfrid also laboured in Denmark. During one of Sigfrid's absences from
Sweden, he instructed his three nephews to carry on the missionary work.
A troop of idolatrous rebels--perhaps out of hatred for Christianity,
perhaps in search of booty--plundered the church of Vaxjo and
barbarously murdered Sigfrid's nephews by cutting off their heads,
putting them in a box, and flinging them into a lake. The bodies they
buried in the midst of the forest where they were never found.
Sigfrid returned, recovered the three heads and claimed that they could
still talk. He asked whether the crime would be avenged.
Yes,
replied
the first head.
When?
asked the second.
In the third generation,
answered the third. And so it was. The saint had brilliantly used the
dead heads to terrorise his living enemies. Their heads were placed in a
shrine. The king was angered by their deaths and resolved to execute the
murderers, but at Sigfrid's earnest entreaties Olaf spared their
lives--an early testimony against capital punishment. Olaf compelled the
guilty to pay a heavy fine to Sigfrid, but the saint refused to accept
it even though he was living in extreme poverty and had to contend with
rebuilding his church. Thenceforth,
he was invincible.
The saint became so renowned that the Germans claimed him as their own,
insisting that he had been born either in Bremen or Hamburg. He died in
old age, and his bones rest beneath the high altar of the cathedral of
Vaxjo, and are famous for miracles. Sigfrid was so successful that he is
called the Apostle of Sweden, where he is still venerated. A metrical
office for his feast survives in both Sweden and Denmark
(
Attwater,
Benedictines,
Bentley,
Delaney,
Farmer,
Husenbeth,
Walsh).
Saint Sigfrid is pictured as a bishop with two companion monks crossing
the sea in a ship. He may also be shown baptizing King Olaf of Sweden,
or menaced by devils. There is a 14th century wall-painting possibly of
him at Stoke Orchard, Worcestershire
(
Roeder).
He may also be
represented as a bishop carrying the heads of his three nephews, which
are sometimes misrepresented as three loaves
(
Roeder).