Catholic Church in the Faroe Islands

Although the Catholic presence is small, the Church has had a large impact through the St. Francis school, run by the Franciscan Sisters since its establishment in 1933.

In 999, the Norwegian king Olav Tryggvason sent the Viking chieftain Sigmundur Brestisson along with several priests to the Faroese in order to baptize the people and instruct them in the best of the Christian faith.

In 1537 Christian III of Denmark made Norway a puppet state (along with the Faroe Islands) under the Danish Crown.

In 1537 the king decreed that the official state churches in Norway, Denmark and the Faroes be reformed in accordance with the Lutheran doctrine adopted at the Augsburg Confession in 1530.

The Crown confiscated all lands held by the Catholic Church, which had previously occupied about 40 percent of the Faroes.

After the introduction of freedom of religion with the first Danish Constitution in 1849, there was an attempt to revive the Catholic Church on the Faroes.

In 1931 two young priests, E. G. Boekenogen (Dutch) and Thomas King (Scottish), undertook the task of re-establishing a Catholic presence on the Faroes.

In a house leased to the Franciscan sisters Archived 2010-09-24 at the Wayback Machine who came to the Faroes in 1931, a small church was consecrated on May 23 that same year.

Over the years, they built up a school, a crèche, and a nursery, and served the needs of the small Catholic community which gradually formed.

The Franciscan sisters Archived 2010-09-24 at the Wayback Machine of the Faroe Islands were known for their good works and tolerance.

They also taught their students about the Bible, prayer and the basics of Christianity, although they were unable to teach the Catholic faith.

In 1985 St Francis School came under the care of Tórshavn Town Council because the Franciscan sisters Archived 2010-09-24 at the Wayback Machine were too old to run it any more.

Two Faroese parishioners represented the Catholic Church and the Faroe Islands during the visit of Pope John Paul II to Denmark in 1989.

The non-Faroese parishioners come from many different nations: Denmark, and various countries of Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America, and Oceania.

Many of them originate from remote areas of the Southern Hemisphere with growing conditions similar to those of the Faroe Islands.