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Norway’s Bishop Fredrik Hansen announced Wednesday that he is taking the first steps toward opening the cause for canonization of Nobel Prize-winning author Sigrid Undset.
Hansen, the Bishop of Oslo, made the announcement July 8, while celebrating Mass during an annual pilgrimage to the island of Selja in honor of St. Sunniva, the 10th-century martyr revered as Norway’s first saint.
In his homily at the Mass — which coincided with the 100th anniversary of Undset’s visit to Selja, considered the cradle of Norwegian Christianity — Hansen said: “By the authority entrusted to me, I have therefore now initiated the work so that the cause for beatification may formally begin sometime this fall.”
If the cause reaches its conclusion, Undset would become Norway’s second female saint after Sunniva and the second Nobel Prize laureate to be canonized after Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.
Before taking the decision to pursue the cause, Hansen examined Undset’s life and concluded there were clear signs of a reputation for holiness and piety.
The possibility of opening her cause was then presented to the Nordic bishops’ conference and experts on Undset’s life.
In a June
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