The Apostle of Scandinavia

Today we celebrate Saint Ansgar (Oscar), bishop and missionary (801–865). He was born in Annecy (northern France) and from a young age lived in a Benedictine monastery (he took the habit in 814). There he learned to pray, to study, and to listen to God in silence. One day he felt a special calling: to bring the Gospel to very distant and cold lands, such as Denmark and Sweden. Appointed bishop of Hamburg (832) and later of Hamburg-Bremen, he understood his episcopal ministry as a service to evangelization. He traveled in fragile ships, endured hunger, and suffered rejection, but he never lost his joy or his trust in God. At times it seemed that all his efforts were in vain, yet he continued to sow. He is remembered as the “Apostle of Scandinavia”. —Saint Ansgar did not see great results, but he was faithful to his mission. And us—do we continue to do good when no one applauds us and it seems to be of no use?