St Anskar

Saint Ansgar
A depiction of Saint Ansgar from the Church Trinitatis, in Hamburg, Germany
Apostle of the North
Born	8 September 801 Amiens
Died	3 February 865(865-02-03) (aged 63) Bremen
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Church, Roman Catholicism, Lutheran Church, Anglican Communion
Feast	3 February
Attributes	Dressed in archbishop's attire with a model of the church

Saint Ansgar (8 September 801 – 3 February 865), also known as Anskar or Saint Anschar, was a Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen – a northern part of the Kingdom of the East Franks. The See of Hamburg was designated a mission to bring Christianity to Northern Europe, and Ansgar became known as the "Apostle of the North".

Ansgar was the son of a noble Frankish family, born near Amiens. After his mother's early death, Ansgar was brought up in Corbie Abbey, and was educated at the Benedictine monastery in Picardy,. According to the Vita Ansgarii ("Life of Ansgar"), when the little boy learned in a vision that his mother was in the company of Saint Mary, his careless attitude toward spiritual matters changed to seriousness ("Life of Ansgar", 1). His pupil, successor, and eventual biographer Rimbert considered the visions of which this was the first to be the main motivation of the saint's life.

Ansgar was a product of the phase of Christianization of Saxony (present day Northern Germany) begun by Charlemagne and continued by his son and successor, Louis the Pious. A group of monks including Ansgar were sent back to Jutland with the baptized exiled king Harald Klak. Ansgar returned two years later after educating young boys who had been purchased because Harald had possibly been driven out of his kingdom. In 822 Ansgar was one of a number of missionaries sent to found the abbey of Corvey (New Corbie) in Westphalia, and there became a teacher and preacher. Then in 829 in response to a request from the Swedish king Björn at Hauge for a mission to the Swedes, Louis appointed Ansgar missionary. With an assistant, the friar Witmar, he preached and made converts for six months at Birka, on Lake Mälaren. They organized a small congregation there with the king's steward, Hergeir, and Mor Frideborg as its most prominent members. In 831 he returned to Louis' court at Worms and was appointed to the Archbishopric of Hamburg. This was a new archbishopric with a see formed from those of Bremen and Verden, plus the right to send missions into all the northern lands and to consecrate bishops for them. He was given the mission of evangelizing Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The King of Sweden decided to cast lots as to whether the Christian missionaries should be admitted into his kingdom. Ansgar recommended the issue to the care of God, and the lot was favorable.