Vestervig Abbey

Vestervig Abbey, also known as Vestervig Church, was established in about 1059 making it one of Denmark's most ancient religious houses. The abbey is located at Vestervig, Thisted, in extreme northern Jutland.

Vestervig is located inside the Limfjord near the west coast where the Limfjord meets the North Sea. There are many bays (Danish:vig) which branch off the main channel of the Limfjord Vestervig was an important trading location in Viking times.

About 1030 Saint Thøger settled at Vestervig and built the first wattle and clay church in Thy (now Thisted County). Thøger (or Theodgar) was a Thuringian missionary who had been living in England when Olaf II went there on a Viking expedition. Thøger's wonderful sermons brought an invitation to return to Norway with Olav as his personal chaplain. He had, even as a young man, a reputation for being able to heal the sick. He became a personal advisor to Olaf II. When Olaf was driven from Norway in 1028, Thøger went with the king eastward into Sweden and as far as Kiev. Olaf returned to Norway in 1030, raised an army and tried to take the throne again. He was killed at the Battle of Stiklestad 29 July 1030. Olaf was locally canonized as Saint Olaf. Thøger fled Norway and settled at Vestervig. He began to teach the local people about Christianity without much success.

One night he slept on the ground at the Vestervig marketplace. In the morning where his head had been, a spring began to run. The Danes counted this as miraculous and soon Thøger had his congregation. A church was built near the spring and even in the 19th century people drank water from the spring hoping to cure ailments. One did not have to visit the spring in person, if health prevented it, just to drink the water was enough.

One day Thøger visited a nearby farm called Randrupgård where he met a man standing at his doorway complaining about his bad luck with livestock. Thøger replied, "Put up the cross of Christ where here none has stood before, so will your luck improve!" Immediately a spring burst out of the ground on the spot and people flocked to it for its restorative properties. A cross was raised at the site everafter.

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Wikipedia