He is rightly called the “Apostle of Northern Europe.” Ansgar (also known as Oscar) was a Benedictine monk of Corbie, where he had been educated. He later served as teacher in the monastic school of Corvey.
After King Harald of Denmark received baptism, Ansgar traveled to Denmark and then to Sweden to preach the Gospel. He became the first bishop of Hamburg. Pope Gregory IV appointed him papal legate for Scandinavia, initially under the authority of Ebo, archbishop of Reims, until the archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen was established as an independent ecclesiastical territory, separate from Cologne.
Ansgar labored tirelessly in the demanding mission among the northern kingdoms. The highlight of his work was the conversion of King Olaf of Sweden.
