Selja, Stad
Selja is a small island in Stad Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It was the original Catholic bishopric in Norway which later became the pre-Reformation Ancient Diocese of Bergen. The island name was historically spelled as Sellø or Selø.
The island is located in the Sildagapet bay, just west of the harbor in the village of Selje which sits at the base of the Stadlandet peninsula. The sparsely populated island has about 5 permanent residents who commute by boat to the mainland since the island is not accessible by road.
The painter Bernt Tunold grew up on the island, where his parents had established a farm on the church grounds.
Ecclesiastical history
The island is mainly known for its connection to Saint Sunniva, who, according to legend, landed and died there in the late 10th century and remains patron saint of the Diocese of Bergen. The discovery at Selo in 996 of the supposed remains of Sunniva and her companions led Norwegian King Olaf Tryggvason to build a church there. Today, the ruins of a monastery named "Sankta Sunniva kloster" is the only notable feature on the island. The cave of Saint Sunniva and the ruins of an early cathedral are also located on the island. The cathedral was the episcopal see of a Catholic Bishopric, the Diocese of Selja, the predecessor of the Ancient Diocese of Bergen, a suffragan of the German Archbishopric of Bremen, established with the monastery circa 1060 by King Olaf Kyrre. Its physical see was soon moved to Bjørgvin, but it would take a few more bishops until that name supplanted Selja's.Residential Suffragan bishops of Selja
- Bjarnvard since 106O?7, Bishop of Selja till his death
- Svein, Bishop of Selja, first also known as Bishop of Bjørgvin
- , : Magnus, Bishop of Selja
- : Ottar Islänning, Bishop of Selja
- 1156/57-1160: Paal, Bishop of Selja
- 1160-1170 : Nikolas Petersson of Sogn, 'last' Bishop of Selja, 'first' only known as Bishop of Bergen after 1170
Titular see
It has had the following incumbents, so far all of the fitting episcopal rank :
- Olaf Offerdahl as Apostolic Vicar of Norway , previously Apostolic Administrator of the same vicariate
- Jacques Mangers, Marists S.M. as first Apostolic Vicar of Oslo , promoted first Exempt Bishop of Oslo , emeritate as Titular Bishop of Afufenia
- Claude Dupuy as Auxiliary Bishop of Lyon ; later Metropolitan Archbishop of Albi ; died 1989
- Eduard Macheiner as Auxiliary Bishop of Salzburg , later succeeded as Metropolitan Archbishop of Salzburg
- Salvador Lazo Lazo first as Auxiliary Bishop of Tuguegarao , then as Auxiliary Bishop of Nueva Segovia ; later Bishop of San Fernando de La Union , died 2000
- Ângelo Domingos Salvador, Capuchin Franciscans as Auxiliary Bishop of São Salvador da Bahia ; later Bishop-Prelate of Coxim , Bishop of Cachoeira do Sul , Bishop of Uruguaiana
- Eurico dos Santos Veloso as Auxiliary Bishop of Juiz de Fora ; later Coadjutor Bishop of Luz , Bishop of above Luz
- Pero Sudar, Auxiliary Bishop of Vrhbosna
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