Saint Niels of Aarhus or Niels the Holy ( da, Niels den Hellige; before 1157 - 1180) was a Danish prince who lived an ascetic life and was revered as a

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

until the 18th century even though he was never

canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christianity, Christian communion declaring a person worthy of Cult (religious practice), public veneration and enterin ...

Biography

Born Niels Knudsen, he was an illegitimate son of King Canute V by an unknown woman. He was a brother of Bishop Valdemar of Schleswig. He was probably named after his great-grandfather King

Niels of Denmark Niels ( la, Nicolaus, English exonym Nicholas; – 25 June 1134) was the King of Denmark from 1104 to 1134. Niels succeeded his brother Eric Evergood and is presumed to have been the youngest son of King Sweyn II Estridson. King Niels actively ...

. As a young man, Prince Niels lost interest in life at the

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

and withdrew to the village of Skibby near Aarhus, where he built a church with his own hands. He lived a

ly life and helped the people in the area around Aarhus. One day, as he and a few men from the town were felling trees to build another church at Viby near the sea, one of the men complained that he was thirsty. St. Niels prayed for water and a spring appeared to slake the man's thirst; St. Niels's Spring (''Hellig Niels' Kilde'') has run ever since. It has been a place of pilgrimage for hundreds of years and many miraculous healings are said to have taken place there, especially on St. John's Day. On his death bed in 1180, St. Niels asked to be buried in "the little church by the sea" (St. Clements). He was buried in the churchyard at St. Clements Church.

Aarhus Cathedral Aarhus Cathedral ( da, Århus Domkirke) is a cathedral in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the longest and tallest church in the country, at in length and in height. The construction of Aarhus Cathedral began in the 12th century and it is the main edific ...

was later erected near the site and became the center of the local veneration of St. Niels of Aarhus (also called St. Nickolas). Carl Frederik Bricka (1887 - 1905)
Niels (''Hellig Niels'')
Dansk Biografisk Leksikon (p. 202), Vol. XII

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Year of birth uncertain 1180 deaths House of Estridsen Danish princes Danish Roman Catholic saints Roman Catholic royal saints 12th-century Christian saints Illegitimate children of Danish monarchs 12th-century Danish people 12th-century Christian monks History of Aarhus Medieval Danish saints Sons of kings {{Europe-royal-stub