Olaf Offerdahl (12 December 1857,

Årdal Årdal is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located at the end of the Årdalsfjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The village of Årdalstangen is the administrative center of the municipality. The other main village is Ø ...

Sogn Sogn is a traditional district in Western Norway ''(Vestlandet)''. It is located in the county of Vestland, surrounding the Sognefjord, the largest/longest fjord in Norway. The district of Sogn consists of the municipalities of Aurland, Balestra ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

– 7 October 1930, Bussum,

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

) was apostolic administrator for

from 1928 to March 1930, when he was promoted to apostolic vicar, which he remained until his death later the same year. He was born on the croft Kleivi at Årdal,

. The family took the name of the farm the croft was a part of, Ofredal. Offerdahl took teacher education in Balestrand, and graduated in 1879. The same year he became a teacher in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

. In autumn 1880, he began working at the Catholic elementary school in

. On 31 October the same year, he converted from the Norwegian Church to the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. In autumn 1884, he began his priestly studies, first in Turnhout in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

to 1886 and then at Urbana Collegio de Propaganda Fide in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

for 1892. Offerdahl was ordained a priest on 22 November 1891 by Cardinal Lucido Maria Parocchi and summer of 1892 he returned to

. He was chaplain in

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...

to January 1894, temporary (acting minister) the same place until July 1895 and then pastor in

in 1897. He was then transferred to St. Olav Church in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, where he was chaplain to 1907 and as vicar until 1923. Then, he was parish priest in Arendal to June 1924, and as pastor of St. Hallvard's church in

, he took over as the apostolic administrator in 1928. On 12 March 1925, he had been appointed Chaplain, and in June the same year he was provicar, that is representative of the apostolic vicar, Johannes Olav Smit. When Smit resigned on 11 October 1928, Offer Dahl was appointed apostolic administrator, and on 13 March 1930 he was appointed Apostolic Vicar. On 6 April 1930, he was consecrated as the first Norwegian bishop since the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. Cardinal Wilhelm van Rossum ordained him as titular bishop of Selje. That fall, he became seriously ill during a trip to the Netherlands. On 7 October 1930, he died in

Bussum Bussum () is a commuter town and former municipality in the Gooi region in the south east of the province of North Holland in the Netherlands near Hilversum. Since 2016, Bussum has been part of the new municipality of Gooise Meren. Bussum had a ...

. He is buried at Our Savior's Cemetery in

External links

Profile
Catholic-Hierarchy.org. {{DEFAULTSORT:Offerdahl, Olaf Converts to Roman Catholicism from Lutheranism 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Norway 1857 births 1930 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic titular bishops Norwegian Roman Catholic bishops 20th-century Norwegian clergy