Selja Abbey (''Selja kloster'') was a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

located on the island of Selja in the municipality of Stad,

Vestland Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, where t ...

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 ...

. The island of Selja, which has been formerly known as Sellø or Selø, is located 15 minutes by boat from Selje's mainland.

History

The monastery was founded in about 1100. The construction of the benedictine monastery is seen in the context of the legend of

Saint Sunniva Saint Sunniva (10th century; Old Norse ''Sunnifa'', from Old English ''Sunngifu'') is the patron saint of the Norwegian Church of Norway Diocese of Bjørgvin, as well as all of Western Norway. Sunniva was venerated alongside her brother Alban, w ...

, the patron saint of the Norwegian Ancient Diocese of Bergen. Known as Sunniva of Selja (''Sunniva av Selja''), according to legend Sunniva was the heir of an Irish kingdom who had to flee from a heathen king. She fled to island of Selja where she died. At the time of the abbey's foundation, the island of Selje was an important Christian site. It was the location of the original shrine of

and for that reason was a place of pilgrimage, and also the seat of a bishopric and a cathedral dedicated to

Saint Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

, established about 1070. The bishop was instrumental in the establishment of the monastery here, and throughout its history there remained a strong connection between the abbey and the bishopric. However, the bishop moved to

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 ...

shortly after the monastery was founded, although the shrine of Saint Sunniva did not leave the island for Bergen until about 1170. After that time the monastery remained here alone. For the first two centuries of its existence it was a thriving and important centre. Selja situated halfway between

and

Nidaros Nidaros, Niðarós or Niðaróss () was the medieval name of Trondheim when it was the capital of Norway's first Christian kings. It was named for its position at the mouth (Old Norse: ''óss'') of the River Nid (the present-day Nidelva). Althou ...

, was a natural stopover for travelers. But a disastrous fire in 1305 gave the abbey a blow from which it never recovered. It is not clear to what extent the monastery was rebuilt. The small remaining community may have been wiped out by the

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

in 1349, although there is a possibility that some sort of monastic community still existed on the island as late as 1451. If there was, it came to an end under Bishop Finnboge of Bergen (1461-1474), who dismissed the last abbot and took over the abbey estates for the use of the

See of Bergen The Catholic Diocese of Bergen or Diocese of Bjørgvin in Norway existed from the eleventh century to the Protestant Reformation (1537),

; an appeal to the Pope to divert them instead to the use of

Nidarholm Abbey Nidarholm Abbey was a Benedictine monastery located on the island of Munkholmen in Trondheim Fjord on the sea approach to Trondheim, Norway. History The monastery was founded either in 1028 by King Canute the Great or in about 1100 by Sigurd Ull ...

came to nothing. Selje Monastery -- Bell Tower

Site

Due to a lack of later habitation, the ruins the abbey as well as the shrine of Saint Sunniva and the cathedral are extensive and extremely well preserved. The artist

Bernt Tunold Bernt Tunold (February 25, 1877 – January 23, 1946) was a Norwegian painter. Influenced by his early years in a rural environment on the small island of Selja on the west coast of Norway, his paintings, initially inspired by the style of his c ...

(1877– 1946) spent his childhood and some of his adult life on the island and often painted the monastery ruins.

Gallery

File:Selje kloster Sunnivakirken.jpg File:Selje kloster alter Albanuskirken.jpg File:Selje kloster smia.jpg File:Selje kloster terrassemur foran Sunnivakirken.jpg File:Selje kloster helleren foran Mikaelskirken.jpg

References

Other Sources

Norges klostre i middelalderen: Selje kloster
(Den katolske kirke)

External links