The Diocese of Hålogaland (, historically: ) was a

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

in the

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

. The Diocese covered the Lutheran

churches located within all of

Northern Norway Northern Norway (, , ; ) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the three northernmost counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway (from south to no ...

(including

Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...

Troms Troms (; ; ; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. It borders Finnmark county to the northeast and Nordland county in the southwest. Norrbotten Län in Sweden is located to the south and further southeast is a shorter border with ...

, and

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

county along with the territory of

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

). The diocese was headquartered in the city of Tromsø at the Tromsø Cathedral. The diocese was dissolved in 1952 when it was split into the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland and the

Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland Sør-Hålogaland is a diocese in the Church of Norway. The Diocese covers the Lutheran Church of Norway churches located within Nordland county in Norway. The diocese is headquartered in the Bodø (town), town of Bodø at Bodø Cathedral, the sea ...

History

Originally, this area was a part of the great

Diocese of Nidaros Nidaros is a diocese in the Lutheran Church of Norway. It covers Trøndelag county in Central Norway and its cathedral city is Trondheim, which houses the well-known Nidaros Cathedral. Since 10 September 2017, the Bishop of Nidaros is Herborg ...

, which covered all of Norway from

Romsdalen Romsdalen is a valley in the western part of Norway. The long valley runs from the Romsdalsfjorden through Rauma Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county and into Lesja Municipality in Innlandet county. It is the valley of the Rauma (river), Rau ...

north. On 30 December 1803, the

King of Norway The Norwegian monarch is the head of state of Norway, which is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system. The Norwegian monarchy can trace its line back to the reign of Harald Fairhair and the previous petty king ...

named Peder Olivarius Bugge the "Bishop of

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

and

Romsdal Romsdal is a Districts of Norway, traditional district in the Norwegian county Møre og Romsdal, located between Nordmøre and Sunnmøre. The district of Romsdal traditional comprises the areas that are part of Aukra Municipality, Molde Municipal ...

" and also named Mathias Bonsach Krogh the "Bishop of

and

", thus essentially splitting the diocese into two (but legally it was one diocese with two bishops). The new Bishop Krogh made Alstahaug Church the seat of his bishopric in the north, while Bishop Bugge stayed in

at the

Nidaros Cathedral Nidaros Cathedral () is a Church of Norway cathedral located in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county. It is built over the burial site of Olav II of Norway, King Olav II ( 995–1030, reigned 1015–1028), who became the patron saint of th ...

. The new diocese in the north was formally established on 14 June 1844 as ''Tromsø stift'' and it was to be seated in the city of Tromsø. Work on a new cathedral was begun soon after. The new Tromsø Cathedral was completed in 1864. The name of the diocese was changed to ''Hålogaland bispedømme'' in 1918. In 1952, the Diocese of Hålogaland was split into two: the

(which covered Nordland county) and the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland (which included

and

county and

Bishops

Below is a list of the bishops of Hålogaland during its whole existence. *1804-1828: Mathias Bonsach Krogh *1830-1848: Peder Christian Hersleb Kjerschow *1849-1855: Daniel Bremer Juell *1855−1860: Knud Gislesen *1861−1867: Carl Peter Parelius Essendrop *1868−1876: Fredrik Waldemar Hvoslef *1876−1885: Jakob Sverdrup Smitt *1885−1892: Johannes Nilssøn Skaar *1893−1909: Peter Wilhelm Kreydahl Bøckmann *1910−1918:

Gustav Dietrichson Gustav Johan Fredrik Dietrichson (8 April 1855 – 19 March 1922) was a Norwegian theologian and priest. He served as bishop of both the Diocese of Hålogaland and the Diocese of Hamar. Dietrichson was born in the state of Wisconsin. His parent ...

*1918−1928: Johan Støren *1928−1937: Eivind Berggrav *1937−1939: Sigurd Johan Normann *1940−1952: Wollert Krohn-Hansen

References

Haalogaland Nordland Troms Finnmark Culture of Svalbard {{Lutheran-stub