“Just as Bishop St. Henry arrived for the first time on Finnish territory 850 years ago and just as the diocese of Helsinki was founded 50 years ago, so we have experienced a special moment of union with the universal Church in commemorating our roots”, said Archbishop Jozef Wrobel of Helsinki in a briefing to SIR. The Archbishop welcomed Cardinal Joachim Meisner, archbishop of Cologne and special envoy of the Pope, and other religious and civil authorities of various European countries, who arrived in the Finnish capital for the celebrations of the two jubilee anniversaries of the local Church on 26 and 27 February: the 850th anniversary of the Catholic presence in the country and the half-century of life of the diocese. “The solemn celebrations continued Msgr. Wrobel were also an occasion to welcome the new Apostolic Nuncio, Msgr. Giovanni Tonucci, who arrived in Finland for the first time to attend such significant anniversaries. These guests have come to Finland by papal mandate and not by pure chance, because just as once St. Henry united the first faithful with the Church of Rome by laying the foundations of the new local Church, so today the envoys of the Pope represent the living pledge of our union with the Holy See”. According to the most recent historical research, St. Henry (Henrik) was the first bishop of Finland. He was of English origin and was bishop of Uppsala, in Sweden, during the reign of Swedish King Erik the Saint. By decision Pope Adrian IV, King Erik and Bishop Henrik undertook a journey of exploration in Finland around 1155. While the king returned to Sweden, the bishop chose to stay behind to continue the evangelization of the local populations. In this way he met his martyrdom at the hands of a peasant in the locality of Köyliö, in January 1156. First buried in a church in Nouisiainen, his ashes were translated to the cathedral of Turku (18 June 1300). Bishops of other Baltic and European countries and delegates of Protestant and Orthodox Churches also attended the jubilee celebrations.
