214 W. E. Curtis — Pre-Columbian, Vatican Documents. 



parts of the ocean off the northern coast of the kingdom of Nor- 

 way, in the province of Drontheim, a mournful wail has reached 

 our ears and saddened our heart. This people nearly 600 years 

 ago received the faith from the lips of their glorious apostle, the 

 blessed King Olaf, and preserved it unchanged and pure, guided 

 by the ordinances of the holy Roman church and the apostolic 

 see. In the lapse of time, burning with a constant devotion, 

 they erected numerous churches and a splendid cathedral, in 

 which divine worship was faithfully carried on until, 30 years 

 ago, by the permission of Him who, in His inscrutable wisdom 

 and knowledge, chastises those whom He loves in order to per- 

 fect them, barbarians from the neighboring pagan shores sent a 

 fleet for the invasion of the island. The country was devastated 

 with fire and sword ; sacred temples were destroyed in the 

 whole island, which is said to be of vast extent. Only nine 

 parochial churches were left untouched, because they could 

 not easily be reached on account of their situation among the 

 mountains. Many of the miserable natives of both sexes who 

 seemed able to bear the yoke of perpetual slavery, and on 

 account of their physical endurance best fitted for the purposes 

 of their tyrants, were led away hj them captives. However, as 

 the same report added, after some time many of them returned 

 to their native shores, and having here and there re-erected 

 what the barbarians had demolished, they desired to spread 

 divine worship and restore it to its former splendor. But past 

 calamities had left them in such a starving and destitute condi- 

 tion that they were without the means of supporting a bishop 

 and priests, and unless, in their desire for religious services, they 

 could undertake a journey of many days to the churches which 

 had escaped the hands of the barbarians, they were for those 

 30 years in want of the solace of a pastor and the ministry of 

 piiests. Accordingly they have most humbly implored that in 

 our paternal commiseration we would aid them in the gratifica- 

 tion of their pious and salutary desire ; that we would deign 

 to satisfy their spiritual wants and show our benevolence and 

 that of the apostolic see in this matter. Wherefore, moved by 

 the just and lawful petitions and desires of the aforesaid natives 

 and inhabitants of the island of Greenland and not having cer- 

 tain knowledge of the above facts and their circumstances, we 

 by apostolic letters order one or both of you, whom we under- 

 stand to be of the neighboring bishops, after having diligently 



