SAINT HENRY

St. Henry of Uppsala
Bishop, missionary, martyr
Born England
Died Traditionally January 20, 1156
Köyliö in Finland

Feast day: January 19

Died: 1156


Bishop and patron saint of Finland. Henry was an Englishman who accompanied Cardinal Nicholas Breakspear to Sweden and Norway in 1151. There he was made the bisho

Henry pictured in the seal of Bishop Benedictus of Turku in 1332.

p of Uppsala, Sweden. He accompanied King St. Eric of Sweden on a military campaign to Finland, never leaving that land again. Henry was murdered in Finland by an excommunicate named Lalli. He was never formally canonized.


Saint Henry (pyhä Henrik or piispa Henrik in Finnish, Biskop Henrik or Sankt Henrik in Swedish, Henricus in Latin; died allegedly 20 January circa 1156 was a medieval English clergyman. He came to Sweden with cardinal Nicholas Breakspeare 1153 and was propably designated to the new Archbishop of Uppsala, but the independent church province of Sweden could be established only 1164 after the civil war was over, and Henry would have been sent to organize the Church in Finland, where Christians had existed already at least two centuries. According to legends, he entered Finland together with King Eric the Saint of Sweden and died as a martyr, becoming a central figure in the local Roman Catholic Church. However, the authenticity of the accounts of his life, ministry, and death are widely disputed.