What Was the First Diocese Established in North America?

The first diocese established in North America was not Mexico City or Quebec but Greenland. Viking Leif Erikson, son of Erik the Red, brought along Catholic missionaries when he sailed to Greenland from Norway in the year 1000. His father, exiled from Norway, had established a colony there in 986 at Brattahlid. Leif was raised in Greenland. When he came of age he harbored a yearning to visit his father’s homeland, so, with Erik’s permission, he set sail eastward with a company of other Norsemen. They were very hospitably received by the great Viking warrior, King Olaf. Olaf, although still a very young man, had retired his battle-axe and settled down to a more peaceful life. He was now a Christian, having been baptized two years before in England. Olaf instructed Leif in the Catholic religion, and the Faith found fertile soil in his heart. After his baptism, Leif felt compelled to return to Greenland with the good news of the gospel. King Olaf had missionaries accompany him for that purpose. Although the son of Erik could not convert his father, his mother did accept the Faith with great fervor. She pressured her husband into financing the construction of a church, Thjódhildur’s Church, at Brattahlid. This was the first Christian church built on the North American continent, the population of Greenland being then about 3000. A century later, in 1124, Pope Honorius II consecrated a bishop for Greenland, establishing it as a diocese. The episcopal residence was situated at Gardar (present-day Igaliku) close to Brattahlid (today’s Qassiarsuk).

King Olaf, by his support of the missionaries, converted practically all of Norway to the Catholic religion. He became a saint and a martyr. It was the zeal he displayed against idolatry, with the destruction of pagan temples, that earned Olaf a martyr’s crown in the year 1030.

Interesting aside: In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson, with the unanimous approval of Congress, declared October 9 Leif Erikson Day, thereby recognizing the fact behind the legend of the Erikson saga.