| Sunniva | | | | and children pray for salvation and when the earl |
| Scandinavian form of the Old English name | | | | and his people entered the island, big blocks of |
| Sunngifu, which meant "sun gift" from the Old | | | | rocks fell down in the entrance of their cave and |
| English elements sunne "sun" and giefu "gift". This | | | | blocked its entrance totally. They were not |
| was the name of a legendary English saint who | | | | discovered due to this fact, and the earl had to |
| was shipwrecked in Norway and killed by the | | | | leave the island without finding any Vikings settled |
| inhabitants. | | | | there. |
| Saint Sunniva (10th century) is the patron saint of | | | | After some time, two farmers from the |
| the Norwegian Diocese of Bjørgvin, as well as | | | | Firdafylke, Tord Eigileivsson and Tord Jorunsson |
| all of Western Norway. According to legend, | | | | were traveling to Trondheim. Then, one night |
| Sunniva was the heir of an Irish kingdom, but had | | | | when they had anchored up at the island Selje, |
| to flee when a heathen king, who wanted to | | | | they discovered a strange light over the island. It |
| marry her, invaded. At the Norwegian island of | | | | came down from the sky and assembled on one |
| Selja, in the present-day municipality of Selje, she | | | | place on the beach so the glow shined in the |
| and her followers took refuge in a cave. The | | | | ocean. They made it to the shore and found a |
| locals suspected the foreigners of stealing their | | | | scull on the beach, snow white and with a sweet |
| sheep, and the king HÃ¥kon Jarl was sent for. | | | | smell. They did not understand this, but would like |
| Sunniva and her followers prayed to God that | | | | to take it with them to the Earl Hakon - Hakon |
| they should not fall into the hands of the | | | | Jarl. He had been killed in the meantime till they |
| heathens, upon which rocks fell down blocking the | | | | arrived in Trondheim, but in their continued travel |
| entrance to the cave. | | | | they arrived to the king Olav Tryggvason, who |
| Sunniva and the others died in the cave, but in | | | | now ruled in Norway. The new king and the |
| the years to come miracles were reported on the | | | | bishop Sigurd understood that the skull was a |
| island. When the Christian king Olaf Tryggvason | | | | relique. They made sure the two farmers where |
| excavated the cave in 996, the body of Sunniva | | | | baptized and taught in the Christian faith, and |
| was found intact. Later a Benedictine monastery | | | | asked people about this island Selja. |
| was built on the site, the ruins of which can still be | | | | After this, they sailed to the island and found the |
| seen. | | | | cave where they found Sunniva., she was as |
| During the fires in Bergen in 1170/71 and in 1198 | | | | whole as she was only sleeping and together with |
| the remains of Sunniva were taken from the | | | | her were lots of skeletons that sent out the |
| Christchurch and sat down by Sandbru. This | | | | same sweet smell as the skull had done. Olav |
| reportedly halted the advance of the fire and was | | | | Tryggvason made a chapel in front of the cave |
| hailed as a miracle | | | | and made a small church below this location. |
| Around 1170 the story of Sunniva was written | | | | Human bones that they had found were put in a |
| down in a Latin hagiographic work titled Acta | | | | shrine which was made in the name of Saint |
| sanctorum in Selio. | | | | Sunniva. This event took place in the year 996. |
| Sunniva wa an irish princess which was | | | | The day of memorial for Sunniva is the July 8th. |
| extraordinary beautiful and wise. She decided very | | | | Sunniva became the protection saint for the |
| early to forsake the marriage and become Kristi | | | | western Norway and Selja became bishops seat |
| bride. After her fathers death whe had to rule his | | | | for the Gulating region. In 1170 the bishops seat |
| kingdom with the help of relatives, family and | | | | was moved to Bergen and Sunnivas shrine was |
| friends. When she decided to decline a foreign | | | | transferred to Church of Christ and put on the |
| Viking kings proposal for marriage, he plundered | | | | high alter on August 31st 1170 by bishop PÃ¥l. |
| her land. Sunniva declared in the summoning that | | | | At least the part of the shrines of the Selje men |
| she would leave Ireland and become Kristi | | | | left on the island. On Selje the benedict munch |
| foresight and travel to unknown land with people | | | | moved in, probably from England, and built a |
| who would follow her on this journey. | | | | monastery they named after St Alban (according |
| She left with a flock of veaponless men in three | | | | to the legend , Sunnivas brother Alban was with |
| ships without any sails, rudder and ores and let | | | | her on this venture). Judged by the excavations |
| herself and her companionship be lead by the sea | | | | around the monastery ruins they had a boys |
| currents. They were lead north of Scotland, | | | | school there, and had been hit by both fires and |
| passed Orkenys and the Viking nests found on | | | | epidemics before the reform. Traditions tells us |
| the main land to the Firdafylke, where the | | | | that the monastery was idle and abandoned |
| inhabitants thought she and her travel companions | | | | already before the reform after it had been |
| where enemy Vikings and cast stones and | | | | trashed by Swedes before this event. |
| arrows at them. This event is documented in | | | | In 1668 it is told about a protestant priest widow |
| Acta Sanctorum in Selio. A storm divide the three | | | | which the successor of the Selje monastery |
| ships, one ended up on the small Island Kinn, north | | | | would not marry nor provide for. As a revenge |
| of Sognefjorden. The irish pilgrims on this ship | | | | for this, she burned all the archives of the |
| must have live an isolated life through their | | | | monastery. But tradition tells us that Olav the |
| lifetime, like other lonely souls on the islands in the | | | | holly has nealed in front of the small Church of |
| Atlantic ocean. | | | | Sunniva and the chapel in front of the cave. He |
| The two other ships drifted off with Sunniva | | | | landed on the island Selja on his way home from |
| further north to the island Selja, in a bay at Stad | | | | England when he wanted to conquer Norway and |
| where they could find fresh water, fish and birds | | | | follow Olav Tryggvasons mission. |
| for survival. They did not meet any people there, | | | | The holy Sunniva and the Seljemen: Seljumanna |
| so they settled in natural caves in the mountain | | | | mass. The day is also marked on the Norwegian |
| sides there. However, inhabitants by the fjord | | | | Prime pin. She also has a translation feast (Sunniva |
| nearby felt threatened because their sheep | | | | translatio) August 31st , in memory of the |
| grassed on this island. Hakon Jarl, the king sent | | | | transfer of Sunniva's remains to Bergen. The |
| men to the island to get rid of Sunniva and her | | | | catholic church in Molde is named after her. |
| people in the faith they were Vikings. On the | | | | When performing a Google search for Sunniva, it |
| island Sunniva and her followers of men, women | | | | gives 523,000 hits. |