Erik Varden (born 13 May 1974) is a Norwegian Catholic prelate, spiritual writer, and

Trappist The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a Religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious o ...

monk. He has served as Bishop of Trondheim since 2020.

Early life and education

Varden was born in a non-practising

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

family in South Norway and grew up in the village of

Degernes Degernes is a village and parish in Rakkestad municipality in Østfold county, Norway. History Rakkestad was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). It was divided into the parishes of Rakkestad, Degernes, a ...

. After concluding his school education in Norway, he continued to study at the

Atlantic College UWC Atlantic (formally the United World College of the Atlantic, and often referred to by its original name, Atlantic College) is an Private schools in the United Kingdom, independent boarding school in the Vale of Glamorgan in south Wales. Fo ...

, Wales (until 1992) and then at

Magdalene College Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

(1992–1995) with

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree in Theology and Religious Studies through the Faculty of Divinity. He obtained a doctorate through the same faculty as a member of

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

, and subsequently a

Licentiate of Sacred Theology Licentiate in Sacred Theology (; abbreviated LTh or STL) is the second of three ecclesiastical degrees in theology (the first being the Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology and the third being the Doctorate in Sacred Theology) which are conferred ...

at the

Pontifical Oriental Institute The Pontifical Oriental Institute, also known as the Orientale, is a Catholic institution of higher education located in Rome and focusing on Eastern Christianity. The plan of creating a school of higher learning for Eastern Christianity had bee ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. He officially entered the Catholic Church in June 1993. In 2002 he was admitted to Mount St Bernard Abbey, a

monastery near

Coalville Coalville is a town in the district of North West Leicestershire in Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. In 2011, it had a population of 34,575. It lies on the A511 road, A511 between Leicester and Burton upon Trent, close to junct ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

, England 2002; he made his

profession A profession is a field of Work (human activity), work that has been successfully professionalized. It can be defined as a disciplined group of individuals, professionals, who adhere to ethical standards and who hold themselves out as, and are ...

on 1 October 2004 and solemn profession on 6 October 2007, and on 16 July 2011 was ordained a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

, in this community by Bishop Malcolm McMahon. From 2011 to 2013 he was a professor of

Syriac language The Syriac language ( ; ), also known natively in its spoken form in early Syriac literature as Edessan (), the Mesopotamian language () and Aramaic (), is an Aramaic#Eastern Middle Aramaic, Eastern Middle Aramaic dialect. Classical Syriac is ...

, monastic history, and

Christian anthropology In the context of Christian theology, Christian anthropology is the study of the human (anthropos) as it relates to God. It differs from the social science of anthropology, which primarily deals with the comparative study of the physical and soc ...

at the Pontifical Atheneum of St. Anselm in

Abbatial ministry

Varden left teaching at St. Anselm in Rome and returned to his abbey in 2013 upon his appointment as superior administrator of the abbey. On 16 April 2015, he became the eleventh abbot of Mount St Bernard Abbey, following a further election, also becoming the first abbot to have been born outside Britain or Ireland to govern this abbey. Varden is the author of books and articles in the field of Christian spirituality and monasticism. He is likewise a musician and studied

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek language, Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed main ...

under

Mary Berry Dame Mary Rosa Alleyne Hunnings (''née'' Berry; born 24 March 1935) is an English food writer, chef, baker and television presenter. After being encouraged in domestic science classes at school, she studied catering at college. She then move ...

, later co-founding the Chant Forum with Margaret Truran of

Stanbrook Abbey Stanbrook Abbey is a Catholic contemplative Benedictine Monastery with the status of an abbey, located at Wass, North Yorkshire, England. The community was founded in 1625 at Cambrai in Flanders (then part of the Spanish Netherlands, now in ...

. In 2015, Varden was interviewed as part of a

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

documentary, ''Saints and Sinners: Britain's Millennium of Monasteries'', by

Janina Ramirez Janina Sara Maria Ramirez (; ' Maleczek; born 7 July 1980), sometimes credited as Nina Ramirez, is a British art historian, cultural historian, and TV presenter. She specialises in interpreting symbols and examining works of art within their h ...

. In 2019 he was featured in the critically acclaimed feature documentary ''Outside the city'' (2019) by Nick Hamer, which was broadcast on BBC, and distributed by Verve Pictures. It won the 2022 Sandford St Martin Award and was nominated for an RTS Award for best documentary in the UK.

Bishop-prelacy of Trondheim

On 1 October 2019, he was appointed by

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

prelate of the Territorial Prelature of Trondheim in his native Norway, which had been vacant for the previous ten years. His episcopal consecration was scheduled for 4 January 2020, but was postponed on account of the short sabbatical period that was granted him as his request and on account also of the restrictions that were later imposed by the spread of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. Varden's episcopal consecration took place on 3 October 2020 in

Nidaros Cathedral Nidaros Cathedral () is a Church of Norway cathedral located in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county. It is built over the burial site of Olav II of Norway, King Olav II ( 995–1030, reigned 1015–1028), who became the patron saint of th ...

. He is the first native Norwegian Catholic bishop in Trondheim in modern times: his five predecessors were all German missionaries.

Bibliography

* * * * * ** German translation: ''Heimweh nach Herrlichkeit: Ein Trappist über die Fülle des Lebens'' (Freiburg: Herder, 2021) ** Italian translation: ''La solitudine spezzata: Sulla memoria cristiana'' (Magnano: Edizioni Qiqajon, 2019) ** Polish translation: ''Samotność przełamana'' (Poznań: W drodze, 2022) *

References

External links

Bishop Varden's websiteThe Catholic Church in Norway Official SiteThe Episcopal Ordination of Erik Varden
{{DEFAULTSORT:Varden, Erik 1974 births Living people People from Sarpsborg People educated at Atlantic College People educated at a United World College Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Pontifical Oriental Institute alumni Pontifical Atheneum of St. Anselm alumni Academic staff of the Pontifical Atheneum of St. Anselm 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Norway Converts to Roman Catholicism from Lutheranism Trappist bishops Norwegian Roman Catholic bishops 21st-century Norwegian clergy Bishops appointed by Pope Francis