Saint Unni was an archbishop of
Hamburg-Bremen
The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen (german: Fürsterzbistum Bremen) — not to be confused with the modern Archdiocese of Hamburg, founded in 1994 — was an ecclesiastical principality (787–1566/1648) of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic ...
(916 – 17 September 936). He died as a missionary in
Birka
Birka (''Birca'' in medieval sources), on the island of Björkö, Ekerö, Björkö (lit. "Birch Island") in present-day Sweden, was an important Viking Age trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia as well as many parts of the Europ ...
in
Sweden, where he tried to continue
Ansgar
Ansgar (8 September 801 – 3 February 865), also known as Anskar, Saint Ansgar, Saint Anschar or Oscar, was Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen in the northern part of the Kingdom of the East Franks. Ansgar became known as the "Apostle of the North" ...
's work.
According to
Adam of Bremen
Adam of Bremen ( la, Adamus Bremensis; german: Adam von Bremen) (before 1050 – 12 October 1081/1085) was a German medieval chronicler. He lived and worked in the second half of the eleventh century. Adam is most famous for his chronicle '' Ges ...
, his body was buried in Birka, but his head was entombed in
Bremen Cathedral
Bremen Cathedral (german: Bremer Dom or St. Petri Dom zu Bremen), dedicated to St. Peter, is a church situated in the market square in the center of Bremen. The cathedral belongs to the Bremian Evangelical Church, a member of the Protestant umbre ...
. When the altar was taken down in 1840, a leaden plate was found with the inscription "VNNIS ARCHIEP(is)-C(opus)". After Ansgar and
Rimbert of Turholt,
epithet
An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...
ised ''Apostle of the North'' and ''second Apostle of the North'', Unni is revered as ''third Apostle of the North'' and as Saint.
Literature
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Notes
936 deaths
10th-century archbishops
Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen
German Roman Catholic saints
Year of birth unknown
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