The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1908-09-19
THEY ARE CONVERT!
Some Of the Noted Danes,
Swedes and Norwegians
Who Have Accepted the True
Faith.


dinavia had well-nigh become obliter-
ated; but a new era now seems to
have daWned in the far North, and the
strayed children Of SITS. Canute, Olaf,
Eric and Bridget are returning to the
old paths trodden by their ancestors,
says Scanned O'Neill in the Rosary
Magazine.
Dr. Maurice Francis Egan, on his
arrival at Copenhagen as our Minis
ter to Denmark. finds, besides the dip
lomats from Catholic countries, quite
a colony Of Danish Catholics, some Of
whom are worth more than a passing
notice.
When DR.. Egan attends Mass he is
sure to find present in the church Her
Royal Highness the Princess Valde-
mar of Denmark born Marie, daugh-
ter of the Due d'Chartress and wife
Of the present Kings brother, and her
only Catholic child, the Princess Mar
garet. (All the boys of this mixed
marriage have been raised in the reli-
gion of their father.)
Count Won Moltke- Huitfeldt, son Of
the late Danish Minister at Paris, who
is married to Miss Bonaparte Of Balti-
more, is a prominent Danish Catholic.
His father the Count, kinsman Of
Field Marshal Won Moltke,, Of Ger
many, was a fervent convert, as was
his WIFE 1t was while serving as
Minister at Paris that the Count met
with his fatal illness. Previously he
had represented Denmark at Wash
ington.
lady who is SO we'll known as "the
Madam de Stael," of Denmark. Per-
| haps after while we shall hear more
l of this lady through DR.. Egan. Still
another convert is the Countess ALL
feldt-Lauriger. relative of the late
Minister of the Interior. Her mother,
the Baroness RosenvernL ehn, fol-
lowed her into the Church, as did her
two sisters. one Of whom is married
to Baron Wedel Jarlsberg, Swedish
chamberlain at the Vatican.
Looking back over the list of noted
Countess Holstein- Ledraborg, who
with her husband. a leader Of the ma
jority in the Danish Parliament. was
received into Catholic communion in
1867 The Countess, after her con-
version erected churches, established
schools, brought nuns to Denmark, and
in every way proved her love for Our
Lord by her zeal for the spread Of
His Church. God had given her am
pile means. which she almost entirely
used for the Church and the poor.
She was indeed valiant woman. and
mark.
But these last two converts were
not the first Danes to abandon Lu-
theranism. AS early as the year 1910
Baron Eckstein. the publicist, had be-
came Catholic; and in 1870 Rev. DR..
Karl Hoffding Nuns. pastor in Copen-
hagen, and Baron Henry Lovenskiold
Lovenberg made their submissions. In
fact. it has been from the ranks of
the nobility that almost all of the
Danish converts have come to us.
Among other prominent converts are
numbered the following: Admiral
d'Ullrich's daughter. Rev. Jurgen Han
sen. pastor in Copenhagen; Baron and
Baroness d'Bulow; Gunar Elinarson,
son Of the statesman of that name;
Jensen the painter, Rev. Dean Kofoed-
Hansen, for twenty years president Of
the Lutheran chapter of Copenhagen
and an author of various theological
works; Rev. Mr.. Brockendorfr, a min
lister in Seeland; Father Jcrgenson, q
graduate OF the University Of Copen-
hagen and now a missionary In North
Adelaide; Morgeus Balm, the painter,
a Benedictine at Beuron; Madam Ber-
ling, wife of a Royal Chamberlain:
Father Won Hammerstein. S. j.. once
a Lutheran minister; Johannes Jor-
censor, the we'll known poet and writ
er. These are few names taken at
random from long list in the possess
sion Of the writer.
Sweden. from the time Of Gustavus
Adolphus, has been the most intensely
Protestant country in the world. al
though the services in some Of the
Lutheran churches are carried out
with wealth of ritual unknown in
any other part Of the established
Church of Scandinavia. In many re-
spects many of the Swedish clergy
resemble the advanced Anglicans OF
this country, and some Of them be-
lieve in apostolic orders
The most interesting OF all the