The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-04-18
CATHOLICITY IN DENMARK
AN ACCOUNT OF THE PRESENT
POSITION OF THE CHURCH
AMONG THE DANES-A WON
DERFUL GROWTH IN NUMBERS
AND INFLUENCE SINCE 1860.

The Rev. J. B. Metzler, S. j., gives
America" an interesting account of
Catholic mission work in Denmark, a
country so effectually stolen from the
true religion at and after the Reform
alton that the last vestiges of it had
almost disappeared, till the present
venerable Bishop Won Euch set his
missionary foot in that Scandinavian
Kingdom. Father Metzler tells us
that four years after his ordination to
the priesthood in Hanover, that is to
say, in 1864, he was placed in charge
of the scattered Catholics of Jutland,
Denmark, embracing, besides that
province, the whole of the country
outside of Copenhagen. At first he
had but seventy souls to look after,
and in 1884 there were no more than
800, nearly all of them his own con-
verts.
Since 1884, and especially since he
was consecrated Bishop in 1892, i'm
mense progress has been made, as is
shown by the following figures:
In 1860 there were in Denmark only
1,240 Catholics out of total popula-
ton of 1,6O8,362. Today the Catholics
not counting the Catholic Polish i'm
migrants-number 1900 out of a
population of 2,842,264. Relatively, the
number of Catholics in the last half
century has increased fivefiold; taken
absolutely the increase has been ten
fold. These facts manifest very mark
ed progress, the more so since this
growth has come not through the in
f1ux of Catholics from other countries,
but solely through the conversion of
native inhabitants of other beliefs.
The number of conversions to the
Faith averages about two hundred a
year. Many of these converts belong,
of course, to the humber classes, but
still there are not a few among them
of high rank and position. Forty mem
bers of noble families have entered
the Church, among them Count Johann
Ludwig Won Holstein-Ledreborg, who
later became Prime Minister So also
quite number of University men, not
to mention the well-known author,
Johannes Jorgenson, and the parlia-
mentarian, Jens Busk, together with
quite a number of Lutheran clergy
men.
The Catholics, moreover, in spite of
their small numbers, have already
created quite a respectable literature
of their own, which is all the more
remarkable as most of the writer's re-
ceive no material compensation for
their labors.
Little wonder then that the Catho-
lies Of Denmark, in spite of the few
ness of their numbers, have already
won for themselves an important posi-
ton in the country.
This truly missionary Bishop has
been well supported by his priests and
religious communities, most of whom
he has himself introduced into the
country.
The secular clergy number only
twenty; but they are manfully sup
ported in the care of souls by the
different Orders and Congregations
of regulars. Of these latter there are
at present in Denmark nine religious
Orders and Congregations of men,
with a total of about 100 members
in sixteen residences: Franciscans,
Jesuits, Redemptorists, Lazarists,
Marists, Premonstratensians, Camil-
lians, Fathers Of the Sacred Heart
and School Brothers. These are as
sisted by nine religious communities
of women, numbering in all about $50
religious in thirty-eight converts.
These religious Orders and Congrega-
lions have proved their efficiency in a
remarkable degree in Denmark. The
Sisters of Charity in particular have
by their unselfish work done more to-
wards refuting the numerous preju-
dices and calumnies against Catho-
hcity than the most learned apologize
treatises could have done. Their work
in the schools and hospitals was an
effective illustration of what was
taught from the pulpit, and the heroic
example they gave of charity and
self-denial reflected brightly on the
Church in whose service they labored.