St Eugenia, our Church’s Patron Saint
(texts from 25th Sunday in ordinary time)
1 Timothy 2:1-8
Luke 16:1-13
Every Christian faces a serious decision: do I really want to serve God, or do I let other things determine my life?
Catholics who immigrate to Sweden may face this question more clearly than others. On the one hand, there is the faith that they inherited from their parents as children and brought with them from their home country. The prayers, the liturgy, and the morals taught by the Church. On the other hand, there is the desire to settle down properly in Sweden and to find social acceptance. And the wish to no longer be criticised because one, for religious reasons, does not want to participate in some things that are quite normal in today’s secular Swedish society.
‘No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.’
Jesus’ words could also apply to us Catholics in Sweden, and not only to those who have immigrated from abroad. Who do I really serve? God? Or one of the many idols of modern, secularised society?
Today, Catholics in Sweden have it relatively easy to live their faith. In earlier times, this was much more difficult. After the Reformation, the Catholic faith was simply banned in Sweden. Anyone who wanted to be a Catholic had to leave the country or face execution. The only places where Catholic Masses were celebrated were a few foreign embassies. Swedes were forbidden to attend them.
However, Catholics from abroad gradually began to migrate to Sweden: Germans, French, Austrians and Italians. Their manpower and skills were needed. But it was very difficult for them to remain faithful to their Catholic faith.
In 1781, greater freedoms were finally granted to Catholics from abroad. They were now allowed to have their own churches and priests and to form a parish. But life as a Catholic was still not easy. Many became indifferent to their religion. It was simply too exhausting to live actively as a Catholic.
It cannot be said that Catholics in Sweden were able to ‘lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way’ during these years. At the beginning of the 19th century, there was only one Catholic priest in the whole of Sweden for a period of 20 years. There were many restrictions on Catholic life. And a great deal of mistrust from the state. Being a Catholic was almost synonymous with being an enemy of the state.
We have heard from Apostle Paul’s letter to Timothy the call to ‘supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.’ It can be assumed that Catholics in Sweden have followed St Paul’s call. For the prayer seems to have been answered: slowly, the situation improved. And this was on the initiative of members of the royal family. King Gustav III issued an edict of tolerance in 1781 that gave Catholics from abroad more freedoms, as already mentioned.
In 1823, Crown Prince Oskar married the Bavarian princess Josefina von Leuchtenberg, a Catholic. She was allowed to keep her Catholic faith even after the wedding. Oskar’s mother Desideria was also Catholic. So there were two Catholic women in the royal family. Josefina had brought her confessor from Germany, Jakob Laurenz Studach. In 1833, he became apostolic vicar for the north. With Josefina’s help, he collected money abroad to build a church. The new church was consecrated in 1837. It was located only a few metres from here, where the ‘Galleria’ shopping centre is located today. It was the first Catholic church to be built in the north after the Reformation. Its name: St. Eugenia.
Saint Eugenia was an Alsatian abbess from the eighth century. But the name Eugenia is also a tribute to the two Catholic queens who supported the new church: both Desideria and Josefina had ‘Eugenia’ as one of their given names. King Karl XIV Johan and Queen Desideria donated a baptismal font to the new church. You can see it over there. Also our tabernacle dates back to the old church.
Father Studach’s declared aim was not only to bring together Catholics from abroad, but also to establish the parish as a Swedish missionary parish. Prayer books were translated into Swedish. However, it was still officially forbidden for ordinary Swedes to attend a Catholic Mass. Converts still had to leave the country. It was not until 1855 that Swedes were allowed to attend Catholic liturgies. From 1860 onwards, converts to the Catholic Church were allowed to remain in the country.
Since then, the parish of St. Eugenia has consisted of both immigrant Catholics and local converts. These two groups still exist today, and this is particularly evident at the English-language evening Mass. The fact that we are able to celebrate Catholic Mass together here this evening is not something to be taken for granted. Let us thank God for this!
All of you who have come to Mass today have made a decision: you have decided to serve God. You have decided to devote this hour to prayer. You have decided to listen to God’s Word and to give your faith an important place in your lives.
Many generations of Catholics have done this before us. With God’s help, they overcame all difficulties. Even under intense pressure, they did not give in to the temptation to abandon their faith. Let us pray to the Lord that he may also grant us strong faith. Let us thank St Eugenia for her constant intercession for us and let us ask her for her prayer for us also today!
Like the Church throughout the world, our parish is built on the foundation of the apostles, and Jesus Christ himself is the cornerstone that holds everything together. All honour and glory be to him forever and ever! Amen.
