St. Svithun's Church (Stavanger)

St Svithun's Church (or St Swithun's Church, Norwegian: Sankt Svithun kirke) is the parish church of the Roman Catholic Church in Stavanger, Norway. The church is dedicated to St Swithun of Winchester. St Swithun is the Patron saint of Stavanger, and the Stavanger Cathedral of the Church of Norway, built in 1125, was dedicated to St. Svithun, centuries before the Protestant Reformation.[1][2] The first Catholic church in Stavanger after the Reformation was consecrated in 1898.

For the cathedral named St. Svithun's Cathedral until the Protestant Reformation, see Stavanger Cathedral.
St. Swithun's Church
Sankt Svithun kirke
58°57′57.082″N 5°43′46.776″E
LocationSt. Svithuns gt. 8
Stavanger
CountryNorway
DenominationRoman Catholic
WebsiteSt Swithun's Church (in Norwegian)
History
StatusParish Church
DedicationSaint Swithun
Consecrated1983
Architecture
Functional statusActive
Architect(s)Thomas Thiis-Evensen
Grete Stuen
Administration
DioceseOslo
ParishSt Svithun
Clergy
Bishop(s)Bernt Ivar Eidsvig

The current postmodern church was designed by architect Thomas Thiis-Evensen, and built in 1983. The congregation moved to the larger, current church. The church has increased sharply over the last 40 years due to increased immigration in relation to the oil industry and the NATO center, and due to increased immigration from Catholic countries. The strong growth in membership over the past 20 years led to a wish to extend the current church in addition to start with several other booth locations. Already in 1996, the congregation started planning an expansion of the church, and expansion of the church building until nearly 600 seats was completed in 2012 as a continuation of the existing church idiom.[3][4]

References
  1. Særheim, Inge: Official urban naming : cultural heritage and identity. Onoma, 42, 176-177 University of Stavanger, 2007 (in English)
  2. Stavanger byleksikon (2008), page 60 ISBN 9788281400177 (in Norwegian)
  3. "St. Svithun Katolske Kirkes historie", St Svithun's Church, Stavanger's history], stavanger.katolsk.no; accessed 20 September 2016. (in Norwegian)
  4. "Innviet landets største katolske kirke", Stavanger Aftenblad, 6 October 2012. (in Norwegian)
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