Our Lady of Gudbrandsdalen

Down through the ages, the Virgin Mary has appeared to people at well-known places — in Lourdes, Fatima, Guadalupe and many more. Often she appeared in the dress of the people she came to, to show that she is Mother and Queen for all peoples. We find a foreshadowing of this in the Book of Revelation, where she is surrounded by twelve stars, representing both the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles.

It has also given rise to a folk tradition of making Mary patroness of countries and regions: the Black Madonna of Częstochowa, Queen of Poland, Our Lady of La Vang in Vietnam, Our Lady of Walsingham in England and Our Lady of Mount Carmel, to name a few.

Since Mary is Mother to all people and Queen over every place, I (Fr. Mathias) began, some years ago, to wish to see our own Norwegian version of Our Lady. We already have beautiful Marian statues, such as Our Lady of Hedalen stave church and the Enebakk Madonna, which long adorned St. Olav Cathedral in Oslo.

I was then told of a painting in Lom stave church showing the Coronation of the Virgin — a deeply Catholic motif — painted in 1712, almost two hundred years after the Reformation. It suggested that Marian devotion had lived on in the hearts and memory of the people in the countryside. The painting in Lom is only one example of Marian devotion in Gudbrandsdalen; there are also beautiful, old statues from Dovre and Gausdal.

My great wish was to have an image of 'Our Lady of Gudbrandsdalen'. It was fulfilled in a surprising way: an artistic talent picked up every detail and, in secret, drew such an image. The prototype was later developed further, was painted and ended up as the motif on the card for my diaconal ordination and subsequently my priestly ordination. I could not have imagined a more beautiful image for such occasions!

To honour Our Lady of Gudbrandsdalen we have made her a hymn, inspired by "the Lily poem", a norse medieval song/poem written by Brother Eysteinn, an Icelandic monk in the 14th century and set to the melody of a folk tune lullaby from Gudbrandsdalen. Watch the video underneath to hear the hymn and see the translation into English in the comment section.