Garðar, Greenland

Diocese

Bishops

• The first bishop of Garðar, Arnaldur, was ordained by the Archbishop of Lund in 1124. He arrived in Greenland in 1126. He began the construction of the cathedral dedicated to St Nicholas, patron saint of sailors.
• The diocese was first assigned to the ecclesiastical province of the German Metropolitan Archbishopric of Bremen. The diocese was subject to the Archdiocese of Lund from 1126–1152. Arnaldur returned to Norway in 1150 and became bishop of Hamar in 1152.
• In 1152, this diocese, as well as those of Iceland, the Isle of Man, the Orkney Islands and the Faroe Islands, became suffragans to the newly established Norwegian Metropolitan Archdiocese of Nidaros. The second bishop was Jón Knútr, who served from 1153–1186.
• The third bishop was Jón Árnason. He took office in 1189. In 1202–1203 he went on a pilgrimage to Rome and met Pope Innocent III. He died in Garðar in 1209 and was buried there, most likely in the Northern Chapel of the cathedral.
• The next bishop, Helgi, arrived in Greenland in 1212 and was bishop until his death in 1230.
• In 1234, Nikulás was ordained. He arrived in Greenland in 1239. He died in 1242.
• Ólafr was ordained in the same year, arriving in 1247. He remained bishop until the mid-1280s. He was abroad from 1264 to 1280, thus hardly serving in his own diocese.
• The next bishop was Þórdr, who stayed in Garðar from 1289 until his return to Norway in 1309.
• The next bishop was Árni, from 1315 to 1347. Due to poor communication between Greenland and Norway, it was assumed that he had died and a new bishop was ordained in 1343. When it was discovered that bishop Árni was still alive, Skalli resigned and never went to Greenland.
• After Árni's death in 1347, worsening communications delayed the arrival of the next bishop, Norwegian cleric Ivar Bardsson. He served as principal during the interim period. Bishop Álfr was ordained in 1365 and served as the last effectively residential bishop of Garðar until 1378.
• The Greenland diocese disappeared in the 15th century, when ships from Norway stopped.

  List of residential bishops

Ghost see

• Henricus
• Bertholdus
• Jacobus Treppe, Friars Minor
• Nicolaus
• Robertus Ryngman, O.F.M.
• Gobelinus Volant, Canons Regular of Saint Augustine , next bishop of Diocese of Børglum
• Johannes Erles de Moys, O.F.M.
• Bartholomeus de Sancto Hyppolito, O.P.
• Gregorius
• Andreas
• Jacobus Blaa, Dominican Order
• Mathias Canuto, Benedictine Order
• Vincenz Kampe, O.F.M..

  Titular see

Remains