CONCERNING S. ULFRID, OR WOLFRED, MARTYR IN SWEDEN.
Year 1028.
CommentaryUlfridus sive Wolfredus, Martyr in Suecia (S.)
[1] Among the Apostles of the Swedes, Ulfrid, or Wolfred, is counted; whose birthday is set on 18 January by the English Martyrology, and after it by Ferrarius. His martyrdom is thus narrated by Adam of Bremen in his Ecclesiastical History, book 2, chapter 44. The birthday of S. Ulfrid, At that same time, a certain man from England named Wolfred, impelled by divine love, entered Sweden and preached the word of God to the Pagans with great confidence. When by his preaching he had converted many to the Christian faith, his zeal, he began to anathematize the idol of the nation, named Thorstan, in the council of the Pagans; and at the same time, seizing a double-axe, he cut it to pieces. For such deeds he was immediately pierced with a thousand wounds, his martyrdom, and sent forth his soul, worthy of the laurel of martyrdom, to heaven. His body the Barbarians tore apart and, after many insults, plunged into a swamp. These things, truly ascertained, I have committed to memory: although there are also other things that are still worthy of being written. So he says, who was made a Canon of Bremen forty-nine years after Wolfred's death.
[2] The same account from him is reported by Albert, Abbot of Stade, in his Chronicle at the year 1028; Albert Krantz, book 4 of Metropolis, chapter 8; Baronius, volume 11, year 1028, number 10; and Johann Vastovius in Vite Aquilonia, who interprets Thorstan as a statue of Jupiter, as it were Thore steen, from Thorus, or Thoron, the God of the Swedes. Thorus, God of the Swedes. And indeed Johann Magnus, in his History of the Swedes, book 2, chapter 9, writes that Thorus was held similar to Jupiter, as president of the air, thunder, lightning, clouds, and storms, as bestower of fertility, and as Prince of the other gods among those nations; and that Thursday and the month of January were dedicated to him. Krantz writes that Ulfrid proclaimed in the assembly: If your God Thorstan is powerful, let him avenge himself.