3 February
Anskar, Archbishop of Hamburg, Missionary in Denmark and Sweden, 865

Anskar (in Latin, Ansgarius) was a monk of Saxon family, born in 801 (the year after the crowning of Charlemagne). In 1826, when King Harald of Denmark asked Charlemagne's successors for missionaries, Anskar led a group to Denmark, and a few years later to Sweden. Because of unsettled political conditions, his work ran into difficulties, and Anskar withdrew into Germany, where he served as first Archbishop of Hamburg. Later, however, he helped to consecrate Gotbert, the first bishop of Sweden. The Church of Sweden honours him as its apostle, and he serves as symbol of the historic friendship and present-day connection between the Anglican Churches and the Church of Sweden.