St Sunniva

Sunniva was the Christian daughter of an Irish king. She fled to sea to avoid a forced marriage with a heathen king. Eventually, she and her entourage were stranded on the tiny island of Selja in Nordfjord. The Irish refugees lived simply and sustained themselves by fishing in the sea. People living on the mainland thought Sunniva and her crew were robbers who stole livestock, so they decided to attack them. They sought shelter in a cave on the island and Sunniva prayed to God for help, at which point the mountainside collapsed over them.

When Olav Tryggvason became king, he was told about a strange light that could be seen shining over the island. Inside the landslide, they found a pile of human bones, yet Sunniva’s body was quite unharmed. In 1170, she was placed in a casket – the Sunniva Casket – which was later moved to the newly erected cathedral in Bergen. The casket was probably destroyed during the Reformation.

The statue

Sunniva is depicted with a large rock in her hand – a symbol of the mountainside that collapsed over her.