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The Most Reverend John Willem Gran | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Oslo | |
| Church | Roman Catholic |
| Diocese | Oslo |
| Installed | 25 November 1964 |
| Term ended | 26 November 1983 |
| Predecessor | Jacques Mangers |
| Successor | Gerhard Schwenzer |
| Previous post(s) | Coadjutor Bishop of Oslo(1962-1964) |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 21 May 1957 by Johannes Theodor Suhr |
| Consecration | 24 Mar 1963 by Jacques Mangers |
| Rank | Bishop |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 April 1920 |
| Died | 20 March 2008(2008-03-20) (aged 87) Paris,France |
| Buried | Bergen,Norway |
| Nationality | Norwegian |
Willem Nicolaysen Gran (monastic name: John; 5 April 1920 – 20 March 2008) was the bishop of theRoman Catholic Diocese of Oslo from 1963[1] to 1983.
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Gran traveled Europe at the end of the 1930s, with plans to take a degree in opera. When German forcesinvaded Norway in 1940, he was stuck in Italy and here he met active young Catholics. Though baptised at birth in the Norwegian Protestant Church, he had regarded himself as an atheist, considering Buddhist practice for a brief period. Gran converted toRoman Catholicism in 1941, and was confirmed inSt Peter's Basilica.
DuringWorld War II, Gran did military service, first stationed inLondon and then in peacetime he was posted in Norway, where in 1945-1946 he was a liaison officer atAkershus Fortress. During 1946–7, after discharge, he worked in the film industry as assistant director onOperation Swallow, which documented theNorwegian heavy water sabotage.
Gran felt an attraction to the monastic life, and in November 1949 he entered theCistercianTrappist monastery onCaldey Island off the coast ofPembrokeshire inWales. He took the name John. After theological studies at the monastery ofScourmont inBelgium, he was ordained a priest in Caldey Abbey in 1957 by Bishop Theodor SuhrOSB from Copenhagen.
Two years later he was sent to Rome for further theological studies and earned a licentiate. From 1960 to 1963 he served in the Order in Rome as a financial administrator. On 27 December 1962 PopeJohn XXIII named him Coadjutor-Bishop (Assistant Bishop) with the right of succession inOslo, and titular Bishop of Raphia. On 24 March 1963 he was consecrated in St Olav's cathedral in Oslo. He was appointed asBishop of Oslo after Jacob Mangers on 13 December 1964, and was in office until 26 November 1983, when he resigned.
As the newly appointed bishop, he was the only Norwegian to participate in theSecond Vatican Council in Rome. Gran was a member of thePontifical Secretariat for Christian Unity until 1970, and a member of thePontifical Secretariat for Dialogue with Non-believers until 1984. In 1984 he was appointed Commander of theOrder of St Olav.
In his later years he lived most of the time onCorsica. Bishop Gran died on 20 March 2008 in Paris, and was buried inBergen on 3 April 2008. He was the first Catholic bishop to be buried in Bergen since 1522, when Bishop Andor Ketilsson was buried there.
In 2001 he published "Det annet Vatikankonsil: oppbrudd og fornyelse"(The second Vatican council: departure and renewal), detailing his recollections of the council. He was part of the preparatory commission led by Cardinal Bea, and during the council he held a speech in favor of religious freedom.
