Pilgrimage to the Church of the Holy Cross in Fana
Saturday September 13
Holy Mass in Fana Church 5.00 p.m.
Welcome!
On foot From St. Paul Church – approx. 18 km, start 10.45 a.m. From Lagunen 4.5 km. – start v/Kroknåsvegen/Skeidar at 2.15pm From the old “Stend” station on the Os railway, we walk together to the Church in Fana at ca16.00 (1km)
By bus Bus 60 and 61 to Fana Church from Lagunen , On bike or by car Parking is available, but limited – car pools for the elderly should be arranged in groups.
Information about Fana Church and the Holy Cross.
We celebrate the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The feast has been celebrated since around the year 330 A.D. when Saint Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, discovered the cross of the Lord in Jerusalem. The feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross has become one of the most important days in the liturgy of the Church.
The Church of the Holy Cross in Fana was constructed during the second half of the 12th century, and was complete by sometime in the 1220s. The letter of conscription from Pope Gregory IX in 1228 reveals that the church by this time was both a parish church and a hospital church.
During the middle ages there was also a silver cross in Fana which, according to the legend, was pulled out of Fana fjord by two fishermen brothers. The cross soon became renowned as miraculous and during the middle ages there arose a tradition of pilgrimages to Fana Church. After the Reformation, in the 1530s, the cross was removed from the church and again found – in all probability the cross sank in the sea during the voyage to Bergen. Six cartloads of crutches and canes, that those who were healed had discarded during the centuries before the Reformation, were burned toward the end of the 16th century. After the Reformation, in the course of time, the pilgrimages to the church in Fana were forgotten.