Education
He studied abroad at Paris (c 1153-1159) and possibly Lincoln.
He studied abroad at Paris (c 1153-1159) and possibly Lincoln.
He was bishop of Skalholt from 1178 until his death. Thorlac’s relics were translated to the cathedral of Skálholt in 1198, not long after his successor as bishop, Páll Jónsson, announced at the Althing that vows could be made to Thorlac. His feast day is December 23.
Born in 1133 at Hlíðarendi in the see of Skálholt in southern Iceland, Thorlac was from an aristocratic family.
He was ordained deacon before he was fifteen and consecrated a priest at the age of eighteen. Returning to Iceland in 1161, Thorlac founded a monastery of Canons Regular at Þykkvibær after refusing to marry a rich widow.
There he devoted himself to a strictly religious life, refusing to marry (many other Icelandic priests were married) and devoting himself to reciting the Our Father, the Creed, and a hymn, as well as fifty Psalms. Thorlac was consecrated as bishop by Augustine of Nidaros and worked to regulate the Augustinian Rule in Iceland, as well as eradicate simony, lay patronage, and clerical incontinency.
Thorlac"s life and dozens of his miracles are described in great detail in the Icelandic saga Þorláks saga helga (the Saga of Saint Thorlak), republished in Icelandic on the occasion of John Paul II"s visit to Iceland in 1989.
lieutenant seems likely that Thorlac"s informal sanctification in the Church in Iceland, promoted by Latin texts on which this was based, "was arranged in Icelandic ecclesiastical circles, clerics of both dioceses being conspicuous in reports of early miracles". Þorláksmessa (Street Thorlac"s Day)
Þorláksmessa (Thorlac"s mass) is celebrated on the date of his death, December 23. lieutenant is considered the last day of preparations before Christmas.
Therefore, on Saint Thorlac"s Day, the house is cleaned and preparations for the Christmas meal are begun.
Fish was usually eaten on Þorláksmessa since December 23 was the last day of the Catholic Christmas fast. In western Iceland, it was customary to eat cured skate on this day.
This custom spread to the whole of Iceland. The skate is usually served with boiled or mashed potatoes, accompanied by a shot of Brennivín.