St. Canute Lavard

Faithfulness to Christ when it cost everything.

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January 7 · Martyr

St. Canute Lavard

St. Canute Lavard

Faithfulness to Christ when it cost everything.

Traditional feast

January 7
1914 / pre-1969 calendar, per Baring-Gould (1914)

Current feast

January 7
Secondary source · Wikipedia

Represents

Martyr

Their story

Adapted in modern English from Baring-Gould (1914) · original text below

Canute Lavard was the son of Eric the Good, king of Denmark. Because Canute was very young, his half-brother Niels took the throne, and Niels's son Magnus was brought up with Canute. Canute bought the duchy of Schleswig and cleared the Danish seas and islands of pirates. A captured pirate once cried out that he was of royal blood and kin to the duke. 'Then,' said Canute, 'you shall hang from the masthead, above the others.'

He later also became ruler of the Wends (Slavs). His gentleness, virtue and piety made him popular, and Magnus feared he would claim the Danish crown, to which he had a better right. In January 1131 (Baring-Gould gives 1133), Magnus lured his unsuspecting kinsman into a wood near Ringsted, surrounded him with armed men, and killed him. He was canonized (officially declared a saint by the pope) in 1170.

Why they’re the patron of…

  • Ringsted and Schleswig ·
    He was duke of Schleswig, and Ringsted is his burial place.

Early life

Selected sentences from the original account, unaltered.

Canute Lavard was second son of Eric the Good, King of Denmark. His elder brother, Nicolas, became King of Denmark, though he was illegitimate, as Canute was very young. Nicolas had a son named Magnus, who was also brought up with Canute.

What they represent

How they teach us to live

Drawn from themes in the original account

Learn from the kind of life it was. Faithfulness to Christ when it cost everything.

Keep their day. Remember them on January 7 with a short prayer, and ask for their help.

Read more

The full original · 348 words

Read Baring-Gould’s full account

Baring-Gould’s sources: Schleswig and Scandinavian Breviaries. Life in Knytlinga Saga, Saxo Grammaticus, Schleswig Breviary, &c.

Canute Lavard was second son of Eric the Good, King of Denmark. His elder brother, Nicolas, became King of Denmark, though he was illegitimate, as Canute was very young. Nicolas had a son named Magnus, who was also brought up with Canute. Canute purchased the duchy of Schleswig, and occupied himself with clearing the seas and islands of Denmark of the pirates who infested them. On one occasion, a pirate whom he had captured, and condemned with others to be hung, cried out that he was of royal blood, and was related to Canute. "Then," said the duke, "you shall hang at the topmast head above the others."

Henry, King of the Sclaves, being dead, Canute succeeded him. The popularity of this prince, owing to his gentleness, virtue, and piety, stirred up the envy of Magnus, who feared lest he should put in a claim to the throne of Denmark, to which indeed he had a right prior to Magnus and his father. In order to make sure of the succession, Magnus decoyed his unsuspicious kinsman into a wood, surrounded him with armed men, and killed him.

FOOTNOTES:

[31] On the Blackwater; there is no city there now, but numerous traces of an ancient settlement, and an old chapel marks the site, in the parish of Bradwell.

[32] Lastingham, near Pickering, in Yorkshire.

[33] Bede [English monk and historian (d. 735)] iii. 25.

S. Lucian , B. M. , and Companions , at Beauvais . S. Patiens , B. of Metz, circ. a.d. 152. S. Atticus , Patr. of Constantinople , a.d. 425. S. Severinus , P. and Apostle of Austria , a.d. 482. S. Severinus , B. C., in Italy, 6th cent. B. Baldwin , Archdeacon of Laon, M., 6th cent. S. Frodobert , Ab., at Troyes, 7th cent. S. Gudula , V., at Brussels, circ. a.d. 712. S. Pega , V., in England, circ. a.d. 718. S. Erard , Bishop in Bavaria, 8th cent. S. Garibald , B. of Ratisbon [Regensburg in Bavaria], circ. a.d. 1252. S. Wulsin , B. of Sherbourn , a.d. 983. S. Laurence Justiniani , Patr. of Venice , a.d. 1455.

Feast days

Feast: January 7

Nine days · Free

Pray the novena
with us.

One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from St. Canute Lavard's story, and a nudge to keep going.

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St. Cedd of London

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← All 1727 saints in the library
Sources & notes

Feast-day sources

Story sources

Sources

Credits

Image: Knut Lavard.jpg · No machine-readable author provided. FredrikT assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new and revised edition (Edinburgh: John Grant, 1914; first edition 1872). Public domain.

Image: No machine-readable author provided. FredrikT assumed (based on copyright claims)., Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new and revised edition (Edinburgh: John Grant, 1914; first edition 1872). Public domain in the United States. Reproduced unedited, except for short bracketed notes in grey that we added to explain names and terms (“S.” is the old abbreviation for Saint). Some history and judgments reflect 19th-century scholarship.