“This is where the church history in the Faroe Islands started,” Steintóra Poulsen, a 30-year-old priest in the Faroe Islands told me upon meeting. We were standing outside of Saint Olav’s Church in the village of Kirkjubøur, which was once the cultural and religious hub of the islands. The white church sat adjacent to the ocean, dating back to medieval times—the oldest of all 60 churches in the Faroe Islands.
“I started as a priest in this parish. When I come into the church, there’s a very special smell that I don’t get anywhere else; like a mix of wood and sea,” she shared over the loudly bleating sheep.
About a stone’s throw from Saint Olav’s sit the impressively intact ruins of the St. Magnus Cathedral, a stone structure dating back to the 1300s, partially protected from the elements in an effort of preservation. It’s a roofless wonder with a turf rim on the top edge, with grand arched doorways and windows. Adorned with moss-covered rocks, it felt like a living relic. “I like the tradition about this place; the whole village,” Poulsen told me as we walked past a 900-year-old farmhouse that has been occupied by the same family for 17 generations.
She spoke candidly about her path to becoming a priest, “I think since I was 12 years old, I was fascinated by this calling. I don’t consider it a job; it’s a life where you get to be part of other people’s lives. You get close to them and are there in the most sad times of their lives and the most happy times of their lives. I think the contact with the people made it an easy choice.”
With this as my last meeting in a place with such a rich history and hearing about her experience, it felt like I was unearthing the roots of what makes the Faroe Islands, the Faroe Islands. “People are helpful. Kids can have a free life here. You don’t have to plan everything… because of the weather, you can’t.”
