Also known as Ansgarius or Scharies. Confessor of the faith; apostle of the North. Born in 801 at Picardy, France; died in 865 in Bremen, Germany. A Benedictine monk at Corbie, he went as a missionary to Sweden and on his return was made first Archbishop of Hamburg and papal legate of the northern nations. He revived the Abbey of Turholt in Flanders and established a school there. Winning the protection of King Eric of Denmark, he continued his missionary labors in Sweden and Denmark. A monumental cross has been erected in his honor on an island in Lake Malar, near Stockholm. The preface to his Life of Saint Willehad is a masterpiece. Relics at Bremen, Hamburg, and Copenhagen. Feast, February 3,.