Denmark - Santa Maria in Traspontina

The link between the Church of Santa Maria in Traspontina and Denmark dates back to the year 1600, when a Danish convert, Christian Payngk, convinced Pope Urban VIII to allow him to build a chapel dedicated to the Danish patron, Saint Canute, King of Denmark in the 11th century.

The church was inaugurated a short time later, on 7^th January 1640, in the presence of the College of Cardinals, and a fund established to pay for solemn Masses to be celebrated each year on 19^th January, the saint’s feast day.

Later, after a long period in which the church fell into decline, with no funds to maintain it, a movement to restore devotion to the saint led the Danish state to take on the responsibility for restoration work in 1900.

To this day it is the Danish embassy which organises the feast day celebrations in the church on 19^th January each year.