Erik Varden
is bishop-prelate of the Territorial Prelature of Trondheim, Norway. A native of South Norway, he grew up in the village of Degernes. Varden was educated at Cambridge University and the Pontifical Oriental Institute before becoming a Cistercian monk of Mount St. Bernard Abbey in Leicestershire, making his solemn profession in 2007. Ordained priest in 2011, he became the eleventh abbot of Mount St. Bernard in 2015. In 2019, Pope Francis appointed him territorial prelate of Trondheim, and he received episcopal ordination in Nidaros Cathedral the following year – the first native Norwegian to be bishop in Trondheim in modern times. He is the author of several books, most recently
Chastity: Reconciliation of the
Senses, published by Bloomsbury Continuum. His online blog,
Coram Fratribus
, is read throughout the world.