Erik Varden was born in Norway in 1974. He spent ten years at Cambridge, earning a doctorate in historical theology on the work of Pierre de Bérulle before being elected to a fellowship at St John’s College. In 2002 he joined Mount Saint Bernard Abbey, home to a community of Trappist monks, where he milked cows. During three years spent in Rome, he taught Christian anthropology, Gregorian chant, and Syriac at the pontifical athenaeum of Sant’Anselmo. Superior of his community from 2013, he oversaw the building of a brewery and the launch of Tynt Meadow Trappist Ale. In 2019 Pope Francis appointed him bishop of Trondheim. Among his books are The Shattering of Loneliness and Entering the Twofold Mystery.

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