Church of the Faroe Islands Church of the Faroe Islands The Church of the Faroe Islands (, "people's church") is one of the smallest of the world's state churches. Prior to its becoming independent on 29 July 2007, it had been a diocese of the Church of Denmark, a Lutheran church. As of 2017, 80.2% of the Faroe Islanders belonged to the state church. Other churches in the Faroe Islands include the Plymouth Brethren and the Catholic Church. According to "Færeyinga saga", it was the Viking chief Sigmundur Brestisson who brought Christianity to the Faroe Islands. On the orders of the Norwegian king Olaf Tryggvason,
History of the Faroe Islands Harald Hårfagre, and that other Norse were driven to the Faroe Islands due to his chaotic rule. This mass migration to the Faroe Islands shows a prior knowledge of the Viking settlements' locations, furthering the claim of Grímur Kamban's settlement much earlier. While Kamban is recognized as the first Viking settler of the Faroe Islands, his surname is of Gaelic origin. Writings from the Papar, an order of Irish monks, show that they left the Faroe Islands due to ongoing Viking raids. The name of the islands is first recorded on the Hereford "mappa mundi" (1280), where they are labelled