Þorlákur Þórhallsson (usually romanized as Thorlak Thorhallsson) is the patron saint of Iceland.
He was born in
1133 in
Hlíðarendi; it is worth noting that Hlíðarendi is a semi-mythical place, a small village less famous for St. Thorlak than for
Gunnar Hámundarson. Regardless, Thorlak went in for the church early on, being ordained as a
deacon before he was fifteen and then as a
priest at the age of eighteen. He left to study abroad in Paris at the
School of Saint Victor, and then to
Lincolnshire, England in 1159 to study
canon law. He returned to Iceland in
1165 to found a
monastery in Þykkvabær. He was consecrated as the
bishop of Skalholt by
Augustine of Nidaros in
1178; he worked to regulate the
Augustinian Rule in
Iceland, trying to enforce the expectation that
clerics should remain
celibate and to keep lay politics out of the church. He also worked to eradicate
simony. He was not very popular, but he did make significant progress in keeping the church strong and 'proper' in the eyes of the
Catholic church.
He died in office on December 23, 1193, and December 23 is his feast day. He is the patron saint of Iceland, fishermen, Catholics of Scandinavia, and autism.
Okay, yes, you have questions. Some groups think that people with autism spectrum disorder should have their own patron saint, and Autism Consecrated, a blog with the goal "to realize autism's belonging in the Body of Christ" has long been lobbying for Saint Thorlak to take on this role. His appointment has not yet been accepted by the Catholic Church, but then Saint Thorlak was not recognized as a saint until January 14, 1984, so arguably Thorlak is the patron saint of faking it until you make it. Anyway, Thorlak stepped in to a situation where he was not wanted and insisted that every Follow the Goddam Rules. He was said to be asocial, and he loved to follow his Godly routines, devoting himself to reciting Our Father, the Creed, and fifty Psalms. Does that make him autistic? After 900 years, we are not going to make a valid diagnosis. But he also wasn't a big fisherman, but he got that patronage, so let's not get bogged down in historical psychology.
But, on the subject of fishermen: numerous miracles are accredited to Thorlak, the most cited probably being his calming the wind when a merchant ship was in danger of being blown into the rocks, saving the men on board; another when a farmer who had had their crop stolen asked Bishop Thorlak for help, and was inspired to go fishing in the nearby river, catching enough fish to feed his family. Most of his other miracles happened after he died, and some were a bit underwhelming; there was a bright light seen over his grave; a priest riding to spread the news of Bishops Thorlak's good deeds found that his horse traveled unnaturally fast over the deep snow; a woman who had lost her ring found it; a ship that could not weigh anchor invoked his name, and then could. A number of slightly better miracles involve people praying to him and having diseases cured or wounds healed.
Today Þorláksmessa (the Mass of St. Thorlac) is still celebrated in Iceland and the Faroe Islands (they call it Tollaksmessa), but it has very much become a part of the Christmas celebrations. It is a major Christmas prep day, with many people doing their Christmas shopping, decorating the tree, or otherwise finishing preparations for Christmas, with the goal of having everything completed and leaving no worries for Christmas eve. It is traditional to eat fish, as December 23rd is the last day of the Catholic Christmas fast, meaning that meat is still forbidden. In parts of western Iceland it's common to eat kæst skata, similar to hákarl, but made with skate; this has become more common throughout Iceland in the 20th century, often eaten with mashed potatoes and a chaser of brennivín.