Hallgrímur Pétursson

Hallgrímur Pétursson

Hallgrímur Pétursson (* 1614 in Gröf ; † October 27, 1674 in Ferstikla ) was one of the most famous Icelandic poets and evangelical pastor in the Hvalneskirkja on the Icelandic peninsula Reykjanes and in Saurbær on the (northern) Hvalfjörður . The Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavík and the Hallgrímskirkja in Saurbær are named after him. He was also one of the most influential preachers of the so-called Age of Orthodoxy in Iceland (1580-1713). Because of his extremely important psalm poems , which are still sung and read a lot today, he is on a par with the German poet Paul Gerhardt .

biography

origin

Hallgrímur Pétursson was born in Gröf á Höfðaströnd in 1614, the son of the couple Pétur Guðmundsson and Sólveig Jónsdóttir. The father was a tenant of the Bishop of Hólar , the then Bishop Guðbrandur Þorláksson his uncle. The poet did not come from a poor family.

Youth and education

He grew up in Hólar, a spiritual center in Iceland at the time, and attended the school there, which had a good reputation as a training center. At first he showed good talents, but later proved to be so difficult that he was sent to Glückstadt in Schleswig-Holstein , which at the time belonged to Denmark , for further education . There he was an apprentice to a blacksmith and got to know Brynjólfur Sveinsson , who later became Bishop of Skálholt , who heard him curse in Icelandic and recognized him as a compatriot.

Brynjólfur helped him get a place in a training center for evangelical pastors in Copenhagen . Hallgrímur settled in well there.

Guðríður Símonardóttir

In 1636 he was in the final year when he was given the task of instructing some Icelanders in the faith and in the Icelandic language who had been robbed during the Turkish attack in 1627 (see History of Iceland ) and had since lived in slavery in Muslim countries . Among these people was a married woman from the Westman Islands , Guðríður Símonardóttir . Hallgrímur and Guðríður, who was 16 years older, fell in love, he gave up studying and returned to Iceland with her. When they arrived, Guðríður was pregnant. Her husband had since passed away and she was able to marry Hallgrímur.

The Hallgrim Church in Saurbær

Working in Iceland

At first, Hallgrímur got the family through as a simple worker, more right than bad. But then in 1644 the position of pastor in Hvalsnes became vacant and Brynjólfur Sveinsson, meanwhile bishop in Skálholt in the south of Iceland, entrusted Hallgrímur with this office, although he had broken off his theological studies. The family lived in Hvalsnes until 1651. Hallgrímur and his wife had a daughter, whom he named Steinunn and who died very young. This caused great suffering to Hallgrímur and he cut a tombstone for her himself and hammered an inscription into it. This stone can still be seen today in the church of Hvalsnes.

In 1651 Hallgrímur was given the coveted parish of Saurbær on Hvalfjörður . He enjoyed great popularity as a preacher and wrote the famous Passion Psalms there . The psalm collection is the best-selling book in Icelandic literature (60 editions at the beginning of the 21st century).

Hallgrímur Pétursson died in 1674 in Ferstikla on Hvalfjörður from a leprosy disease.

Works

Hallgrímur Pétursson was a highly inspired poet . In addition to his most famous work, the Passion Psalms (Isl. Passíusálmar ), which appeared in 1659, many poems and religious hymns were printed by him, which are often still known and familiar today. He was strongly influenced by pietism .

• The Passion Psalms by the Icelandic poet Hallgrimur Petursson . Retaining the seal shape of the original. reproduced in German language v. Wilhelm Klose, Verl. D. Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavík 1974.

See also

• List of Icelandic-speaking writers

literature

• Alfred Otto Schwede : His song was Iceland's consolation. The story of Pastor Hallgrimur Pjetursson. Evangelischer Missionsverlag, Stuttgart 1986. ISBN 3-7675-3279-4

Web links

Commons : Hallgrímur Pétursson  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Hallgrímur Pétursson in the catalog of the German National Library

Note: Icelanders are referred to by their first name or first and last name, but not just their surname. Further information can be found under Icelandic personal name .