Karolina Utriainen

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Karolina Utriainen
Born June 30, 1843 (Vesamäki)
Deceased July 14, 1929 (Keitele)
Holiday July 14th ( Evangelical name calendar )

Karolina Utriainen (actually Hilda Karoliina Utriainen , after her marriage Karoliina Väänänen , born June 30, 1843 in Vesamäki , Finland , † July 14, 1929 in Keitele ) was a Finnish lay preacher and visionary.

Circumstances of the time

A national revival movement began in Finland in the mid-19th century . The pietism took rather the middle class, while the farmer Paavo Ruotsalainen (1777-1852) was the religious revival in the country's population. These preconditions made Karolina Utriainen's strong impact possible. This importance of a woman as a preacher is all the more remarkable given that in Finland even women theologians with a doctorate were not admitted as pastors until after 1954.

Life

childhood

Karolina Utriainen was the youngest child in a poor family of day laborers . Her father Paavo Utriainen, who also worked as a fisherman, was known locally as an alcoholic, and his farmhouse was often full of drunkards. Nevertheless, the family was marked by great piety. Karolina's mother's maiden name was Anna Reetta. Karolina Utriainen was so weak as a newborn that she received an emergency baptism .

Karolina learned to read with a catechism . As a child, she often had to endure turbulent situations due to her father's alcoholism. She was weighed down by guilt and fear of hell punishment, as she later reported, especially after her playmate Emma and brother died when she was around nine years old. In this situation, she mentally collapsed and was bedridden for two weeks. At the end of this period, she fell into a state of unconsciousness for the first time, in which she saw a vision and began to preach. Years later, she wrote down her “dream,” as she called it: The Lamb gave her a book with golden letters and commanded her to preach the gospel of peace. This perception may have been influenced by John Bunyan's pilgrimage to blessed eternity and took the form of a calling experience. This vision alone was later published in 16 copies.

Course of changes in consciousness

The changes in consciousness were repeated from then on, only at irregular times, years later always at 5 a.m., at the time of morning prayer. Before each sermon, Karolina Utriainen went into a kind of preparatory phase that lasted 10 to 15 minutes. In doing so, she felt the compulsion to concentrate on one concept, for example repentance or a meditation on the love of God. Then she sat up in bed. Her skin turned red, her eyes began to shine, her face turned pale, she closed her eyes and was trembling slightly. She moved her right hand as if she were turning the page of a huge book, which she thought she was reading aloud for most of the seizures. During this phase the audience gathered and sang hymns. The subsequent sermons themselves lasted about an hour. They were sometimes interrupted by songs from the audience. Utriainen gave her sermons wildly gesticulating, the content was apocalyptic . She spoke clearly and excitedly, called for repentance, foretold the Last Judgment and had visions. Her legs were stiff and immobile. Her skin was covered in sweat. She did not react to needle pricks or similar pain stimuli. After these attacks, she could rarely remember what she was preaching, and few details remained in her mind.

Effects of the sermons

The parents regarded the changes in consciousness as a disease and tried unsuccessfully to cure Karolina Utriainen with "magical powers". An increasing number of people, eventually also from other parts of Finland , visited the “child prodigy of Vesamaki”, as she was now apostrophized, in what was regarded as a visionary state. This strengthened the revival movement in northeastern Finland. In particular, their sermons of penance, especially in their homeland, resulted in the abandonment of alcohol by numerous families, even entire villages.

marriage

On October 10, 1864, Karolina Utriainen married the wealthy landowner Taavetti Väänänen, she gave the wedding sermon in the usual manner and at the usual time. After that she lived as a housewife on the large farm in Kuopio in eastern Finland and became the mother of four children but undertake extensive trips all over Finland. She even gave sleep sermons closely related to the birth of two of her children, once shortly before and once shortly after.

Taavetti Väänänen died in 1893.

20,000 sleep sermons

In 1912 some of Karolina Utriainen's sermons were recorded on audio media.

In over 50 years she gave over 20,000 sermons, most of them in the 16 years after her first sleep sermon. In 1913, she said the book she thought she read aloud during her changes in consciousness had only 14 more pages left. In fact, as she had indicated, her unusual preaching gift temporarily ceased, even though a large audience had gathered.

Age

Karolina Utriainen was considered smart, simple and healthy. She spent the last years of her life with her youngest daughter Anna, a teacher in Keitele. At the age of 77, Karolina Utriainen still regularly walked 10 km, namely from the school where her daughter was a teacher to the religious meeting in which she attended. Their reason for this was:

"You have the strength to do so when the desire is big enough."

In 1926 her changes in consciousness suddenly started again, but only for a few more times. The manner of speaking in their sleep sermons had become quieter with age.

Karolina Utriainen died in 1929 with her daughter Anna. She left four children who were considered fit for life.

Works

There are numerous transcripts of Karolina Utriainen's sermons, a small anthology reached its 20th edition.

Mention should be made of Kauhea ja merkillinen uni, joka Näytettiin yhdeksän vuotiaalle tyttärelle Rautalammin pitäjässä Hilda Karoliina Utriaiselle , moved to Rauma 1906.

Of 21 sermons from 1913, records were made with a shorthand machine and published verbatim and in full under the title Herätyssaarnoja (Revival Sermons ). These are sermons for the Sunday pericopes , which were rated as good Lutheran, evangelistic sermons.

Remembrance day

July 14th in the Evangelical Name Calendar

literature

Web links

See also

personal data
SURNAME Utriainen, Karolina
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Utriainen, Hilda Karoliina (real name); Väänänen, Karoliina
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish lay preacher and visionary
DATE OF BIRTH June 30, 1843
PLACE OF BIRTH Vesamäki , Finland
DATE OF DEATH July 14, 1929
Place of death Keitele , Finland