Lalli (Heinrich von Uppsala)

The typical depiction of Saint Heinrich shows him with Lalli, who is bald-headed at his feet. Illustration from the Missale Aboense missal from 1488.

According to legend, the Finnish farmer Lalli was the murderer of Heinrich von Uppsala , who promoted Christianization in Finland in the 12th century .

According to tradition, Heinrich von Uppsala is said to be with the Swedish King Erik IX. in the course of the first Swedish crusade , which had the missionary mission of further parts of Finland - the southwest coast was already considered Christianized at that time - as the goal, had come to southwestern Finland.

According to legend, Lalli was the owner of an estate on an island in Köyliöjärvis , east of the town of Köyliö . According to tradition, Heinrich asked Lalli's wife to be entertained in the house of the farmer Lalli. When Lalli finally returned home, his wife explained what had happened to him, including the details that the bishop did not pay for the food they received. Lalli pursued Bishop Heinrich and killed him on the frozen lake near the island of Kirkkokari in the north of the lake. In pictures, Lalli is usually shown with an ax while Bishop Heinrich is sitting in a sleigh. The act is said to have taken place on January 20, 1156. However, there are no precise sources for this. Lalli's estate is said to have passed into the possession of the church after the murder.

Bishop Heinrich was the patron saint until the Reformation and was accordingly venerated in Finland.

The first church on the island of Kirkkokari was in use until the 15th century. In 1955 a memorial stone was erected here. Not least because of the great veneration of Henry in Scandinavia, especially among the Catholic minority, this island is the only place of pilgrimage in Scandinavia. Every year before midsummer, a Catholic mass is held on the island. The road between Nousiainen , Heinrich's bishopric, and Köyliö is an approximately 140-kilometer hiking route known as the Sankt-Henrik-Weg (Pyhän Henrikin tie).

Coat of arms of Köyliö

In 1989, a Lalli statue created by Aimo Tukiainen was unveiled in Kepola, a village in the municipality of Köyliö . Every year on Midsummer Eve , a disguised “Lalli” collects a voluntary bridge toll on the Polsu Bridge , which leads to Kirkkosaari Island . The proceeds will be donated to charity.

The coat of arms of the municipality of Köyliö shows the miter of Heinrichs and Lallis Beil.

In the 2004 broadcast by Yleisradio television program Suuret Suomalaiset ("Great Finns") Lalli was ranked 14th largest Finns. A sports club in Köyliö is called Köyliön Lallit .

Web links

• www.koylio.fi - The story of the farmer Lalli on the website of the municipality of Köyliö (German)
• www.heiligenlexikon.de - Heinrich von Uppsala in the database of saints

literature

• Kristfrid Ganander (toim. Juha Pentikäinen ): Mythologia Fennica, Recallmed 1995, ISBN 951-9221-72-7
• Martti Haavio : Piispa Henrik ja Lalli - Piispa Henrikin surmavirren historiaa (Finnish) , WSOY 1948.
• Tuomas Heikkilä : Pyhän Henrikin legenda (Finnish) , SKS 2005.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ www.schneeland.com The heads of state in Finland's history
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} www.koylio.fi ( Memento of the original from July 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. The farmer Lalli - Lalli's story on the website of the municipality of Köyliö (German)