Lars Ulstadius

Lars Ulstadius (Latinized also Laurentius ; Finnish Lauri ) (* around 1650 in the Österbotten region ; † October 6, 1732 in Stockholm ) was a Swedish - Finnish Lutheran clergyman and radical pietist .

Life

Ulstadius was a son of the pastor of Ii , Anders Ulstadius, and his wife Maria Lithovius. After studying at Uppsala and Turku Universities , he was ordained in 1680 . He then worked as a teacher at the trivial school in Oulu . When he was refused promotion to a pastorate in 1682, this triggered a depression, as a result of which Ulstadius gave up his profession and moved to Turku . There he read in a group of like-minded people like the students Peter Schaefer (approx. 1660–1729) and Olaus Ulhegius writings by representatives of mystical spiritualism such as Kaspar Schwenckfeld , Valentin Weigel and Jakob Böhme .

Moved by this to doubt the Lutheran doctrine, he directed sharp attacks on the preacher and the Lutheran state church as a whole on July 22nd, 1688 during a service in the cathedral of Turku . A few days later he was captured and brought to justice together with his friends in 1689. At the instigation of Bishop Johannes Gezelius the Younger , all three were sentenced to several years in prison. Schaefer and Ulhegius were released after a revocation in 1692, while Ulstadius, who adhered to his church criticism, was initially sentenced to death. In 1693 the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and Ulstadius was transferred to the notorious Smedjegården prison in Stockholm. He refused a pardon on the occasion of the coronation of Queen Ulrika Eleonore in 1719 because he demanded an acquittal. However, he has been able to receive visitors in recent years and inspired the pietistic movement in Stockholm around Sven Rosén . After more than 40 years in captivity, he died at the age of 82.

effect

Ulstadius was regarded and venerated as a pietistic martyr during his lifetime . Gottfried Arnold dedicated a chapter to him in his Unparty Church and Heretic History (1699/1700). A detailed curriculum vitae was included in the Nordic Collections published in 1755 .

literature

• Nathan Odenvik: Lars Ulstadius. En pietismens banerförare i fångenskap för sin tro . 1940
• Erkki Kansanaho: Suomalaiset yltiöpietistit Lauri Ulstadius yes Pietari Schaefer . In: Suomen kirkkohistoriallisen seuran vuosikirja 41–42 (1954), pp. 99–214
• Hans Schneider : Relations of German radical Pietists to Scandinavia . In: The pietism in its European and non-European radiation (publications of the Finnish Society for Church History 157), Helsinki 1992, pp. 101–128 (also in: Collected essays I. The radical Pietism . Ed. By Wolfgang Breul and Lothar Vogel. Work on the history of the church and theology 36th Leipzig 2011)
• Lars Ulstadius . In: Bernhard Meijer (Ed.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 1 : A-Armati . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1904, Sp. 1202 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).

Web links

• The first Nordic collection: Laurentii Ulstadii Strange curriculum vitae