THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
in Abo and Viborg, three of the Franciscans in Abo, Raumo and Koker, and one of the Bri mi t tines in Nadindal. The brotherhoods of the Middle Ages also found admission into Finland; fifteen guilds are known to have existed. There was no higher institution of learning. The land suffered much, as it was always a bone of contention between Sweden and Russia. For centuries there were continual battles between the different tribes in the interior. The spiritual culture of the people was neglected in these turbulent times, especially since the Roman Church was never interested in the real education of the people. At the Synod of Soderkoping in Sweden (1441) it was decided that the Lord's Prayer, the Ave Maria, and the Creed should be translated into the mother tongue. Bishop Tavast participated, and it may be assumed that these decisions applied also to Finland. Before 1500 there were 120 churches in Finland. In 1504 the Swedish government ordered the building of new churches since the congregations were so large that some people lived ninety miles from a church. No books for the use of the people have been preserved from the Middle Ages, but a Missale Aboense, published in 1483 at the instance of Bishop Bitze, for the use of the cathedral of Abo, is known, and also a Manuals Aboense (1522) for the use of the Finnish Church. In consequence of the connection of Finland with Sweden, the Reformation took the same course in both countries. The first herald of the Reformation in Finland was Peter Sarkilahti, who had studied under Luther and Melanchthon. In 1524 he returned to his native country and began to
preach the new doctrine. Owing to
2. The Ref- the isolated position of Finland, the
ormation. people were not prepared for it and
the Roman Church had a larger field of usefulness than in Germany. The first Evangelical bishop of Finland was Martin Skytte, a quiet and humble man. His activity was not revolutionary. The real Reformer of Finland was Michael Agricola, son of a poor fisher of Perna, who received his rudimentary education in the school of Abo and studied in Wittenberg. There he adopted the cause of the Reformation. Like the other Reformers, he immediately undertook a translation of the Bible in order to gain a firm basis for his work. In 1543 he published a primer and soon afterward a catechism, in 1544 a book of prayer. The translation of the New Testament, which he had begun in Wittenberg, appeared in 1548. In the following year he published a manual on baptism and in 1551 the continuation of his translation of the Bible, the Psalms and part of the Prophets. Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi followed in 1552. Agricola died in 1554. He is gratefully remembered and highly esteemed by the Finnish people as the Reformer of Finland and the father of Finnish literature. The Reformation was completed by Jacob Finno. Agricola gave the Finns the New Testament, Finno taught them to sing the Psalms. His psalm-book was published in 1583 at Stockholm. The only copy in existence is defective and is in the library of Upsala. On the whole the Reformatory movement took a quiet course, without
great frictions. But a sect originated, tracing its origin to a certain Zechariah, a Jew of Novgorod which advocated the celebration of the seventh day as Sabbath and obedience to the law of Moses. It was condemned at a council in 1504.
Under King Gustavus Vasa, Finland was divided into two bishoprics. The eastern part of the
country was constituted a separate
3. Bishops diocese with Viborg as cathedral town.
Juusten The first bishop there was Paul Juusten
and Erici. who also had studied at Wittenberg.
The church forms in Finland were modeled in general after the mother country Sweden. A church order was issued in 1571. Until that time there were no general church regulations. Some of the ecclesiastical positions were filled immediately by the king, others by the bishop and chapter. The men who influenced most deeply the culture of Finland after the introduction of the Reformation were Bishop Paul Juusten and Bishop Ericus Erici. Juusten became bishop in Viborg in 1554, and in Abo in 1563. He wrote the Capita rerum synodicarum which formed the basis of discussions at a convention of priests in Abo in 1573 and which gives an insight into the ecclesiastical conditions of the time. He emphasized especially that the priests in their conduct should be models for the members of the congregation. For the guidance of priests he compiled a collection of sermons which, however, was never printed. The manuscript was burned in the great conflagration in Abo in 1827 when many other treasures perished. In 1574 he published a Finnish catechism in Stockholm and in the following year a manual. He also collected everything that was known of church conditions in Finland in the Middle Ages, under the title Chronicon episcoporum Finlandensium (ed. H. G. Porthan, Abo, 1784-1800; also, ed. C. Annerstedt, in Faut, Scriptores rerum Svecicarum, hi., section 2, Upsala, 1871, pp. 132- 135), and has been justly called the father of the church history of Finland. Not less important and influential was his younger contemporary, Ericus Erici. He was born in the middle of the sixteenth century, studied abroad, and after his return became rector of Gefle in Sweden (157.8). In 1583 he was appointed bishop of both Finnish dioceses. He wrote an extensive catechism for the clergy and the first book of homilies in the Finnish language which was still read and loved in the beginning of the nineteenth century.
An important event in the intellectual and spiritual life of Finland was the foundation of the
academy in Abo (1640). A gymna-
4. The sium, founded ten years before, had
Seventeenth shown itself insufficient for the in-
Century. creased demands of education; the
population at that time had increased to about 400,000 persons. The number of professors in the academy was eleven, of whom three were in the theological faculty. While this concerned chiefly the higher circles of society, another event occurred a few years later, the effect of which was felt in the most distant parts of the land— in 1642 the people received the whole Bible in a Finnish translation (see Bible Versions, B,V.). School