John Campanius (

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

: ''Johannes Jonæ Holmiensis Campanius''; August 15, 1601 – September 17, 1683), also known as Johan Campanius and Johannes Campanius, was a Swedish Lutheran priest assigned to the

New Sweden New Sweden () was a colony of the Swedish Empire between 1638 and 1655 along the lower reaches of the Delaware River in what is now Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Established during the Thirty Years' War when Sweden was a g ...

colony.

Background

John Campanius was born in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

and attended

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

, where he studied

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

and graduated in 1633. He was ordained into the Lutheran ministry during 1633. He served as the

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

to the Swedish delegation in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

in 1634. He then moved to

Norrtälje Norrtälje is a locality and the seat of Norrtälje Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 17,275 inhabitants in 2010. It is one of the largest towns in Roslagen. History Norrtälje’s early history dates back to the Iron Age. Around 2 ...

, where he served as a schoolmaster beginning in 1636. He also served as chaplain and preceptor of the Stockholm Orphan's Home, a position he continued in through 1642.

New Sweden

Campanius left Stockholm on August 16, 1642, and arrived at New Sweden on February 15, 1643. He came to accompany the first Swedish settlers to

Fort Christina Fort Christina, also called Fort Altena, was the first Sweden, Swedish settlement in North America and the principal settlement of the New Sweden colony. Built in 1638 and named after Christina, Queen of Sweden, it was located approximately 1&nb ...

, near present-day

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

, and served as a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

to the nearby

Lenape The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historica ...

Indians. Campanius served as a replacement for the first Swedish Lutheran Minister, Reorus Torkillus who had recently died. For several years the

colony had no specific location for organized worship. Campanius had to visit the settlers at their cabins, which ranged all the way up to Fort Nya Gothenburg on Tinicum Island. John Campanius dedicated the new church at Tinicum on September 4, 1646. One of the few items which remain from his time of service is a gilded silver

chalice A chalice (from Latin 'cup', taken from the Ancient Greek () 'cup') is a drinking cup raised on a stem with a foot or base. Although it is a technical archaeological term, in modern parlance the word is now used almost exclusively for the ...

used in celebrating the

Eucharist The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an Ordinance (Christianity), ordinance in ...

. Campanius also began to make notable headway in evangelizing the Lenape. He gained a good grasp of their language, and learned how to preach to them with good effect. He also transliterated their words, numbers, and common phrases for the use of later missionaries. For example, he accommodated the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also known by its incipit Our Father (, ), is a central Christian prayer attributed to Jesus. It contains petitions to God focused on God’s holiness, will, and kingdom, as well as human needs, with variations across manusc ...

to the American circumstances by substituting for "daily bread" "a plentiful supply of

venison Venison refers primarily to the meat of deer (or antelope in South Africa). Venison can be used to refer to any part of the animal, so long as it is edible, including the internal organs. Venison, much like beef or pork, is categorized into spe ...

and corn." After gaining experience in this way, he eventually was able to translate

Luther's Small Catechism Luther's Small Catechism () is a catechism written by Martin Luther and published in 1529 for the training of children. Luther's Small Catechism reviews the Ten Commandments, the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Sacrament of Holy Bapti ...

into the

Lenape language The Delaware languages, also known as the Lenape languages (), are Munsee and Unami, two closely related languages of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup of the Algonquian language family. Munsee and Unami were spoken aboriginally by the Lenape ...

. This effort, which was not printed until 1696 (Stockholm), is one of the first attempts by a European native to create a written document in one of the indigenous American languages. It was published in the Delaware and Swedish languages, together with a vocabulary. Campanius also studied the traditions of the natives, and recorded them in his journal. While this did help to preserve some anthropological information on them, it also helped perpetrate the idea that the Native Americans were descendants of the

lost tribes of Israel The Ten Lost Tribes were those from the Twelve Tribes of Israel that were said to have been exiled from the Kingdom of Israel after it was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire around 720 BCE. They were the following: Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Naph ...

. By 1647, he wrote to his

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

that he had gotten weary of his work in

, and requested that he be allowed to return home. In 1648, three other ministers were sent to New Sweden to continue his work and Campanius was allowed to return to Sweden. There he served as minister of churches at Härnevi and Frösthult in

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

County in east central Sweden until his death in 1683. In these positions, he also worked on completing his translation of Luther's catechism. Both John Campanius and his wife Margareta were buried at the Frösthult Church in

Enköping Municipality Enköping Municipality () is a municipality in Uppsala County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Enköping. The present municipality consists of nearly forty original local government units. They were grouped into greater ...

John Campanius Holm Award

John Campanius was the first person known to have taken systematic weather observations in the American Colonies. He is considered by some to be the first weatherman in America because he kept a daily record of the weather at

. The records included at least 1644 and 1645 and were published in Sweden in 1702. The prestigious ''John Campanius Holm Award'' is granted annually to honor cooperative observers for outstanding accomplishments in the field of meteorological observations. No more than twenty-five awards are given annually. The certificate is signed by the Administrator of the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with Weather forecasting, forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, Hydrography, charting the seas, ...

(NOAA).''The Weather Factor '' ( David M. Ludlum, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1984, p. 7–8)

Works

Lutheri Catechismus öfwersatt på american-virginiske språket

References

Sources

*Clay, Jehu Curtis ''Annals of the Swedes on the Delaware'' (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: J. C. Pechin. 1835) * Myers, Albert Cook, ed. ''Narratives of Early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey, and Delaware, 1630-1707'' (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1912) *Jordan, John W. ''A History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania'' (History of Timicun Township. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company. 1914) *Ward, Christopher ''Dutch and Swedes on the Delaware, 1609- 1664'' (University of Pennsylvania Press. 1930)

External links

Good Christian DeedsChristian Cyclopedia, Lutheran Church - Missouri SynodChrist Church (Old Swedes') Upper Merion, Pennsylvania

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campanius, John 17th-century American writers 17th-century American Lutheran clergy 17th-century Swedish Lutheran priests Swedish Lutheran missionaries Lutheran missionaries in the United States Swedish translators Uppsala University alumni 1601 births 1683 deaths People of New Sweden Writers from Stockholm 17th-century translators Missionary linguists Church of Sweden clergy from the Thirteen Colonies