Milla Clementsdotter (also known as, Milla Clemensdotter, Maria of Lappland (

Finnish language Finnish (endonym: or ) is a Finnic languages, Finnic language of the Uralic languages, Uralic language family, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official langu ...

, Lapin Maria; 1 November 1812 – 8 April 1892) was a Swedish Southern

Sámi Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

woman who is remembered for guiding

Lars Levi Laestadius Lars Levi Laestadius (; 10 January 1800 – 21 February 1861) was a Swedish Sami writer, ecologist, mythologist, and ethnographer as well as a pastor and administrator of the Swedish state Lutheran church in Lapland who founded the Laestadi ...

in questions of Christian faith. She belonged to a revival movement marked by

Pietistic Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christian life. Although the movement is aligned with Luth ...

and Moravian influences, a member of a group known as "Readers", a background shared by Laestadius' mother.

Biography

Milla Clementsdotter was born on 1 November 1812 in Orrnäsfjäll,

Föllinge Föllinge ( Jamtlandic: ''Fö:Ling'', from Old Norse ''Fylingr'' 'little foal') is a locality situated in Krokom Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on ...

, Sweden. Her parents were Clemmens Andersson and Anna Larsdotter. Because the father was an alcoholic, the family lost all of its property. After her father's death in 1817, his mother remarried Torkel Jonsson. That led to Clementsdotter to having a half-sister, Sara Brita, who was born in 1825. At the age of six, she went to live with a family that farmed, before being removed to various foster families, where she received abusive treatment. She subsequently developed a deep belief in Christianity. In 1840, Clementsdotter married Tomas Pålsson. Clementsdotter and Laestadius probably met on 1 January 1844 in the municipality of Krokom in

Jämtland Jämtland () is a historical provinces of Sweden, province () in the centre of Sweden in northern Europe. It borders Härjedalen and Medelpad to the south, Ångermanland to the east, Lapland, Sweden, Lapland to the north and Trøndelag and Norw ...

during an inspection tour of

Åsele Åsele () is a locality and the seat of Åsele Municipality in Västerbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 1,798 inhabitants in 2010. Its elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height ab ...

. According to Laestadius, Clementsdotter had previously met the priest Pehr Brandell of the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest List ...

in the parish of Nora in the municipality of

Kramfors Kramfors () is a locality and the seat of Kramfors Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. It had a population of 5,990 inhabitants in 2010. The town grew on the western bank of the Ångerman river in the 19th century as harvested logs ...

Ångermanland Ångermanland ( or ) is a historical province (''landskap'') in the northern part of Sweden. It is bordered (clockwise from the north) by Swedish Lapland, Västerbotten, the Gulf of Bothnia, Medelpad and Jämtland. The name is derived from the ...

, where Brandell freed her from the doubt regarding Christianity. She told Laestadius about her spiritual experiences on her journey to a truly living Christianity, and recited various biblical teachings to Laestadius. The meeting between Clementsdotter and Laestadius was a turning point in Laestadius's life. Afterwards, he felt he had come to understand the secret of living faith. He was inspired by her simple tales of "experiences in the order of grace," as Laestadius himself called it. After the meeting, he started the proclamation which marked the beginning of

Laestadianism Laestadianism (; ; ; ), also known as Laestadian Lutheranism and Apostolic Lutheranism, is a Pietism, pietistic Lutheranism, Lutheran revival movement started in Sápmi in the middle of the 19th century. Named after Church of Sweden, Swedish Lu ...

. This is how the meeting between Clementsdotter and Laestadius gained historical and spiritual significance for many people. Laestadius referred to her as "Mary", and she is known by name as "Lappmarkens Maria",Lundmark, Bo. "Læstadius och samekvinnan Milla från Frostviken". Jämten 2007Wikmark, Gunnar. "Lars Levi Læstadius och lappflickan Maria : vid hundraårsminnet av Lars Levi Læstadius' död". Stockholm, 1961Wikmark, Gunnar. "'Læstadius Maria' identifierad : slutlänken i en beviskedja". ''Från bygd och vildmark i Lappland och Västerbotten'', 1956. "Maria of Lappland", and "Lapin Maija". In 1846, Clementsdotter and Pålsson had a daughter Anna Brita. By 1865, they were living on Halmøya

Fosnes Municipality Fosnes is a former municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020 when it was merged into Namsos Municipality. It was part of the Namdalen region. The administrative centre of the muni ...

(this area is now part of

Flatanger Municipality Flatanger is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Namdalen Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is Lauvsnes. Other villages incl ...

) and in

Namdalen Namdalen () is a Districts of Norway, traditional district in the central part of Norway, consisting of the municipalities of Namsos Municipality, Namsos, Grong Municipality, Grong, Overhalla Municipality, Overhalla, Røyrvik Municipality, Røyr ...

reindeer The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, taiga, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only re ...

herding Herding is the act of bringing individual animals together into a group (herd), maintaining the group, and moving the group from place to place—or any combination of those. Herding can refer either to the process of animals forming herds in ...

nomad Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pa ...

s. In 1875, they lived in Vigen, Hopstad, Roan Municipality,

Sør-Trøndelag Sør-Trøndelag (; ) was a Counties of Norway, county comprising the southern portion of the present-day Trøndelag county in Norway. It bordered the old Nord-Trøndelag () county as well as the counties of Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, and Hedmark. ...

, Norway. She died in Roan on 8 April 1892.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clementsdotter, Milla 1812 births 1892 deaths Southern Sámi people Swedish Sámi people Laestadianism Radical Pietism Nomads People from Krokom Municipality 19th-century Sámi people Sámi women