Olaus Petri

Who was Olaus Petri?

Olof Persson, better known under the Latin form of his name, Olaus Petri, was a clergyman, writer, and a major contributor to the Protestant Reformation in Sweden. His brother, Laurentius Petri, became the first Evangelical Lutheran Archbishop of Sweden. He and Laurentius are commemorated by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on April 19.

Olaus Petri first studied at the University of Uppsala, then in Leipzig, and then finished his education with his M.A. at the University of Wittenberg in 1518. During his time in Germany he got acquainted with the main characters of the German reformation, Philipp Melanchthon and Martin Luther.

He returned to Sweden with his brother in 1519. It is reported how they both nearly died as the boat ran ashore on the island Gotland during a storm. They stayed on Gotland for a while and the bishop there, Mattias Gregersson, appointed Olaus as his secretary and as dean in 1520.

Olaus accompanied the bishop to Stockholm in 1520, to the tumultuous crowning of the Danish King Christian II of Denmark who had taken over Stockholm and held it for a year until he returned to Denmark. At the notorious Stockholm Bloodbath in November several Church men and politicians were executed. Olaus expressed his outrage and was as a result almost executed himself, but a German who had seen him in Wittenberg saved him by explaining he was a German.