Jacob Tengström (4 December 1755 - 26 December 1832) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

prelate who became the first

Archbishop of Turku and Finland The Archdiocese of Turku ( fi, Turun arkkihiippakunta, sv, Åbo ärkestift), historically known as '' Archdiocese of Åbo'', is the seat of the Archbishop of Turku. It is a part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, and its see city is ...

Biography

Tengström was born on 4 December 1755 in

Kokkola Kokkola (; sv, Karleby, ) is a cities of Finland, town and municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. The town is located in the Central Ostrobothnia regions of Finland, region. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. He was the nephew of

Anders Chydenius Anders Chydenius (; 26 February 1729 – 1 February 1803) was a Sweden–Finland, Swedish-Finnish Lutheran priest and a member of the Swedish Riksdag of Sweden, Riksdag, and is known as the leading classical liberalism, classical liberal of Nordi ...

and the father of , a zoologist, and uncle of , a historian and

Fredrika Runeberg Fredrika Charlotta Runeberg (née Tengström; 2 September 1807, Jakobstad – 27 May 1879, Helsinki) was a Finnish (Finland-Swedish) novelist, journalist and the wife of Finland's national poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg. She was a pioneer of Finnish ...

, a novelist. Tengström published the Finnish-Swedish children's books ''Läse-öfning för mina barn'' and ''Tidsfördrif för mina barn'' in 1795 and 1796, latter of which was translated into Finnish in 1836. He was editor of the

Tidningar Utgifne Af et Sällskap i Åbo ''Tidningar Utgifne Af et Sällskap i Åbo'' was a newspaper that was first published in Finland in 1771, the first newspaper to be published in Finland. Finland was under Swedish rule at that time, and the newspaper was published in the Swedish l ...

from 1791 to 1793 and was involved in the founding of the Finnish Bible Society and the Musical Society in Turku. In 1796, he became a member of the society

Pro Fide et Christianismo (full name , ) is a Christian association within the Church of Sweden. The organization was an "informal or semi-official national school board" prior to the founding of Sweden's public education system and made a significant impact on Sweden's ...

, founded to promote Christian education. During the Finnish war, when it became apparent that Sweden would not be able to defend Finland against the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, he worked actively to make Finland adapt to the new situation and to promote Finland's interests in Russia. He opposed resistance. He participated actively in the preparations for the

Diet of Porvoo The Diet of Porvoo ( fi, Porvoon maapäivät, or unhistorically ; sv, Borgå lantdag; russian: Боргоский сейм), was the summoned legislative assembly to establish the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1809 and the heir of the powers of the ...

which saw the establishment of the

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland ( fi, Suomen evankelis-luterilainen kirkko; sv, Evangelisk-lutherska kyrkan i Finland) is a national church of Finland. It is part of the Lutheran branch of Christianity. The church has a legal positio ...

as a separate and independent church from the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sw ...

. He also became chairman of a committee that drafted proposals for supreme governance for the Grand Duchy of Finland. Tengström's good relationship with Emperor

Alexander I Alexander I may refer to: * Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC * Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus * Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome * Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of ...

influenced the development of the

Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecessor ...

. As a bishop and archbishop, Tengström also worked with extensive reforms of the service life. The ecclesiastical books were under revision in Sweden when the war broke out and the reforms in Finland were led by Tengström. Also a new church law was founded, where the church got a freer position. He succeeded

Jakob Gadolin Jakob Gadolin (24 October 1719 – 26 September 1802) was a Sweden, Swedish Lutheran bishop, professor of physics and theology, politician and statesman. Gadolin was born in Strängnäs, Sweden. In 1736, he studied at The Royal Academy of Turku ( ...

upon his death in 1802 where he became bishop of Turku until 1817 when the title of "Bishop of Turku" ceased to exist and was elevated to archiepiscopal rank in 1817. The title of the see was changed to Archbishop of Turku and Finland, and Tengström became the first archbishop until his death in 1832."TENGSTRÖM, Jacob"
''Biografiskt lexikon för Finland''. Retrieved on 10 April 2019

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External links

* Lutheran archbishops and bishops of Turku 19th-century Lutheran archbishops 19th-century Lutheran bishops 1755 births 1832 deaths People from Kokkola {{finland-bio-stub

Biography

See also

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Further reading

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