Gustavs Tūrs (24 May 1890 — 16 March 1973) was a Latvian prelate of the

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Evaņģēliski luteriskā baznīca, or LELB) is a Lutheran Protestant church in Latvia. Latvia's Lutheran heritage dates back to the Reformation. Both the Nazi and communist regimes pe ...

and Archbishop of Riga from 1948 to 1968.

Biography

He was born on 24 May 1890 to Gustavs and Anna Tursa in Prauliena Parish "Silnieki". The family had eight children. He studied at the Lazdon Parish School (Gustavs'kola), at the Aleksander Boys' Gymnasium and St. Petersburg Alexei Gymnasium (1907-1910). He studied jurisprudence and later theology from 1910 to 1918 at the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

. On 20 June 1920 he was ordained to the priesthood in St James' Church in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

, when it was still a Lutheran church. For a short time he served as a pastor in

Latgale Latgale ( ltg, Latgola; ; ger, Lettgallen; be, Латгалія, Łathalija; pl, Łatgalia; la, Lettgallia), also known as Latgalia is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. It is the easternmost region and is north of the Daugava River. While m ...

in the parishes of Sīķele, Borne,

Kalupe Kalupe is a settlement in Kalupe Parish, Augšdaugava Municipality in the Latgale region of Latvia. References External links Satellite map at Maplandia.comKołupin the Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland The Geographical ...

, Preiļi and

Krāslava Krāslava (; ltg, Kruoslova, german: Kreslau, be, Краслаўка, pl, Krasław, russian: Краслава, Креславль) is a town and the administrative centre of Krāslava Municipality, in the Latgale region of Latvia. The town lies ...

. Since 1921 he has served as a teacher in Bauska and as a pastor in the Bauska parish, having been there for 24 years. He also served in areas surrounding Bauska such as Cod, Mezotne and Budberga. During and after World War II he was a pastor of

St. John's Church, Riga St. John's Church ( lv, Svētā Jāņa Evaņģēliski luteriskā baznīca) is a Lutheran church in Riga, the capital of Latvia. It is a parish church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia. The church is situated at the address 24 Skārņu S ...

and of

Alūksne Alūksne ()) is a town on the shores of Lake Alūksne in northeastern Latvia near the borders with Estonia and Russia. It is the seat of Alūksne municipality. Alūksne is the highest elevated Latvian city, located in East Vidzeme Upland at 217 ...

, Sātu and Zemītes. On 14 March 1948 he was elected Archbishop of the LELB however he was never consecrated due to ongoing political issues. In 1959,

Leipzig University Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

's Faculty of Theology bestowed him with an honorary doctorate. On 23 March 1968, at the 11th General Synod, Tūrs resigned from his post as Archbishop of Riga and Primate of the Church of Latvia. He died on 16 March 1973 in

. He was buried on 24 March 1973 in

Forest Cemetery, Riga Forest Cemetery ( lv, Rīgas Meža kapi) is an large cemetery in the northwestern part of Riga, the capital of Latvia, between the neighbourhoods of Mežaparks and Čiekurkalns. Formally, the cemetery is divided between 1st Forest Cemetery, wit ...

."Gustavs Tūrs (Turss)"
''LELB''. Retrieved on 22 December 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turs, Gustavs 1890 births 1973 deaths Latvian Lutheran clergy Latvian bishops Latvian Lutheran bishops Lutheran archbishops of Riga 20th-century Lutheran archbishops Burials at Forest Cemetery, Riga