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Rodulff (Rodulf) is claimed by a 15th-century chronicleChronicon episcoporum Finlandensium to have worked as a missionary "bishop" inFinland afterBishop Henry had died in the 1150s.[1][2] Rodulff was allegedly fromVästergötland inSweden.
No historical records of Rodulff survive, and no Bishop orDiocese of Finland is mentioned in a papal letter from 1171 (or 1172) by the seemingly well-informedPope Alexander III, who otherwise addressed the situation of the church in Finland.[3] However, the Pope mentions that there were preachers, presumably from Sweden, working in Finland and was worried about their bad treatment by the Finns. Pope had earlier in 1165 authorized thefirst missionary Bishop of Estonia to be appointed, and was a close acquaintance of bothEskil, theArchbishop of Lund, andStefan, theArchbishop of Uppsala, who both had spent time with him in France where he had been exiled in the 1160s. Following the situation in Estonia, Pope personally interfered in the Estonian mission in 1171.[4]
Furthermore, in a surviving list of Swedish bishoprics from 1164, there is no reference, factual or propagandist, to Finland.[5]
According to theChronicon, Rodulff was captured and killed byCuronians and succeeded byBishop Folquinus.[1]
Though other legends possibly place his death inPiispanristi.[6]
Pre-Reformation Catholic Church in Swedish Finland (1164–1554),ProtestantChurch of Sweden (1554–1817),Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (1817—present) | ||
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