John Campanius | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1601-08-15)August 15, 1601 |
| Died | September 17, 1683(1683-09-17) (aged 82) |
| Education | Uppsala University |
| Church | Church of Sweden |
| Title | Ordained pastor, missionary to North America |
John Campanius (Swedish:Johannes Jonæ Holmiensis Campanius; August 15, 1601 – September 17, 1683), also known asJohan Campanius and Johannes Campanius, was aSwedish Lutheran priest assigned to theNew Sweden colony.[1]
John Campanius was born inStockholm and attendedUppsala University, where he studiedtheology and graduated in 1633. He was ordained into the Lutheran ministry during 1633. He served as thechaplain to the Swedish delegation inRussia in 1634. He then moved toNorrtälje, where he served as a schoolmaster beginning in 1636. He also served as chaplain and preceptor of theStockholm Orphan's Home, a position he continued in through 1642.[2]
Campanius left Stockholm on August 16, 1642, and arrived at New Sweden on February 15, 1643. He came to accompany the first Swedish settlers toFort Christina, near present-dayWilmington, Delaware, and served as amissionary to the nearbyLenape Indians. Campanius served as a replacement for the first Swedish Lutheran Minister,Reorus Torkillus who had recently died. For several years theNew Sweden colony had no specific location for organized worship. Campanius had to visit the settlers at their cabins, which ranged all the way up to Fort Nya Gothenburg onTinicum Island. John Campanius dedicated the new church at Tinicum on September 4, 1646. One of the few items which remain from his time of service is a gilded silverchalice used in celebrating theEucharist.[3]
Campanius also began to make notable headway in evangelizing the Lenape. He gained a good grasp of their language, and learned how to preach to them with good effect. He also transliterated their words, numbers, and common phrases for the use of later missionaries. For example, he accommodated theLord's Prayer to the American circumstances by substituting for "daily bread" "a plentiful supply ofvenison and corn."[4] After gaining experience in this way, he eventually was able to translateLuther's Small Catechism into theLenape language. This effort, which was not printed until 1696 (Stockholm),[5] is one of the first attempts by a European native to create a written document in one of theindigenous American languages. It was published in the Delaware and Swedish languages, together with a vocabulary.[4]
Campanius also studied the traditions of the natives, and recorded them in his journal. While this did help to preserve some anthropological information on them, it also helped perpetrate the idea that the Native Americans were descendants of thelost tribes of Israel.[6]
By 1647, he wrote to hisArchbishop inStockholm that he had gotten weary of his work inNew Sweden, and requested that he be allowed to return home. In 1648, three other ministers were sent to New Sweden to continue his work and Campanius was allowed to return to Sweden. There he served as minister of churches at Härnevi and Frösthult inUppsala County in east central Sweden until his death in 1683. In these positions, he also worked on completing his translation of Luther's catechism.[4] Both John Campanius and his wife Margareta were buried at the Frösthult Church inEnköping Municipality.[7]
John Campanius was the first person known to have takensystematic weather observations in the American Colonies. He is considered by some to be the firstweatherman in America because he kept a daily record of the weather atNew Sweden. The records included at least 1644 and 1645 and were published in Sweden in 1702. The prestigiousJohn Campanius Holm Award is granted annually to honor cooperative observers for outstanding accomplishments in the field ofmeteorological observations. No more than twenty-five awards are given annually. The certificate is signed by the Administrator of theNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).[8]
