Feast of Eric Norelius (October 26)

Above:  The Logo of the Augustana Synod

Image in the Public Domain

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ERIC NORELIUS (OCTOBER 26, 1833-MARCH 15, 1916)

Swedish-American Lutheran Minister

Eric Norelius comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses:  An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via G. Scott Cady and Christopher L. Webber, A Year with American Saints (2006).

Norelius grew up in The Church of Sweden.  He, born in Hassela, Sweden, on October 26, 1833, was steeped in Lutheranism.  When our saint arrived in New York Harbor on October 31, 1850, he found other Swedish immigrants, mostly Methodists.  When Norelius arrived in Chicago, Illinois, he found a Swedish Episcopalian congregation.  After graduating from Capital University, Columbus, Ohio (1855), Norelius began his Lutheran ministerial career.

In September 1855, Eric Norelius and Inga Peterson Norelius, newlyweds, arrived in Red Wing, Minnesota.  Our saint became the pastor of two churches, one in Red Wing and the other one in Vasa.  The Swedish Lutheran congregations were poor, so the Noreliuses had to leave, for financial reasons, in 1858.   Before they did, however, our saint had founded twelve congregations.

Norelius remained active in ecclesiastical affairs.  Our saint became a journalist.  He had founded a Swedish-language newspaper, the Minnesota Posten, in November 1857.  He assumed the editorship of the Hemlandet, a Swedish-language newspaper which absorbed the Minnesota Posten, in January 1859.  Norelius helped to found the Augustana Synod (originally for Norwegian and Swedish immigrants) in June 1860.  He served as a traveling missionary to Swedes living west of Minneapolis, starting in October 1860.

Norelius returned to the Red Wing-Vasa area, as pastor, in 1861.  He founded a school, the origin of Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minnesota, in 1862.  Our saint also founded the Vasa Children’s Home in 1865.  This was the genesis of Lutheran Social Services  of Minnesota.

Norelius led above the parish level, too.  He served as the President of the Augustana Synod’s Minnesota Conference (1870f).  Then our saint was the President of the Augustana Synod (1874-1881, 1899-1911).  Norelius also wrote and edited.  His published works included The History of the Swedish Lutheran Congregations and the Swedish Americans (two volumes, 1890).  Norelius edited ecclesiastical publications (1870-1882, 1899-1909), too.

Norelius, aged 82 years, died in Vasa, Minnesota, on March 15, 1916.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 23, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF TOYOHIKO KAGAWA, RENEWER OF SOCIETY AND PROPHETIC WITNESS IN JAPAN

THE FEAST OF JAKOB BÖHME, GERMAN LUTHERAN MYSTIC

THE FEAST OF MARTIN RINCKART, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT TERESA MARIA OF THE CROSS, FOUNDRESS OF THE CARMELITE SISTERS OF SAINT TERESA OF FLORENCE

THE FEAST OF WALTER RUSSELL BOWIE, EPISCOPAL PRIEST, SEMINARY PROFESSOR, AND HYMN WRITER

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Almighty God, we praise you for the men and women you have sent

to call the Church to its tasks and renew its life [such as your servant Eric Norelius].

Raise up in our own day teachers and prophets inspired by your Spirit,

whose voices will give strength to your Church and proclaim

the reality of your kingdom;  through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Psalm 46

1 Corinthians 3:11-23

Mark 10:35-45

–Adapted from the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 37

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