Mikael Agricola

Mikael Agricola (c. 1510 – 9 April 1557) was a priest who is often called the "father of written Finnish". In addition, Agricola, Aleksis Kivi and Elias Lönnrot are regarded fathers of a national literature in Finnish.

In his time, Finland was part of Sweden, a Catholic country. He learned the ideas of the Reformation, and thought everyone should be able to read the Bible. To help people in Finland to learn to read, Agricola published a ABC book and a prayer book in Finnish around year 1544. He also translated large sections of the Bible into Finnish.

Other websites

 * Agricola, Mikael (1510 - 1557) Finnish Dictionary of National Biography online.
 * The Finnish Reformer was a student of Luther – and Finland's educator