PETERSSON, Olaf (Petri Olaus). — The principal promoter of the Lutheran Reformation in Sweden, brother of the preceding, b. at Örebro in 1493, d. at Stockholm on 19 Apr. 1552. He studied at the Universities of Leipzig and Wittenberg in 1516–18 and there accepted Luther’s ideas. Returning to his homeland, at Strängnäs as deacon and rector of the cathedral school, he became an effective propagandist of the new ideas. Having entered into relations with the new King Gustav Vasa, he was transferred to Stockholm as city secretary and in 1531–33 became chancellor and counsellor to Gustav. He sought to make the “Reformation,” which had been above all the result of political-national forces, a reality felt inwardly.
To this end, in 1526 he published a reworking of Luther’s “prayer booklet,” which was the first Protestant writing in Sweden, as well as a Swedish translation of the New Testament and a collection of spiritual songs. He wrote other edifying works, all inspired by Lutheranism. Having outlined the transformation of the Church at the Council of Örebro (1529), he promoted its implementation from the organizational and doctrinal points of view with the Church Manual (1529), the Postils, the Catechism (1530), and the Ritual of the Swedish Mass, with the overt intention of avoiding innovations that would give the people the sense of a break with ancient usages. In this respect P. was more conservative than Luther and contributed greatly to giving a moderate stamp to the Swedish “Reformation,” by preserving the episcopate and maintaining a certain continuity with the medieval Church.
For this position he fell into disfavour with King Gustav when the latter, under the influence of the Pomeranian Nordmann, wished to introduce radically innovative forms. In 1539 P. had been ordained to the priesthood and had become parish priest of the principal church of Stockholm. The following year he was condemned to death for alleged high treason; he was, however, pardoned and in 1543 reinstated in his functions. In 1530 he had compiled a chronicle of Sweden based on older sources.