Henry (bishop of Finland)

Bishop Henry, or Piispa Henrik was an Englishborn bishop of Upsala, who was martyred by Lalli in Finland.

When Erik the holy, who was king of Sweden, decided to take a small armed force to help convert Finns to christianity, he took Bishop Henry with him. Very soon after arriving on Finnish soil however, he was slain by Lalli, a rich man who owned his own manor.

Very few facts are known about the real causes for this, but the incident is replete with legends. According to one such legend Lallis wife Kerttu alleged to him that upon leaving the manor, their ungrateful guest had without permission or recompense through violence taken food for himself and hay for his horse. This is supposed to have enraged Lalli so that he directly grabbed his skis and went in pursuit of the thief, and finally skied Henry down on the ice of lake Köyliönjärvi, and executed him on the spot with an axe.

Further legends enumerate the pestilences and misfortunes which befell Lalli after his "treacherous slaying" of the holy benefactor of the miserable Finnish pagans who were "twice removed" from the grace afforded by knowledge of Christ. His hair and scalp are said to have fallen out as he took off the bishops cap, which he had taken as a trophy. Furthermore he is said to have been constantly been nibbled by mice, which finally caused him such distress that he finally ran into a lake and drowned himself.

This legend of Finnish ingratitude was much much expanded upon by preachers to justify later harsh measures they took to ensure that Finnish conversions to christianity were not mere words, but that they sincerely and unreservedly accepted church authority. Bishop Henry took the status of holy martyr, and Finnish folk revered him as a saint, even though he never gained that status officially from the Holy See.