Thomas Leopold, born 1693 near Kristianstad

Kristianstad

Kristianstad is a city and the seat of Kristianstad Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 35,711 inhabitants in 2010.-History:The city was founded in 1614 by King Christian IV of Denmark, the city's name literally means 'Town of Christian', as a planned city after the burning of the town of Vä...

, Scania

Scania

Scania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...

, dead 1771 in Kungälv

Kungälv

Kungälv is a city and the seat of Kungälv Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 21,139 inhabitants in 2005.-History:According to Swedish official sources the city was founded in 1612, when the former settlement at Kungahälla was moved to the Bohus Fortress...

, was one of the prophets and martyrs of the Swedish Pietist movement during the 18th century.

Thomas' father Sigfrid had immigrated from Germany, and his mother was the daughter of an immigrant Scotsman.

At 35 years of age, during studies in Lund

Lund

-Main sights:During the 12th and 13th centuries, when the town was the seat of the archbishop, many churches and monasteries were built. At its peak, Lund had 27 churches, but most of them were demolished as result of the Reformation in 1536. Several medieval buildings remain, including Lund...

, he was imprisoned for his radical profession of faith, and remained a prisoner for 42 years, 32 years of which was in Bohus Fortress

Bohus Fortress

Bohus Fortress lies along the old Norwegian - Swedish border in Kungälv, Bohuslän, Sweden, north east from Hisingen where the Göta river splits into two branches...

, where he died, 77 years old.

Sometimes he was visited at the castle by Lutheran priests, who told him he could be freed immediately, if only he denounced his radical-pietistic beliefs. He always answered calmly that he had promised Jesus to be faithful until the end.

His prison cell is still preserved and can be visited at the fortress during summer.

See also

• Pietism
  Pietism
  Pietism was a movement within Lutheranism, lasting from the late 17th century to the mid-18th century and later. It proved to be very influential throughout Protestantism and Anabaptism, inspiring not only Anglican priest John Wesley to begin the Methodist movement, but also Alexander Mack to...
  
  
• Radical Pietism
  Radical Pietism
  Radical Pietism refers to a movement within Protestantism, lasting from the late 17th century to the mid 18th century and later, which emphasized the need for a "religion of the heart" instead of the head, and was characterized by ethical purity, inward devotion, charity, asceticism, and even...
  
  
• Johann Conrad Dippel
  Johann Conrad Dippel
  Johann Konrad Dippel was a German pietist theologian, alchemist and physician.-Life:He was born at Castle Frankenstein near Mühltal and Darmstadt, and therefore once the addendum Franckensteinensis and once the addendum Franckensteina-Strataemontanus was used.He studied theology, philosophy and...
  
  
• Lars Ulstadius
  Lars Ulstadius
  In Finland the first appearance of radical Pietism is personified by Lars Ulstadius . He was a Lutheran minister and a schoolteacher who, due to contacts with early pietist literature, came to be tormented by religious doubt, guilt, and general anxiety...
  
  
• Bohus Fortress
  Bohus Fortress
  Bohus Fortress lies along the old Norwegian - Swedish border in Kungälv, Bohuslän, Sweden, north east from Hisingen where the Göta river splits into two branches...