Frans Michael Franzén

Frans Michael Franzén (9 February 1772 – 14 August 1847) was a Swedish-Finnish poet and clergyman. He served as the Bishop of the Diocese of Härnösand.

Biography

Franzén was born in Oulu (Swedish: Uleåborg), Northern Ostrobothnia, Sweden (now part of Finland). At thirteen he entered the Royal Academy of Turku, where he attended the lectures of Henrik Gabriel Porthan (1739–1804), a pioneer in the study of Finnish history and folklore. He graduated in 1789, and became eloquentiae docens in 1792.

Three years later he started on a tour through Denmark, Germany, France and England, returning in 1796 to accept the office of university librarian at Turku in Finland. In 1801 he became professor of history and ethics, in 1808 he was elected a member of the Swedish Academy and in 1815 a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He was a member of Pro Fide et Christianismo, a Christian education society.

Finland was ceded by Sweden to Russia in 1809 after the Finnish War, and Franzén relocated to Kumla, Sweden, where he was appointed parish priest in the diocese of Strängnäs (1810), minister of the Klara Church in Stockholm (1824) and Bishop of Härnösand (1831). In Härnösand, he got to know Carl Olof Rosenius, seeing him as a promising preacher. Revivalist preacher Pehr Brandell worked as Franzén's assistant and after his death was defended by Franzén.

Franzén died in 1847 in Härnösand, Sweden.

Personal life

Franzén was married three times; in 1799 to Margareta Elisabet Roos, in 1807 to Sophia Christina Wester, in 1831 to Christina Elisabeth Arvedsson. Franzén's son-in-law poet and historian Anders Abraham Grafström (1790–1870) served alongside him in the Swedish Academy and was Franzén's biographer. Franzén died in the parish of Säbrå in Västernorrland.