Árdís - 01.01.1950, Page 38

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ÁRDÍS
iron roof and a tower. It stands near an ancient cemetery enclosed
within a stone wall. This cemetery stands on a higher level than
the surrounding ground. Upon inquiry I was told that in ancient
times the Churches were always situated in the middle of the burial
ground and being built of sod they had to be replaced frequently.
When they were razed the sod was simply levelled over the
churchyard and throughout the centuries this raised the level of
the ground. Within this enclosure are buried some of the four
children of Hallgrimur Petursson who died in infancy, though
it is not certain that they were all interred there. On every visit
to this Church we felt that we were treading on hallowed ground.
Here we were tracing the footsteps of the sainted poet whose
memory will be revered as long as Iceland exists. This was his first
Church—which he served for seven years, from 1644 to 1651. He
came there as an ordained minister at the age of thirty, having spent
four previous years on the peninsula as a laborer.
Hallgrimur Petursson was born in 1614 in northern Iceland.
His father Petur Gudmundsson was a close relative of Bishop
Gudbrandur of Hólar, and was employed as sexton of the Cathedral
there. There Hallgrimur received his elementary schooling. But at
the early age of 13 he went to Denmark where he became an
apprentice to a blacksmith. At this time Brynjólfur Sveinsson,
later bishop of Skálholt was studying at the University of Copen-
hagen. He found Hallgrimur, and realizing that he was unhappy in
his surroundings as well as recognizing his talents and ability, he
took him in his care, entering him in Our Lady’s College, one of
the best schools in the city. There he remained for four years.
Just before the completion of his senior year his attention was
turned to other channels. In the year 1627 a Turkish pirate ship
had come to the Westman Islands south of Iceland. They burned,
plundered and killed then took captive between three and four
hundred people and sold them into slavery in Algiers. After ten
years of servitude and misery — thirty eight survivors were ran-
somed by the Danish Crown and brought back to Copenhagen. Many
of them had renounced their faith, and they did not understand
the Danish language. In order to restore their faith to them in
their Icelandic language, Hallgrimur was appointed as their tutor.
Among this group was a woman by the name of Gudriður
Simonardóttir, then about 38 years old or sixteen years older than