View source for Per August Ahlberg

{{Short description|Swedish priest (1823–1887)}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Per August Ahlberg
| image              = Ahlberg Per 18230813 (cropped).jpg
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1823|08|13|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Mörlunda]], [[Kalmar County]], [[Sweden]]
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1887|07|01|1823|08|13|df=y}}
| death_place        = [[Örebro]], [[Sweden]]
| occupation         = Priest, folk school teacher, preacher
| employer           = [[Church of Sweden]]
| spouse             = {{plainlist|
*{{marriage|Adeline Jeanette Sabelström|1851|1881|end=d.}}
*{{marriage|Hilma Gustava Seseman|1882}}
}}
| children           = {{ill|David Ahlberg|sv}}
}}
'''Per August Ahlberg''' (13 August 1823 – 1 July 1887) was a Swedish [[Christian revival|revivalist]] pastor and missionary who made a large impact on the spiritual environment of [[Småland]], Sweden, founding a number of [[Christian mission|mission]] schools for [[colporteurs]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Walli |first=G. |title=Per August Ahlberg |url=https://sok.riksarkivet.se/sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=5610 |access-date=2022-07-07 |website=[[Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon]] |language=sv |archive-date=2022-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707152427/https://sok.riksarkivet.se/sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=5610 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Larspers |first=Torbjörn |date=2015 |title=EFS, ansgarieförbund, götiskt nyevangeliskt förbund eller SMF? Den nyevangeliska väckelserörelsens samordningsförsök t.o.m. 1878 |url=https://theofilos.no/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/2b_Academia_Larspers_EFS-ansgarief%C3%B6rbund-g%C3%B6tiskt-nyevangeliskt-f%C3%B6rbund-eller-SMF.pdf |journal=Theofilos |language=sv |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=273–274 |access-date=2022-07-07 |archive-date=2022-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707171710/https://theofilos.no/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/2b_Academia_Larspers_EFS-ansgarief%C3%B6rbund-g%C3%B6tiskt-nyevangeliskt-f%C3%B6rbund-eller-SMF.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Biography ==
Ahlberg was born in [[Mörlunda]], [[Kalmar County]]. His father, Jöns Petter Ahlberg from Raskarum in St Olof's parish in Scania, was an [[equine veterinarian]] and [[farrier]] for the [[Småland]] [[Hussar|hussars]]. His mother was Lukretia Gustafsdotter.<ref>{{Cite book |title=[[Svenska män och kvinnor]] |year=1942 |pages=35–36 |language=sv |chapter=Ahlberg, Per August |chapter-url=https://runeberg.org/smok/1/0043.html |via=[[Project Runeberg]] |access-date=2022-07-07 |archive-date=2022-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707171847/http://runeberg.org/smok/1/0043.html |url-status=live }}</ref> After attending school in [[Vimmerby]] and studying in [[Linköping]], Ahlberg worked as an [[apothecary]]'s apprentice and as a teacher; he also took his [[folk school]] teacher's examination in 1847. In the 1840s he studied further in [[Lund]] and [[Uppsala]]. On 13 June 1847 he was ordained a priest in [[Linköping Cathedral]] for service in the [[Church of Sweden]]. After becoming assistant pastor in the parish of Östra Tollstad in 1847, he served in various parishes in the Vimmerby and Eksjö area before becoming involved in mission schools for [[colporteurs]]. Ahlberg became director of the [[Swedish Mission Society]]'s mission school in Stockholm in 1857. From 1858 to 1861 he was director of the mission school in Kristdala and then of the mission school at Alsborg in Vetlanda parish.<ref>{{Cite book |title=[[Svenska män och kvinnor]] |year=1949 |pages=214 |language=sv |chapter=Rang, Nils Gustaf Wilhelm |chapter-url=https://runeberg.org/smok/6/0238.html |via=[[Project Runeberg]] |access-date=2022-07-07 |archive-date=2022-08-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220811170559/http://runeberg.org/smok/6/0238.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
He lived and worked in [[Vetlanda]] for fourteen years from 1861 to 1875. The mission school had a total of 328 students during that time and many future priests in the American [[Augustana Synod]] were educated there.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Lundén |first=Rolf |url=https://archive.org/details/mantriumphantdiv0000lund |title=Man triumphant : the divided life of David Edstrom |publisher=[[Uppsala University]] |year=2014 |pages=28–29 |isbn=9789155489762 |oclc=1233990511}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Among those impacted by Ahlberg's revival in Vetlanda was Jonas Peter Edström, father of sculptor [[Peter David Edstrom]].<ref name=":1" /> Initially, Ahlberg kept his collections in his home in Alsborg outside Vetlanda, and in the [[mineral spa]] salons in Flugeby and Alsborg, before the first mission house in Vetlanda was built on the Mogärde estate (Missionen block number 176). In the late 1860s, Ahlberg began to make plans for mission work among the [[emancipated slaves]] in the United States; however, his plans did not come to be.<ref name=":1" />
In 1875, when the Mission School had grown, it was donated to a foundation and Ahlberg moved to [[Örebro]]. There, too, he started school activities while working as a pastor for the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Society. He also worked as a traveling speaker for [[Svenska nykterhetssällskapet]], the Swedish Temperance Society.<ref>{{Cite book |title=[[Nordisk familjebok]] |year=1918 |edition=2nd |language=sv |chapter=Svenska nykterhetssällskapet |chapter-url=https://runeberg.org/nfcg/0553.html |access-date=2022-07-07 |archive-date=2022-06-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605165207/http://runeberg.org/nfcg/0553.html |url-status=live }}</ref> After Ahlberg's death, the school activities in Örebro were moved to [[Johannelunds Teologiska Högskola|Johannelund Theological Institute]]. In his later years, he was often ill prior to his death in Örebro in 1887. Ahlberg is known as one of the founders of the Östra Smålands Missionsförening and as the publisher of the book of reflections {{Lang|sv|Biblisk Skattkammare}} (Biblical Treasury) with many quotations from the [[Church Fathers]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=[[Svensk Uppslagsbok]] |year=1929 |location=Lund |language=sv}}</ref> He has been referred to as "the foremost standard bearer of the [[Läsare|readers]] in East [[Småland]]" and the [[Christian revival|revival]]'s leader in the area.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Birgersson |first=Bengt |date=2018-11-01 |title=När kyrkan brann |url=https://kyrkaochfolk.se/2018/11/01/nar-kyrkan-brann/ |access-date=2022-07-07 |website=[[Kyrka och folk]] |language=sv-SE |archive-date=2022-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707171709/https://kyrkaochfolk.se/2018/11/01/nar-kyrkan-brann/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Ahlberg is buried at the Southern Cemetery ({{Lang|sv|Södra kyrkogården}}) in Örebro. The tombstone is inscribed, "Those who teach many to righteousness shall shine like stars for evermore."
He was married for the first time in 1851 to Adeline Jeanette Sabelström, daughter of a vicar, and for the second time in 1882 to Hilma Gustava Seseman, also the daughter of a vicar.<ref name=":0" /> In his first marriage he had eleven children, of whom the four youngest lived to adulthood: Josef, Hulda, Frideborg and {{Ill|David Ahlberg|sv}}. With his second wife he had two children, both of whom died at a young age.
== Hymns ==
* "{{Ill|Bekymras ej, du arma själ|sv}}", number 427 in the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church's {{Ill|Hemlandssånger (1891)|sv}}
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahlberg, Per August}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1823 births]]
[[Category:1887 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Swedish Lutheran priests]]
[[Category:Swedish hymnwriters]]
[[Category:Swedish temperance activists]]