Era / Region: Early Modern Period, Sweden
Lifespan: 1645 – April 27, 1719
Primary Role(s): Priest; parish vicar
Alternate Names / Titles: Lars Christophri Hornæus; Lars Christoffersson
The Life
Laurentius Christophori Hornaeus was born in 1645 in Härnösand, Sweden, under the name Lars Christoffersson. During his lifetime, it was common for Swedish students and clergy to adopt Latinized names, often derived from their place of origin. The name Hornaeus is generally understood to be a Latinized form of Härnösand.
He began theological studies in the 1660s and was enrolled at the University of Uppsala by 1667, where he studied alongside his brother Petrus. In 1672, Lars was ordained as a priest of the Church of Sweden.
Following his ordination, he was appointed assistant minister in Ytterlännäs, serving under Olaus Erici Rufinius, who held responsibility for the parish of Torsåker and its surrounding areas, including the annex parish in the Dal Hundred. Rufinius died later in 1672, and Lars succeeded him as assistant minister.
Hornaeus became parish vicar through the customary practice of widow conservation, by which a clergyman inherited a parish by marrying the widow or daughter of his predecessor. Since Rufinius had been widowed, Hornaeus married his daughter, Brita Olofsdotter Rufinia, in a ceremony held at the parsonage in Sunnanåker, within Ytterlännäs parish. The couple had a son, Lars Hornaeus, who later became a minister. Through his descendants, Hornaeus’s family remained active in the clergy for multiple generations.
In 1668, a wave of witchcraft accusations began spreading through Sweden. By 1674, the witch panic reached Torsåker. As parish vicar, Laurentius Christophori Hornaeus presided over the Torsåker witch trials, which became the largest witch trial episode in Swedish history.
Hornaeus continued his clerical duties until his death on April 27, 1719, in Nordanåker, Ytterlännäs parish. He was buried beneath the old church in Ytterlännäs, where his grave remains preserved beneath a hatch in the church floor between the altar and the sacristy entrance.
Following his death, his son Lars Larsson Hornaeus succeeded him as pastor and led the congregation until 1751.