Hans Nielsen Hauge (1771-1824)

The Lutheran Calendar of Saints remembers Hans Nielsen Hauge on March 29th. Hauge was a Norwegian layman who fundamentally changed the Church of Norway. A farmer, Hauge experienced a religious revelation while working in his field. He accepted a mission spread the Word of God, beginning a Pietist revival in Norway, even though at the time the law in Norway specified that only an ordained pastor could lead a religious meeting. Hauge traveled throughout Norway, organizing religious meetings and encouraging his followers to face their sins and live a Christian life. Though his teachings were in line with Lutheranism, he was imprisoned multiple times for preaching as a lay person.

Hauge influenced the transformation of Norway’s economy from agricultural to industrial, founding several factories and mills. An advocate for the common people, he encouraged his followers to improve their economic situation through hard work.  Further, he gave away the factories that he founded.

Hauge also believed in the equality of men and women. The Haugean movement welcomed several female lay ministers, most notably Sara Oust, as early as 1799.

During the prime years of the Haugean movement, many Norwegians immigrated to North America, taking their brand of Lutheranism with them. Additionally, a large group of Germans Pietists unexpectedly spent a year in Bergen, Norway on their way to North America when their ship, the de Zee Ploeg stopped there due to bad weather. Friendships formed among the Germans and their Norwegian hosts, and they held devotions together.

Hans Nielsen Hague died at the age of 52, his health likely diminished by his time in prison. But, his message of hard work in both spiritual and earthly matters, no regardless of one’s earthly station lived on through his followers and the movement that he founded.