Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Laurentius Petri, originally Lars Persson, (1499-1573), Swedish clergyman and the first Evangelical Lutheran Archbishop of Sweden. Brother of the protestant reformer in Sweden Olaus Petri. After being consecrated Archbishop in 1531, Petri promoted a moderate reformation and defended the autonomy of the Church of Sweden against attempts to make it subject to Royal Authority. The Church Statute of 1571 established under John III of Sweden, bears the mark of Petri's authority. His moderate paced reforms were seconded by the Bishop of Åbo and reformer in Finland, Mikael Agricola. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.