Jón Ögmundsson

Jón Ögmundsson (* 1052, † April 23, 1121 ) was an Icelandic bishop.

In 1106 he founded an episcopal see in Hólar in northern Iceland and served there until his death as a bishop.

Family

Jón was the son of Ögmundur Þorkelsson and Þorgerður Egilsdottir from Breiðabólstaður in Fljótshlíð.

Jón was himself later married twice but had no children.

Training

At the beginning of Jón learned at Isleifur Gissurarson in Skálholt and later drove to further studies in Denmark and Norway.

Sæmundur Fróði was his traveling companion, as he returned home after graduation.

Bishop of Hólar

Jón lived on his homestead when he - was appointed bishop in Hólar - well, with the support of the Bishop of Skálholt, Gissur Ísleifsson. The future Bishop first went to Rome, where he met the Pope, who caused that he was ordained a bishop. This happened on April 29, 1106.

Jón Ögmundsson was an influential bishop. He also founded a school in Hólar which, inter alia, Teachers from abroad employed.

Days of the week

Jón made ​​it their mission to wipe out the remnants of the Norse pagan religion. This included a change in the names of weekdays. Thus, from óðinsdagr, the day of Odin, the name miðvikudagr, Day midweek; the days of Týr and Thor have been renamed as the "third day" and " fifth day ".

To date, these names of the days of the week have been preserved in Iceland. Overall, however, Jón's reform efforts appear only on a superficial level to have had success. He failed to drive out the memory of the pagan gods.

Local saint

Jón was appointed by a bishop decree in Althing in 1200 to a local saint. We call him therefore in Iceland as Jón helgi (Eng. St. Jón ).

Saga

A saga, Jón's saga Hólabiskups or Jón saga helga, reports of his actions and the life of his time in Hólar.