Lars_Levi_Laestadius

Lars Levi Laestadius (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈlɑːʂ ˈlěːvɪ lɛˈstɑ̌ːdɪɵs]; 10 January 1800 – 21 February 1861) was a Swedish Sami pastor and administrator of the Swedish state Lutheran church in Lapland who founded the Laestadian pietist revival movement to help his largely Sami congregations, who were being ravaged by alcoholism. Laestadius himself became a teetotaller (except for his ongoing use of wine in holy Communion) in the 1840s, when he began successfully talking his Sami parishioners out of alcoholism. Laestadius was also a noted botanist and an author.