Jooseppi Mustakallio
| Jooseppi Mustakallio | |
|---|---|
| Born |
18 July 1857 Säräisniemi, Finland |
| Died | 20 April 1923 (aged 65) Parikkala, Finland |
| Nationality | Finnish |
| Theological work | |
Jooseppi Mustakallio (b. June 18, 1857 Säräisniemi – April 20, 1923 Parikkala), originally Jooseppi Schwartzberg, was a Finnish minister and the fourth mission director of the Finnish Missionary Society, after Akseli Hirn. He was also a poet and a lyricist. His best known poem is called “Evening Song”.
Mustakallio’s parents were chaplain Henrik Schwartzberg ja Laura Katariina Stenbäck. Mustakallio graduated from the Kuopio Lyceum in 1878 and obtained a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1883.
Mustakallio first worked as teacher in Pori, teaching religion and the Finnish language. In 1889 he was ordained a minister. After that he taught religion in Savonlinna and Kuopio.
Mustakallio became an employee of the FMS in 1897, first as a teacher of the FMS Mission School. During the summer of 1898 he travelled to Germany, in order to acquaint himself with the work of the various German missionary societies.
Mustakallio was elected mission director in 1898.
The FMS had long been planning an inspection of the mission field in Ovamboland in South West Africa, which was at the time the only mission field of this organization. The Finns had worked there for 30 years, without a single visit from Finland.
During the last few years, the Finnish missionaries had been criticized heavily in Finland, for an apparent lack of results. For this reason the missionaries had been hoping for a visit from by the director of the FMS. At that time there were four missionaries in the field with their families, along with two unmarried female missionaries.
Mustakallio left for Africa on 31 January 1900, and he arrived there on 22 June the same year, together with Emil Liljeblad, who now began his first term in Ovamboland. Mustakallio stayed on the field for six weeks. He first visited the mission station of Olukonda. The 30th anniversary of Finnish mission work was held there, and there were 600 persons present at the festivities. Mustakallio inspected all the schools and the mission stations of Olukonda, Ondangwa and Oniipa as well as the auxiliary mission station of Omulonga. He was due to stay for four months on the field, but the visit was shortened to six weeks, one of the reasons for this was that he fell ill with malaria.
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