The celebrations of this event have included anniversary worship services in Stockholm and the east coast town of Härnösand, where the first female priests were ordained in 1960, the Church of Sweden said in a statement.
The Church of Sweden ordained its first three female priests on Palm Sunday, 10 April. They were Margit Sahlin, Elisabeth Djurle, and Ingrid Persson. The ordinations took place in Saint Nicolaus’ Church in Stockholm and Härnösand Cathedral.
The ordination of women was the result of a decision by the general synod in 1958 to open the priesthood to women.
The anniversary services were held in Saint Jacob’s Church in Stockholm on March 28, and in Härnösand Cathedral on April 10.
The Church of Sweden Forum for Ordained Female Priests held its yearly conference April 9-10.
The Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership records the first known female ordination in 1758 by the Moravians in Herrnhut in Saxony. This group ordained 14 “sisters” with the right to preach in front of women. After the death of the founder of the denomination, Ludwig von Zinzendorf, in 1760, no more women were ordained until the 1960s.
Then, in 1853, the Congregationalist Church in the United States is said to have ordained Antoinette Brown but she was dismissed in 1854 and later became a Unitarian.
The first Lutheran ordination of a female priest is thought to have been in 1926 by the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in the Netherlands.
