VIDALIN, JON THORKELSSON

born 1666, Gardhur, near Reykjavk, Ice. died 1720, Iceland also called Magister Jn Lutheran bishop, best known for his Hss-Postilla (171820; Sermons for the Home), one of the finest works of Icelandic prose of the 18th century. The son of a learned physician and a grandson of the scholar Arngrmur Jnsson the Learned, Vdaln was educated at Sklholt in Iceland and at the University of Copenhagen and rose rapidly in the church, becoming bishop of Sklholt in 1697. The extreme poverty of the Icelanders and the misery that had been caused by a series of epidemics aroused his indignation against the negligent secular authorities, and he carried on a lifelong feud against them. His Baroque antithetical style sprinkled with proverbs, his ironic portrayals of prevailing abuses, and his vivid pictures of hellall of these elements made Vdaln's homilies the most popular devotional work in Iceland down to the 19th century.