J.P. Gregoriussen

J.P. Gregoriussen was a Faroese songwriter, poet and writer. His poetry was well known in the Faroe Islands where his Wedding Ballad is often sung at weddings. As well as being a poet, Gregoriussen was a sailor and a carpenter.

Biography

Gregoriussen was born in Kvívík, Faroe Islands. He grew up with traditional Faroese poet Joen Danielsen in Kvívík at a time when Lutheran minister V.U. Hammershaimb was the parish priest.
Gregoriussen worked as a fisherman near Iceland from 1867 to 1870. While in Iceland he went to church and heard services conducted in Icelandic. From that point he became more aware of the fact that in the Faroe Islands Danish, not Faroese, was the official language in church and school. Gregoriussen was a devoted member of "The Faroese Association" after it was established at the Christmas Meeting in 1888.