Margareta i Kumla

Margareta i Kumla, (Floruit 1628), also called the Sibylla of Kumla ("The Prophetess of Kumla"), was a Swedish visionary, who claimed to be obsessed. She became the target for pilgrimages when claiming to be the channel of the words of the angels. 
Margareta was born to Johannes Laurentii, who was since 1619 the Vicar of Kumla. In 1626, she is described as a teenager. That year, she said she had visions of a white bird and a black man. The black man tried to convince her to abandon her beliefs. At the same time, both the vicarage and the church begun to experience the phenomena of poltergeist. 
The 30 October 1626, Margareta was to have said "blasphemies" and called upon Satan; afterward, she claimed to have had a visit from seven high rank devils. 22 October, she said she was visited by three angels with burning candles, among them the Archangel Michael. She was then unconscious for 24 hours. When she awakened, she claimed that angels and devils had fought for her soul and that she had seen the "Glory of the Lord". Between 9 December 1626 and 3 January 1627, she said she had been visited by a litany of angels, and that she had now became their channel, and that what she said was in fact their words. Margareta now foretold that a miracle in Poland should create peace in the war, that a plague should come; she talked about the Sun and the stars and also about clothes, condemning the use of crinolines, big starch collars for vicars, many colors and that blue starch was the vomit of Satan while white starch was pleasing to the Lord. 
The Sibylla of Kumla had now became known in the entire country, and people from all over the country, among them also the clergy, traveled to Kumla to witness fire, burning blankets, to hear shouts and heavenly choirs and to see Margareta perform a miracle when the angel Gabriel allegedly cured a boy from deafness through her. Margareta stated that the angels had promised to dictate a letter through her, which was to be delivered to the king by her father. 
Bishop Laurentius Paulinus Gothus was given order to examine the whole affair. The 10 February 1628, the King ordered her "Foolisheness and insanity" to be stopped; the pilgrimages to her was to be stopped by the threat of imprisonment, and Margareta herself was also to be imprisoned if she did not stop. With this, the pilgrimages to Kumla ended. There is no information about Margareta after this. 
== See also ==
* Eva Margareta Frölich
* Helena Ekblom
== References ==
* Göte Göransson: Gustav II Adolf och hans folk (Gustav II Adolf and his people) Stockholm (1994) ISBN 91-7119-128-3. 
Category:1610s births
Category:17th-century deaths
Category:Prophets
Category:Spiritualism
Category:17th-century Swedish people
sv:Margareta i Kumla