Christian Friedrich Schwartz

Christian Friedrich Schwartz was born on October 26, 1726, in Sonnenburg, in the Prussian region of Brandenburg. His mother died when he was young, and, according to his own account, she said as she was dying that she wished her son to give himself to God. He was sent to school and then to the University of Halle, the center of the Pietist movement. There he came under the influence of August Hermann Francke and was drawn to the idea of missions. He studied the Tamil language while still in Germany, and he was ordained.

In 1750 he sailed for India, where he joined the Danish-Halle mission at Tranquebar, the same mission that Ziegenbalg had begun forty years earlier. He worked there for twelve years, learning the customs of the people and preaching in Tamil. He also learned Portuguese, Hindustani and Persian, and he was able to speak with people at many levels of society. In 1762 he moved inland to Trichinopoly, and in 1778 he went to Tanjore, where he spent the rest of his life.

His simple and holy way of life made a deep impression. He took no salary for himself and gave his income to the poor. He lived in a small house and ate frugally. He would speak of Christ to anyone he met. He was gentle in manner, patient and trusted by the people. He formed churches among the Tamil people, and by the end of his life there were thousands of believers in the region. He also trained Indian catechists and teachers.

He came to hold a unique place among the rulers of southern India. The Raja of Tanjore trusted him deeply, and when the Raja died, he asked Schwartz to be the guardian of his young adopted son, Serfoji. Schwartz raised the boy and watched over his education, and Serfoji became a wise and cultured ruler who valued science and learning. In 1779, when the British were at war with Hyder Ali, the ruler of Mysore, the British authorities in Madras asked Schwartz to act as an envoy. Hyder Ali was known to distrust Europeans, but he said that he would receive Schwartz, because he knew him to be a man of truth. Schwartz went to the court in Seringapatam and spoke with the ruler, and he later served as a trusted go-between in other negotiations. He also helped the people of Tanjore during a famine, by using his influence to obtain grain and by pleading with the British to ease their demands.

Some of his fellow missionaries felt that his involvement in politics was out of place, and the leaders of the mission in Europe sometimes objected. He himself said that he served only for the good of the people and in order to make way for the gospel. There were also controversies in the mission over questions of caste. Schwartz allowed Indian converts to keep some of their social customs, and this was a source of criticism from those who thought that he went too far.

He lived to a good age, though he suffered from illness in his last years. He died on February 13, 1798, at Tanjore, at the age of seventy-one. The Raja Serfoji wept at his deathbed and had a memorial built for him, with a poem he wrote himself. The memory of Schwartz was cherished among both Christians and Hindus. His life shows how holiness and honesty can open a way for the gospel where force and pride could not.