Background
Muus was born in the parish Snaasen in Throndhjems Stift in Snåsa, Nord-Trøndelag, Norway.
Muus was born in the parish Snaasen in Throndhjems Stift in Snåsa, Nord-Trøndelag, Norway.
Having graduated from the Latin school of Trondheim in 1849, he entered the University of Christiania where he studied theology and completed his theological training in 1854.
He helped found Saint Olaf College. He immigrated to the United States in 1859. During a forty-year ministry, Muus traveled indefatigably to establish and minister to congregations in southern Minnesota.
Muus filled the office of bishop of the Minnesota District of the Norwegian Synod, took an active part in theological disputes, and ceaselessly urged the church to do more in the field of education.
In 1874, Muus led a group of Norwegian-American immigrant pastors and farmers to found Saint Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. He was expelled from his church for failure to conform to doctrine in 1898.
Pastor Muus was stricken with partial paralysis in 1899. He returned to Norway and was buried in Trondheim, Norway at the Nidaros Cathedral cemetery.
Holand, Hjalmar (2006) History of the Norwegian Settlements (Astri My Astri Publishing).