Jeronimo de Loaysa

LOAYZA, or LOAYSA, Jeronimo de (lo-i'-sah), Spanish-American bishop, born in Trujillo, Spain, about 1500; died in Lima, Peru, in 1575. He belonged to one of the noblest families in Spain, and at an early age entered the College of Saint Paul of Cordova, where he joined the Dominican order, and went to the College of St. Gregory in Valladolid to finish his studies.

He embarked for America in 1526. Carthagena was assigned him as a field of missionary labor, and he devoted himself zealously to the conversion of the natives, and, notwithstanding the extreme heat of the climate and dangers of every kind, he visited the barbarous tribes along the coast, converting many of them to Christianity.

After five years he returned to Spain to defend the Indians and denounce the conduct of their conquerors, who, in contempt of the repeated orders of the emperor, persisted in enslaving the natives.

In 1537 he was nominated bishop of Carthagena. As a condition of acceptance he desired that Charles V should display more energy in the protection of the Indians, build a cathedral and a Dominican convent in Carthagena, and send out six missionaries of the order every year to his diocese; and all of these petitions were granted. He then gathered a colony of priests and monks from the Dominican and other communities and distributed them through every part of his immense diocese.

He began his cathedral in 1538, and was engaged in founding a school in Carthagena, after the model of the Propaganda in Rome, for the education of the children of the caciques and principal Indians, when he received letters from Charles V announcing his translation to the see of Lima, which was created in 1540.

He reached Lima in 1543, and during the insurrection of Gonzalo Pizarro offered his services to the viceroy, Blasco Nunez de Vela, and consented to visit Pizarro in Cuzco with the view of obtaining his submission. Although he was at first received with distrust by the rebels, many of them were finally convinced by his arguments and spoke of going to Lima to make their submission, when the auditors, irritated by the obstinacy of the viceroy, opened the gates of Lima to Pizarro.

Loayza was prominent in the events that followed, and after the defeat of Pizarro prevented the victors from coming to blows over the spoils. Meanwhile the see of Lima had been erected into an archbishopric, and he received the pallium and the bull by which he was named archbishop of that city.

Edited Appletons Encyclopedia by John Looby, Copyright © 2001 StanKlos.com^TM

Start your search on Jeronimo de Loaysa.

13 Ways to US Prosperity

Click Here

Unauthorized Site: This site and its contents are not affiliated, connected, associated with or authorized by the individual, family, friends, or trademarked entities utilizing any part or the subject's entire name. Any official or affiliated sites that are related to this subject will be hyper linked below upon submission and Evisum, Inc. review.

Copyright© 2000 by Evisum Inc.^TM. All rights reserved.
Evisum Inc.^TM Privacy Policy