Lorenz, Johanx IMichael, a German theologian, was born at Strasburg June 16, 1692. and was educated at the university of that city. In 1713 he obtained the degree of A.M. ; in 1714 he was appointed preacher in his native place; in 1722, professor ordinarj' of divinity at his alma mater. In addition to this, he was appoint- ed in 1724 visitor of Williams College; in 1728, morn- ing preacher and prebendary of the foundation of St. Thomas; in 1734. pastor of the Thomas Church; in 1741, vice-president of the ecclesiastical conference. The doc- torate in divinity he obtained in 1722. He died Aug. 13, 1752. By more than fifty Latin dissertations on dog- matical and excgctical theology Lorenz gained an hon- orable name in theological literature. We only men- tion Dissertatio de unctione Spiritual!, ad 1 Joh. ii, 27 (Argentorati, 1723, 4to). See Doring, Gekhie Theol, Deutschlands, vol. ii, s. v.
Lorenzo or Lorenzetto, Ambrogto and Pietro Di, two celebrated Italian painters of the 14th century, were born at Siena about 1300. They were brothers, as we learn from an inscription which was attached to their pictures of the " Presentation" and of the '• Marriage of the Virgin," destroyed in 1720. The principal of their works, which was painted in the ]\Iinorite convent at Siena, and represented the fatal adventures of some mis- sionary monks, has been destroyed. In the first com- partment a youth was represented putting on tl)e mo- nastic costume; in another, the same youth was repre- sented with several of his brother monks about to set out for Asia, to convert the Mohammedans; in a third, these missionaries are already at their place of destina-
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fion, and arc being cliastised in the sultan's presence, and are surrounded and mocked by a crowd of scoffing infidels; tlie sultan judges them to be hanged; in a fourth the young monk is already hanged to a tree, yet lie notwitlistanding continues to preach the Gospel to tiie astonished multitude, upon which the sultan orders their heads to be cut ofT; the next compartment is ttieir ceremonious execution by the sword, and the scaf- fold is surrounded by a great crowd on foot and on horseback; after the execution follows a great storm, which is represented in all the detail of wind, hail, light- ning, and earthquake, from all of which the crowd are protecting themselves as they best can, and this mira- <le, as it was considered, is the cause of many conver- hiims to Christianity. Of the several pictures by Am- l>rogio mentioned b}'' Ghiberti only one remains, the Presentation of the Virrjin in the Temple, in the Scuole Regie. Of works by Pietro Lorenzo there is only one authenticated work; it is in the Stanza del Pilone, a room against the sacristy of the cathedral of Siena, and represents, according to Pumohr, some passages from the life of John the Baptist, liis birth, etc. Vasari men- t ions many works by Pietro in various cities of Tuscany, and attributes to him a picture of the early fatliers and hermits in the Campo Santo at Pisa. In 1355 Pietro was invited to Arezzo to paint the cathedral, in which he painted in fresco twelve stories from the life of the Virgin, with figures as large as life and larger, but they have long since perished ; they were, however, in good preservation in the time of Vasari, who completely re- stored them. He speaks of parts of them as superior in style and vigor to anything that had been done up to that time. — English Ci/clop. s. v. See also Vasari, F«Ve de' Pittori, etc. ; Delia Valle, Lettere Sanesi ; Lanzi, Sto- ria Pittorica, etc. ; and especially Ruraohr, Italienische Forschunqen, in which the two Lorenzetti are treated of at considerable length.
Loretto, properly Loreto (Lauretuji), an Italian city of some 8OOIJ inhabitants, several miles south of An- cona, is renowned simply as a place of pilgrimage. It is the site of the celebrated sanctuary of the Virgin Blary called the /Santa Casa, or Holy House. The church of Santa Casa was built in 1461-1513. The first mention of this santa rasa is to be found in Flavins Blondus's (f 14tJ3) Italia illii.^trata. where lie says of it, '• Celeberrimum totius Itali;e sacellum beatre Virginis in Laureto." He mentions the many rich presents which were made to the shrine as a proof that " at this place the prayers for the intercession of the mother of God are granted," but he says nothing of the origin of the place. Pope Paul II (f 1471) granted indulgences to those who visited this shrine, and this example was fol- lowetl by his successors. liaptista INIantuanus, in his Redemptoris mundi matris ecckdce Lauretance historia (Antwerp, 1576), relates, quoting a history found at the slirine itself (and probably written about 1450-80), that the house of the Virgin Mary, in which Christ was brought up. and which was said to have been discov- ered l)y St. Helena, was, after the total downfall of the country, and the destruction of its Christian churches by the Turks in IMay. 1291. brought by the angels to Dalmatia, and four and a half years later to Italy, in ilie neighborhood of liecanati, and was thence finally (ransferred to its present site. This story is contradict- ed by the Church historians of the 14th century them- selves, who say that in tlieir day IMary's house at Naz- areth was still visited by iiilgrinis. The houses of Re- canati resembk'd eacli other very mncli, and the selec- tion of the original hal)itat ion of the Virgin proved verj- difficidt, as private interests became mixed up with4t.