RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Lapsed Lasco
b. at Coblenz Oct. 19, 1815; d. at Vallendar (3 m. n.n.e. of Coblenz) Jan. 28, 1872. She entered the mother-house of the Sisters of Charity at Nancy 1838, served in the hospital of Aix-la-Chapelle 1842-49, and was mother-superior of the Hospital of St. John at Bonn 1849-71. During the wars of Prussia with Denmark (1864), Austria (1866), and France (1870-71) she cared for the wounded and displayed no slight organizing ability. Her theological instruction was received from disciples of Georg Hermes (q.v.), and, like certain of the Bonn professors, she refused to accept the decrees of the Vatican Council in 1870; she was deposed, 1871, and transferred to Vallendar; when she died the usual burial rites were denied to her remains.
Bibliography: Her life has been written by J. H. Reinkens, Bonn, 1878, and H. Lecoultre, Paris, 1879. Eng. transl., London, 1880. Consult also: Erinnerungen an Amalie von Lasaulx, Gotha, 1878, Eng. transl., Sister Augustine, London, 1880.
LAS CASAS, las ca'sas, BARTOLOME DE:
Spanish missionary in the West Indies; b. at Seville 1474; d. at Madrid July 31, 1566. He studied the humanities and law at the universities of Seville and Salamanca, and in 1502 accompanied the Governor Ovando to Hispaniola. He remained there eight years, administering the allotment (re- ■partimiento) which had fallen to his father, till 1510, when he entered upon the priest's vocation. While in Cuba in 1512 he became familiar with the harshness of the conquistador es, and even then, as throughout his life, he appeared as the protector of the natives. That he might better fulfil this part, he returned to Spain in 1515 and obtained a commission drawn up in the name of the king empowering him to " watch over the liberty, the good and proper treatment, the bodily and the spiritual weal of the Indians " (text in Fabi6, p. 58), along with the title of protector universal de todos los Indios. Repeated opposition compelled him to frequent journeys to Spain. From the University of Salamanca he received a pronouncement to the effect that it is capital heresy to deny the Indians' capacity for conversion. He himself won the Indians' confidence to such a degree that at his word alone they often voluntarily did what the Spanish lords could not achieve by force. Las Casas wrought subsequently as bishop of Chiapa in Mexico 1544-47 Since his efforts, supported by ecclesiastical means of discipline, encroached far too deeply upon affairs as the conquistadores had shaped them to suit themselves, opposition to Las Casas increased; and at home it was even led by the historian Sepulveda, in the atrocious tract, De justis belli causis (prohibited in Spain, but printed in Rome). Against this, Las Casas retorted with Brevisima relacion de la destruccion de las Indias (Seville, 1552). With more detail he treats the experiences of his own life in his main work, Historia de las Indias (first printed in Collection de doccumentos ineditos para la historia de Espana, vols, lxii.-lxvi., Madrid, 1875-76). It is not open to proof that Las Casas is involved in the responsibility for the introduction of negro slavery into America (cf. Apologie de B. de las Casas in Memoires de la classe des sciences morales de I'Institut VI.— 27
de France, vol. iv. (5 vols., Paris, 1798-1804). There is an incomplete edition of his works, with a sketch of his life, by J. A. Llorente (2 vols., Paris, 1822). K. Beneath.
Bibliography: The life of Las Casas has been written by M. Pio, Bologna, 1618; by Llorente as an introduction to the (Euvres de Las Casas, Paris, 1822; A. Helps, London, 1868; C. Gutierrez, Madrid, 1878; R. Baumstark, Freiburg, 1879; A. M. Fabie, in Collection de documentos ineditos, with an appendix of hitherto unprinted writings of Las Casas, Madrid, 1879-80; F. A. Mao Nutt, Bartholomew Las Casas: his Life, Apostolate, and Writings, New York, 1909; KL, vii. 1437-1441. Consult also W. H. Prescott, Conquest of Mexico, book ii., ehap. viii., appendix, New York, 1843 and often.
LASCO, lfls'cS, JOHANNES A (JAN LASKI): Polish reformer; b. probably at Lask (90 m. s.w. of Warsaw), Poland, 1499; d. at Pinczow (120 m. s. of Warsaw), Poland, Jan. 8, 1560. In 1510, probably, the archbishop of Cracow, his uncle, received him into his home, giving him an opportunity for pursuing humanistic studies at that time flourishing in Cracow. In 1513 he accompanied the archbishop to Rome where a council was to be held. He then entered the University of Bologna, devoting himself to the study of theology. In 1518 he returned to Poland where in 1521 he was consecrated priest and became dean at the metropolitan church in Gnesen. But, perceiving with dissatisfaction the deficiencies of his church, in 1523 he gladly followed his brother on a diplomatic mission which led them to Basel and Paris. In 1524 he settled for some time at Basel, where he became an intimate friend not only of Erasmus, but also of other prominent men, who, seized by the new intellectual and spiritual movement, sooner or later joined the Reformation. He became an enthusiastic humanist, seeing plainly the deep-rooted defects of the Church and convinced of her need of a thorough reform; but like Erasmus he hoped that this might proceed from within. During his absence the Reformation had invaded Poland. By the king's order in 1526 Luther's writings were confiscated, and all men suspected of importing them were seized. At this critical time Lasco was called back to Poland; but he labored ten years in vain, to bring order into the confused conditions of the Church, until he finally broke completely with the Roman Church, resigning his offices and leaving the country. He went first to Louvain and thence to Emden where Countess Anna, the regent of the country, entrusted him with the government of all the churches in the country (1542). Lasco succeeded in impressing upon the East Frisian Church the stamp of his personality in such a way that Friesland for a long time was called the northern Geneva. His influence was felt also in neighboring territories, at Wesel and thence up the Rhine to Heidelberg. Although his success was obstructed by the violent opposition of the Lutherans, he remained true to his convictions concerning the truth of the Gospel. A few years later, in 1548, the Interim induced him to leave Friesland. In 1550 he came to England where the duke of Somerset, the lordprotector, and Archbishop Cranmer, the primate, took a decisive stand on the side of the Reformation. Soon his influence was felt in the Evangel-
Lasco Iiatimer