Laurentius Petri Gothus (died 12 February 1579) was the second Swedish Lutheran

Archbishop of Uppsala The Archbishop of Uppsala (spelled Upsala until the early 20th century) has been the primate of Sweden in an unbroken succession since 1164, first during the Catholic era, and from the 1530s and onward under the Lutheran church. Historical ove ...

, Sweden. He served from 1575 to 1579.

Biography

He was born Lars Petersson in either 1529 or 1530 in the province of

Östergötland Östergötland (; English exonym: East Gothland) is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish) in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland and the Baltic Sea. In older English li ...

, from which his name ''Gothus'' was derived as a means of distinguishing him from his predecessor, Laurentius Petri Nericius. Nericius recommended Gothus' appointment as court chaplain to King

Erik XIV Erik XIV or Eric XIV (13 December 153326 February 1577) became King of Sweden following the death of his father, Gustav I, on 29 September 1560. During a 1568 rebellion against him, Erik was incarcerated by his half-brother John III. He w ...

in 1560. When Erik's successor, John III, was crowned, John preferred Gothus to Nericius because Gothus was more in agreement with the king's own view on Lutheranism. They advocated a middle way between

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and Lutheranism in Sweden, unlike Nericius, who was more inclined to Luther's teachings. He was consecrated bishop on 14 July 1575 by Jacob Johannis of Skara and co-consecrated by Paulus Juusten of

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

, in a ceremony with Catholic elements, including a

Mitre The mitre (Commonwealth English) or miter (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, see spelling differences; both pronounced ; ) is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of ...

and typical Catholic rituals. In the 1570s, the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

s were allowed to spread their messages. As a reaction, Gothus wrote several texts against

papism The words Popery (adjective Popish) and Papism (adjective Papist, also used to refer to an individual) are mainly historical pejorative words in the English language for Roman Catholicism, once frequently used by Protestants and Eastern Orthodox ...

and

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

. At times his writing showed his support of liturgy yet he still supported Luther's ideas..

References

Nordisk familjebok, article "Laurentius Petri"
in Swedish {{DEFAULTSORT:Gothus, Laurentius Petri 1500s births 1579 deaths Lutheran archbishops of Uppsala 16th-century Lutheran archbishops 16th-century Swedish clergy

Biography

See also

References