Gaspar Jorge de Leão Pereira, or simply Gaspar de Leão Pereira or Gaspar de Leão (
Lagos
Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...
–
Goa, 15 August 1576) was the first
Archbishop of Goa.
After the diocese of Goa was elevated to an archdiocese, he was appointed Archbishop of Goa,
Primate of the East in 1558 or 1559. He arrived in
Portuguese India on 15 April 1560 to take possession of his charge. After seven years, in 1567, he renounced the position, and retired to the
Franciscan
The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...
convent
A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community.
The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...
, a few miles from Goa. He was succeeded by
Jorge Temudo. On the latter's death in 1571, Gaspar returned to occupy the archdiocese, where he remained until his own death in 1576.
José António Ismael Gracias[José António Ismael Gracias : ''A Imprensa em Goa nos Séculos XVI, XVII e XVIII. Apontamentos Histórico-Bibliográficos'', Nova-Goa, 1880] points to several names of archbishops who marked the history of the
printing press
A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...
, including Gaspar de Leão Pereira, who is cited by the author as the "male doctor and virtuoso, presiding over the destinies of the archdiocese, also chaired the movement of these presses." However, this same author notes the existence of prior censorship of books that were printed: "We have seen that most of the books that we have made mention, were printed prior to censorship and licenses, including those of Archbishop Gaspar! ... What do these criticisms show up and licenses for books written by people of recognized letters and piety? If anything proves the power of the terrible
Inquisition, the power that knew no bounds, and that extended up to shackle the mind and oppose the free expression of thought." (Gracias,
p. 23).
He was also founder of the
St. Paul's College in Goa, where printers were free and uncensored, in order to follow the intellectual movement. He is buried in the
Se Cathedral, Goa, near the Altar of Saint José.
Works by Gaspar de Leão
* ''Compendio spiritual da vida Christãa'', etc., published in Goa by
João de Quinquencio and
João de Endem, 1561.
said that it "seems to have been the first book that Sahira printed on presses of Goa."
* ''Tratado que fez Mestre Hieronimo, Medico do Papa
Benedicto XIII, cõtra os judeus: ẽ que proua o Messias da ley ser vindo'', (A tract against the Jews, etc.) Goa, co-written with
Jerónimo Santa Fe and published by
João de Endem, 1565.
* ''Desenganos de Perdidos'' (''Disappointments of the Lost''), Goa, published by
João de Endem, 1573. This latter work is mentioned among the books prohibited by the ''
Index Expurgatorius'' from 1581: the
Portuguese Inquisition thought that this book could not run.
[Inocêncio Francisco da Silva: ''Dicionário Bibliográfico Português''.]
See also
*
Relic of the tooth of the Buddha, Gaspar is said to have destroyed the relic or a copy of it
*
*
References
External links
Goan Catholics
Portuguese Renaissance writers
16th-century births
1576 deaths
Colonial Goa
People from Lagos, Portugal
16th-century Portuguese people
16th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in India
Year of birth unknown
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