Laurentius Petri Gothus


Laurentius Petri Gothus was the second Swedish Lutheran Archbishop of Uppsala, Sweden. He served from 1575 to 1579.

Biography

He was born in either 1529 or 1530 in the province of Östergötland, 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 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 and Lutheranism in Sweden, unlike Nericius, who was more inclined to Luther's teachings.
He was consecrated bishop on July 14, 1575 by Jacob Johannis of Skara and co-consecrated by Paulus Juusten of Turku, in a ceremony with Catholic elements, including a Mitre and typical Catholic rituals.
In the 1570s, the Jesuits were allowed to spread their messages. As a reaction, Gothus wrote several texts against papism and liturgy. Some of Gothus's texts show him as a supporter of liturgy, however, while also at the same time favoring Luther's works.