Leão (Pereira), Gaspar de°

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LEÃO (Pereira), GASPAR DE°

LEÃO (Pereira), GASPAR DE ° (d. 1576), Portuguese archbishop, born in Lagos, Portugal. In 1560 he was named prelate of *Goa and installed as its first inquisitor general. In his first *auto-da-fé, held on Sept. 27, 1563, two of the four victims were Portuguese Judaizers. He was also active in compelling *Marranos to return to Lisbon. Given to polemics, Leão denounced talmudic law in an open letter to the Jews, Carta do primeiro Arcebispo de Goa, ao Povo de Israel, seguidor ainda da ley de Moyses e do Talmud, por engano e malicia dos seus Rabbis (1565). About 1569 he resigned and went into retreat in the neighboring convent of Daugim; however, he returned to his posts in 1574, serving until his death.

bibliography:

Roth, Marranos, index, s.v.Goa; J.N. da Fonseca, An Historical and Archeological Sketch of the City of Goa (1878); Kayserling, Bibliotheca, 106.

[Aaron Lichtenstein]