Bartolomé de Las Casas
1484-1566 16th century
Taking the side of the oppressed, letting the truth disturb.
Who was Bartolomé de Las Casas?
A colonist turned Dominican, he gave up his lands and became the tireless defender of the Indians against the abuses of the conquest. Bishop of Chiapas, he wrote to stop the killing. He publicly regretted having once proposed the African slave trade.
In their own words
In the Indies I leave Jesus Christ, our God, scourged and afflicted, buffeted and crucified, not once but a thousand times.
All these vast and countless peoples, God created the most simple, without guile or malice.
Every nation, however barbarous, can be drawn and converted by the one way of gentleness and persuasion.