PROVIDENCE – Providence College’s Center for Catholic and Dominican Studies will sponsor the annual St. Joseph Lecture, “Journey to the Headwaters: Bartolomé de las Casas in a Comparative Context” by Rev. David T. Orique, O.P., on Thursday, March 13 at 3:30 p.m. in the Aquinas Lounge on campus. Responding will be Rev. Edward L. Cleary, O.P., professor of political science at Providence College.
Specializing in Latin American and Early Modern European history, Fr. Orique is a member of the Western Dominican Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus and a doctoral student at the University of Oregon. Bartolomé de las Casas (Seville, 1474-Madrid, 1566) was in all likelihood the first priest ordained in the New World (c. 1510). He entered the Dominican Order in 1523 and was consecrated bishop of Chiapas (now in southernmost Mexico) in 1543. He worked on behalf of social justice for indigenous people, championing their human rights, and he is one of the founders of international law.
St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, is the patron of the Universal Church and of the Dominican Friars of the Province of St. Joseph, who founded and continue to staff Providence College. His feast day is usually observed on March 19.
This lecture will conclude with a reception in the Center for Catholic and Dominican Studies and is free and open to the public. For more information, call (401) 865-2870.
