author

Francis Augustus MacNutt

1863–1927

An American diplomat who became a papal courtier, he wrote lively histories that brought the age of exploration and the Catholic past to a broad readership. His career moved between politics, Rome, and scholarship, giving his books an unusual mix of polish and firsthand feeling for institutions.

1 Audiobook

Bartholomew de Las Casas; his life, apostolate, and writings

Bartholomew de Las Casas; his life, apostolate, and writings

by Francis Augustus MacNutt

About the author

Born in Richmond, Indiana, in 1863, Francis Augustus MacNutt built an unusually varied career as a writer, diplomat, and Catholic court official. Reliable reference sources describe him as an American diplomat and prolific author who later became a high-ranking figure in the Vatican world.

He is best remembered for historical and biographical works such as Bartholomew de Las Casas; His Life, Apostolate, and Writings and for his translation and introduction to De Orbe Novo, Peter Martyr d'Anghiera's important chronicle of the early Americas. Those books helped preserve and popularize major sources on exploration, empire, and the encounter between Europe and the New World.

MacNutt died in 1927 in Bressanone, Italy. Even now, his work remains of interest to readers drawn to church history, early American history, and the people who interpreted the first great age of transatlantic discovery.