Eliezer (Christianus Lazarus) Lauria

Lauria was a Jew of German origin who converted to Christianity in Palestine. In the letter written from Turin on May 7, 1861, Lauria thanked Thomas Sims for the copies in Italian of the Prayer-Book and the Homilies that had been sent to him the previous year, explaining that among the "papists" the terms Protestant and atheist are equal, and that these texts would be effective in destroying this prejudice. They were also effective with among his Jewish converts, and he related a significant conversation he had with a rabbi of Vercelli.

After Lauria was converted in 1839, he was baptized with the name of Christianus Lazarus. He was ordained a priest in the Church of England on 7 July 1850 by the bishop of Jerusalem, and became a missionary for the The London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews in Italy. He married Ann Gabriel on 4 August 1853 in St Andrew's Clifton.

He died in Bedford in 1885.

Sources:

Lauria to Seaward, 7 May 1861, in Thomas Sims, Visits to the Valleys of Piedmont; Including a Brief Memoir Respecting the Waldenses (London: 1864), pp. 64-67.

Villani, Stefani (2014). 'Dal Galles alle Valli: Thomas Sims (1785-1864) e la riscoperta britannica dei valdesi', Bolletino della Societa' di Studi Valdesi 215 (December): 103-171.