ARASON, JOP. — Last Catholic bishop of Iceland, b. in 1484, d. on 7 November 1550. He was consecrated bishop of Hôlar in 1524. In 1538, when Christian III, king of Denmark, sought to introduce Protestantism into Iceland, he attempted by every means to combat the Lutheran heresy, supported in this by Pope Paul III, from whom he also received a letter of encouragement. But after long and bloody struggles, A. was thrown into prison and then condemned to death, through the agency of the Lutheran bishop Mateum Einarsson, without a regular trial, together with two of his sons. Although not very observant of celibacy, the people venerated him as a martyr for as long as Catholicism was able to subsist in Iceland.
BIBL.: C. A. Munch, Det Norske Folke Historie, Krin 1859-63; E. A. Wang, s. V. in The Cath. Enc., I, New York 1907, p. 678.