Career
A professor at the Cracow Academy, he is best known for his staunch criticism of the papal calendar reform, for which he was deposed of his post. He fled to Ostróg, where he became the personal physician to Prince Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski and a professor at the Ostrog Academy. Born in or around 1539, Latosz entered the Cracow Academy some time in mid-16th century.
He published numerous works mostly based on Copernican theory, most of which either did not survive to our time or are known only from single copies held in Jagiellonian University"s library.
Among them were a treatise Poprawa kalenarza (now lost, possibly written in Latin), as well as Kometa (Comet, published in 1596) and De mutationibus regnorum tum observationibus quoque in ecclipses atque Cometas aliquot. Most of those were already considered lost by 1814.
Latosz was also an astrologist, trying to use Copernican theory to predict future (including the end of the world) in a book titled Prognosticon. Calendar reform
Latosz was one of the people tasked with commenting Pope Gregory XIII"s Gregorian calendar reform when it was proposed to all major European universities in 1581.
His design was declared incompatible with the rulings of ecumenical councils and instead the pope adopted a different solution to the leap year problem.
This sparked a series of events as Latosz believed his solution was much more complete and astronomically correct than the solution adopted by all Catholic states of Europe. In addition to that, the calendar question in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth became strongly linked to the struggle between Catholic, Uniate and Orthodox magnates, the latter arguing against the reform for reasons of tradition. Fearing reprisals against the Academy, under insistence of the bishop of Cracow Bernard Maciejowski, the rector deposed Latosz of his post.
Later life
Latosz moved to Ostrog, where he became the personal physician to Prince Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski, one of the most influential people in eastern Poland of the time.
He died and was buried in Ostrog in 1608. His grave at the local cemetery was destroyed by Soviet authorities in 1960.
