JOHN DE BRITTO, ST.

Missionary and martyr; b. Lisbon, Mar. 1, 1647; d. Oriyûr, India, Feb. 4, 1693. De Britto, of the high nobility, was educated as a page with the royal Prince (later Peter II). He entered the Jesuits in December 1662 and was ordained in January 1673. He arrived in Goa in September 1673, and after preparation, went to his mission in southeast India (Madura, Tanjore, Marava, the Cauvery delta). He followed the ascetic, withdrawn life of a sannyasi missionary that R. de nobili had led, thus having access to both Brahmins and the lower castes. His labors were successful, although handicapped by war and other disasters. After a period spent farther south (1679–85), he returned to Marava and was imprisoned (July 17, 1686), tortured, and expelled from the country. In September 1687, he returned to Portugal but was not allowed to go to Rome to report in person. In March 1689, he left again for India, where he was visitor of the Jesuit mission (1691). He had great success, converting many to Christianity, including the feudal chief of Siruvalli. The chief then dismissed all his wives except the first. Among those dismissed was the niece of the Prince of Marava. The prince, with Brahmin support, began a persecution. He had the missionary brought before him and sent him to Oriyûr, where he was beheaded. John was beatified Feb. 17, 1852, and canonized June 22, 1947.

Feast: Feb. 4 (Jesuits).

Bibliography: a. de bil, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques 10:771–772. c. a. moreschini, San Giovanni de Britto (Florence 1943). a. bessiÈres, Le Nouveau François–Xavier (Toulouse 1946). a. saultiÈre, Red Sand (Madura 1947). a. nevett, John de Britto and His Times (Anand, India 1980).

[j. wicki]