Andrada, Antonio D

Andrada, Antonio d'

a Portuguese Jesuit and missionary, born at Villa de Oleiros about 1580, died August 20, 1633. He entered the order of Jesuits at Coimbra in 1596, and was, in 1601, sent as missionary to India. Having been appointed superior of the missions of Mongolia, he learned that in Thibet certain vestiges of Christianity, or some form of religious worship similar to that of the Roman Catholic Church, was to be found. He accordingly concluded to visit that, until then, almost entirely unknown country. He successfully accomplished the hazardous journey, and reached Caparanga, a city which was the residence of the military chief of Thibet. It is said that he was well received by the grandees and the court, and that he was allowed to preach and to erect a temple to the Virgin Mary. He returned to Mongolia in order to associate with himself other missionaries. With these he went a second time to Thibet, where he again met with a favorable reception. Subsequently he was elected provincial of the residence of Goa, where he remained until his death. Andrada published an account of his first journey to Thibet under the title Novo Descobrimento do Grao Catayo, ou dos Reynos de Thibet (Lisb. 1626, 4to) — (New Discovery of the Great Cathay, or the Kingdoms of Thibet). This work was translated into many other languages — into French in 1629. — Hoefer, Biog. Generale, 2, 546.