Azevedo, Ignazio De

Azevedo, Ignazio De a Portuguese ecclesiastic,: was born at Oporto.in 1527 of an illustrious family. He entered the' Society of Jesuits as a novice at Coimbra in 1548, and some .time after received holy orders and was named rector of the College of St. Antony at Lisbon by St. Ignatius. Dom Bartholomeo dos Martyres, the celebrated archbishop of Braga, called. him from- his studies at Lisbon to associate him with himself in his diocesan visitations; and in 1560 a Jesuits college was established at Braga, of which Azevedo was made superior. In 1565 he made profession of the four vows, after which he was employed for three years, with the authority of visitor, in Brazil. He returned to Europe, visited Rome, and in 1570 obtained permission to return to Brazil with a large company of missionaries; but the ship which conveyed him was taken by Soria, the vice-admiral of the. queen of Navarre, who murdered the missionary and his thirty-nine companions, July 15, 1570. The Roman Church, by a papal bull dated 1742, honors them as martyrs. In 1745 G. F. de Beauvais, a Jesuit, published a Life of the Venerable Ignatius.