Carneiro, Melchior

Carneiro, Melchior a Portuguese missionary, was descended from a noble family of Coimbra. He had already gained some reputation as a scholar in his native place, when the Jesuits drew him into their ranks, in 1543. He was soon after made first rector of the college established by the congregation at Coimbra. Ignatius de Loyola having called him to Rome, he was appointed by pope Julius III bishop of Nice and coadjutor of the patriarch of Ethiopia. In 1555 he went to Goa; but his attempts to convert the Jews of Cochin were not more successful than were those for the conversion of the Christians of St. Thomas, upon the coast of Malabar. In 1567 he was appointed bishop of China and Japan, which office he held until his death, Aug. 19,1583. He wrote, Duas Cartas Sopre a Missdo. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Géneralé, s.v.