Paez, Gaspar

Paez, Gaspar a Spanish missionary, was born at Covilha, Andalusia, in 1582. He early became a member of the Society of Jesus, and was sent as a missionary first to Goa, then to Abyssinia (in 1628). After the death of the king, Melek-Seghed, in 1632, his son Facilidas, annoyed by troubles caused by the alleged unreasonableness of the missionaries, ordered Paez to leave his states. Paez thought he could elude the decree, and concealed himself for sometime, but was discovered and put to death, April 25, 1635. Some of his letters were published in the Litterae Annuoe (1624-1626). See Sotwel, Bibl. Soc. Jesu.; Geddes, Church Hist. of Ethiopia.