VINCENZO MARIA DI SANTA CATERINA DA SIENA (lay Antonio Murchio di Bormio). Bormio, Lombardy 1626 — Rome 5.11.1679. Father. Italian Carmelite, Procurator of his order. In 1656 sent by Pope Alexander VII and Propaganda Fide to India to inspect Catholic mission in Goa and Kerala. Used land route via Turkey and Persia. Returned via Muskat to Rome in 1658. His work mainly concentrates on Kerala, where he had also visited many inland places. One of its four books deals with Thomas Christians. He has been praised as a keen observer.
Publications: Il Viaggio all’Indie Orientali … con le osservationi, e successi nel medesimo, i costumi e riti di varie nationi, et reconditissimi arcani de’ Gentili, cavati co somma diligenza da’ loro scritti, con la descrittione degl’animali quadrupedi, serpenti, uccelli, pianti di quelmondo nuovo, con le loro virtù singolari. Rome 1672, also 535 p. Venice 1678.
Sources: Tucci 2005, 140-142; bibliotecauniversitaria.ge.it.
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