SÃO MIGUEL, Gaspar de. 1595? — 1647. Born in Portugal. Franciscan priest and missionary in India. Publications: Manuscript works: Arte da lingoa Canarim (lost?); Dictionarium et ars lingua Canarinae; Vocabulario da Lingua Portugues e Canari. – A collection of sermons; an apologetic work describing and refuting Hindu religion (also manuscripts?).…
LAET, Joannes de (Latin: Ioannes Latius). 1581 or 1593 — buried 15.12.1649. Flemish Geographer, Philologist and Naturalist, who wrote from secondary sources a well known book on India. Son of a cloth merchant from Antwerpen, he was student of Erpenius and Scaliger at Leiden. Worked as merchant, in 1620 one…
LA LANE, Pierre de (Lalane, Lalanne). Toulouse 6.8.1669 — Pondichéry 1746. S.J. French missionary in South India. Entered Jesuit order in 1685, in 1703 in Pondichéry learning the language and then worked there until his death (except three years in Tarcolam and a visit to Bengal). Publications: According to Vinson…
STEPHENS (Stevens), Thomas (Thomaz/Tomás Estevão/Esteves, also known as Padre Busten/Buston). Bushton, Wiltshire 1549 (?) — Salcete 1619. S.J. British Missionary in India. Early Marathi scholar and author. Studied at Oxford. Adopting Catholic faith he went to Rome and joined Jesuits in 1575. Arrived in Goa in 1579 and remained in…
SCHULTZE, Benjamin. Sonnenburg (now Słonsk in Poland) 1689 — 25.11.1760. German Missionary and Precursor of Indology. In India 1719-43. From Sonnenburg in Neumark. After studies of Theology at Halle (from 1711) he joined the Lutheran Trankebar Mission in 1719 and participated in the conclusion of the Tamil Bible. He did…
STEPHANUS A SANCTO PETRO ET PAULO (lay Antonio Buffi). Brescia 18.3.1692 — 8.5.1767. Father. Italian Carmelite Missionary in India. Joined the order in 1712, was sent to Malabar Mission 1720 and arrived in Verapoly 1721. Sent to Rome on a mission in 1723 he was caught by pirates and held…
SALDANHA, Antonio de. Mazagão (El Jadida in Morocco) 1598 — Rachol 15.12.1663. S.J. Portuguese Missionary in India. Son of Portuguese father and Italian mother. Came to Goa as soldier, but soon took religion and joined S.J. in 1615. Trained in Salsette Mission he became Rector of St. Ignatius Seminary in…
RUELL (de Ruël), Joannes. Leiden 1659/60 or 1663/64 — Colombo ?.5.1701. Dutch Priest in Ceylon, worked there as predikant in Colombo from 1692 until death, from 1698 also the first Rector of Sinhalese Seminary. He prepared a Sinhalese grammar, which was printed in Amsterdam in 1707 with help of “Sinhala…
ROTH, Heinrich. Dillingen 18.12.1610 — Agra 20.6.1668. S.J. German Missionary and Precursor of Indology. Son of Konrad Roth, a lawyer, grew up in Augsburg. Studies at Dillingen and Innsbruck Jesuit College. Joined S.J. in 1639, in 1641-45 taught at Munich, then studied theology at Dillingen and Ingolstadt. Ordained priest in…
ROGER, Abraham (A. Rogerius). Haarlem (?) 1609 — Gouda 1649. Dutch Reformed Priest in India and Indonesia. Studies at Leiden, in 1631 left for the east. Worked in 1630-47 as the minister of Dutch congregation in India and Indonesia (1633-40 in Pulicat factory on Tamil coast, then in Batavia). In…