AZEVÊDO, INÁCIO, martyr, blessed. — A Jesuit, born near Porto in 1528 to a family of ancient nobility, he entered religious life at Coimbra in 1548. He was rector of the colleges of Lisbon and Braga and, for several months, vice-provincial of Portugal (1558); but in 1556 s. Francesco di Borgia, third superior general of the Society, sent him as visitor to Brazil, where A. founded the college of Rio de Janeiro. Returning to Europe to seek aid for the mission, he assembled a group of 69 religious, Portuguese and Spanish, mostly young, and himself gave them a final spiritual preparation during the five months of waiting for embarkation. But at the beginning of the voyage, the ship carrying A. was captured by the French corsair Sourie (of La Rochelle) near the island of Palma (Canaries). At the order of the Calvinist leader, the Jesuit superior was massacred and thrown into the sea with 39 companions (15 July 1570). S. Teresa, who had a relative among them, the blessed Francesco Pérez Godoy, had a vision at Avila of the entry into heaven of the 40 martyrs. They were beatified by Pius IX in 1854; their feast is celebrated on 15 July. Of the other missionaries in the expedition, who turned back and set out again the following year, a group of 14 fell into the hands of the corsairs and had 12 martyrs, led by the venerable fathers Pietro Díaz and Francisco de Castro (13 September 1571).
Azevedo, Inácio, Martyr, Blessed
BIBL.: P. Possinus, De vita et morte p. Ignatii Azevedoi et sociorum eius, Rome 1679; C. Lucchesini, Narrazione della vita del ven. p. I. d'A., there 1702; G. C. Cordara, Istoria della vita e del martirio del ven. p. I. de A., there 1743 (reprinted by Fr. G. Boero, there 1854); A. Franco, Imagem da virtude em o noviziado... de Coimbra, II, Coimbra 1719, pp. 63–126; S. Leite, Historia da Companhia de Jesus no Brasil, II, Lisbon 1938, pp. 262–66; M. G. da Costa, Inácio do A., O homem e o mártir da civilização do Brasil, Braga 1946.
Cite this article
“AZEVÊDO, INÁCIO, MARTIRE, BEATO.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II (1949), p. 348. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/azevedo-inacio-martire-beato.