CABRAL, FRANCISCO

CABRAL, FRANCISCO. - Jesuit missionary, b. in the year 1533 on the island of S. Michele (Azores), though of a family from Covilhà (Portugal); d. at Goa on 16 Apr. 1609. He embarked in 1550 for the Indies, where he entered (Dec. 1554) the Society of Jesus. Ordained priest in 1558, he taught theology (1561), was rector of the college of Bazaim (1562–66) and of that of Cochin (1567). In Aug. 1568 he was sent to Macao, and in June 1570 he landed in Japan, where for twelve years he was superior of the entire mission, giving vigorous impetus to the movement of conversion and winning the sympathies of the local princes. When a conflict arose with the visitor Alessandro Valignano over the methods to be followed in the Japanese mission, he obtained release from his office (1581), remaining for some time superior of the district of Bungo. Rector of the college of Macao and, in that capacity, superior of the new mission in China (1583–85), he subsequently returned to India, where he was superior of the professed house at Goa and provincial of the Indies (1593–96). His letters (1571–98) were published in various contemporary collections of accounts concerning the missions of the Far East.