Cacella, Estêvão

CACELLA, ESTEVÃO. – Portuguese missionary, born at Avis in 1585, died at Shigatse on 6 March 1630. Having entered the Society of Jesus in 1604, he set out for India in 1614, where he worked in the Malabar mission. He is chiefly known for an attempt to penetrate Tibet. Charged with exploring the kingdom of Utsang, west of Llassa, he departed from Cochin with Fr. Cabral (v.) in April 1626, passed through Bengal, crossed the Himalayas by the passes of Bhutan, and in November 1627 received a cordial welcome from the sovereign of Utsang in his capital, Shigatse, on the Tsangpo River. He went to Shigatse a second time three years later, but died there after a few days, at only 45 years of age; the planned mission was then abandoned. A report by Fr. C. on the countries he visited is of interest for geography and ethnography, and was published by Wessels, pp. 314–32.

Edmondo Lamalle