CACELLA, ESTEVÃO

CACELLA, ESTEVÃO. - Portuguese missionary, born in Avis in 1585, died in Shigatse on March 6, 1630. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1604 and departed for India in 1614, where he worked in the mission of Malabar. He is chiefly known for an attempt to penetrate into Tibet. Assigned to explore the kingdom of Utsang, west of Lhasa, he left Cochin with Fr. ČABRAMO (v.) in April 1626, passed through Bengal, crossed the Himalayas via the Bhutan passes, and in November 1627 was well received by the ruler of Utsang in his capital Shigatse, on the Tsangpo River. He went a second time to Shigatse 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 is published by Wessels, pp. 314-32.