Paolo da Camerino

CAMERINO, PAOLO da. – The first Italian Jesuit in the Foreign Missions. A priest of the diocese of Camerino (from which he took his customary surname, since he had no family name), he entered the Society in 1540 and accompanied Saverio, who was departing for India. Having landed in Goa in 1541, he remained there until his death (21 January 1560), occupied with catechism instruction, the education of the indigenous clergy at the college of S. Paolo, and the care of the sick, for whom he established a hospital. He earned great sympathy through his extreme simplicity, candor, and charity. Some of his letters from India are published in the Monum. Historica S. I., Documenta Indica, I, Rome 1948 ff.