CORSI, FRANCESCO. - Missionary in India, b. at Pistoia in 1568, d. at Agra on 1 August 1636. He entered the Society of Jesus in Rome in 1587, and after the usual studies departed for the province of Goa. He was immediately assigned to the mission of the Mogor, that is, to the court of the Muslim emperors or shahs of central India Akbar (d. 1604), Jahangir (d. 1627) and Jahan (d. 1658); he remained there 34 years, first at Lahore, then at Agra at the court of the shah, whom he had to follow in his movements toward the south or toward Kashmir. He exercised a pacifying action in the relations among the Indian, Portuguese and English sovereigns.

In 1624 he exchanged his duties with those of Fr. Giuseppe de Castro (of Turin) and became chaplain of the Armenian prince Mirza Zulqarna, a high Christian official in the service of the Mogul. Fr. C. was buried at Agra in the chapel that still exists (Padre Santos Chapel). His unpublished letters give a glimpse of a very likable figure.

Bibliography

BIBL.: E. Maclagan, The Jesuits and the Great Mogol, London 1932 (see index).

Edmondo Lamalle

@incollection{ec4_corsi_francesco, author = {Lamalle, Edmondo}, title = {Corsi, francesco}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IV}, pages = {652}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/corsi-francesco} }

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Corsi, Francesco

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