GASPARRE della CROCE. - Portuguese Dominican missionary and traveler of the 16th century, born in Évora, died in Setúbal (c. 1570). In 1548, he reached India with a group of fellow friars led by Fr. Bermudes.
He is credited with the foundation of the convent in Malacca. After passing through Cambodia around 1555, he entered China, as evidenced by his memoirs. He is therefore to be recognized as the first missionary to have crossed into China in that century, thus earning the title of apostle of the Chinese. After some time, he had to leave China and then went to the Island of Ormuz. Finally, in 1569, he returned to his homeland, where he devoted himself to the publication of the *Trattato* in which he extensively described the coasts of China, with their particular features, and likewise the kingdom of Ormuz... (Évora 1569; 2nd ed., Lisbon 1829). Due to his generous efforts among the plague-stricken of Setúbal, which led to his death, he was proposed by the King for the bishopric of Malacca, which he declined.