Enciclopedia Cattolica

GOES, BENTO DE

Volume VI · p. 540 · 1951

English translation · Testo originale italiano

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

BENTO DE GOES. — Jesuit, missionary, and explorer, born in Vila Franca do Campo, on the island of São Miguel (Azores), died at Suchow (China) on 11 April 1607. A soldier in India, he first entered the Society of Jesus as a lay brother in 1584, following a remarkable conversion; but he left in order to pursue the priesthood, and was reinstated in the same office in 1588. Sent to the mission at the court of the Great Mughal, Akbar, he so won his favor that Akbar sent him as an ambassador of peace to Goa to the viceroy of the Indies (1601). Upon his return, it was decided that he would go to explore Cathay, of which Marco Polo and ancient missionaries had spoken, to verify whether it corresponded to China and to discover any nuclei or groups of Christians said to exist there for some time with their own priests, but without any communication with Rome.

Departing from Agra on 29 October 1602, disguised as an Armenian merchant and under the name of Abdullah Isai, at the head of a large caravan, he reached Lahore, where he dismissed the caravan and chose only a few companions, among them the faithful Isaac, an Armenian. He resumed his journey, one of the most courageous and difficult in the history of exploration, passing through Kabul, Charkar, Yarkand, Kashgar, the Pamirs, Chalin, Turfan, and finally arriving at Suchow in China around 22 December 1605, after a journey of about 4,000 km. Father Matteo Ricci, who had received his letters, sent the Chinese Christian G. Fernandes (or Ciommilì) to meet him; but he found him nearly dying. Goes died shortly afterward, not only from the hardships and privations endured but also, it seems, from poison administered by Muslims.

Goes had kept a careful diary of his journey, but Isaac was only able to rescue a few pages from the greedy Muslims, which he then delivered, along with Fernandes, to Father Ricci in Peking. Ricci used these to write several chapters (cf. Bk. V, chaps. 12–14) of his *Commentaries on China*.

The merits of Goes are acknowledged by the best geographers; the Geographical Society of Lisbon wished to commemorate the third centenary of his death with a special publication; and on the same occasion his fellow citizens in Vila Franca do Campo erected a monument to him, depicting him in the features and dress of an Arab merchant, as he was when leaving Agra.

Bibl.: Sommervogel, III, cols. 1529–30; H. Yule, *Cathay and the Way Thither*, II, London 1866, pp. 529–96; new ed. ed. H. Cordier, IV, 1916, pp. 169–259; J. Brucker, *Be-nit de Goes (1603–1607)*, in *Études*, 1870, III, pp. 589–612, 678–95; *Varii autori*, *IV Centenario de Bento de Goes, 1607–1907, Homenagem de Sociedade de Goes, de Lisboa*, Lisbon 1907; M. Ricci, *I commentari della Cina*, I, V, chaps. 12–14, ed. P. Tacchi Venturi, *Opere storiche del p. M. Ricci*, I, Macerata 1911, pp. 526–58 (cf. also II, *Lettere*, 1913, pp. 346–57), ed. P. d’Elia, *Fonti Riccione, Storia delle introduz. del Cristianesimo in Cina*, II, Rome 1949, pp. 391–445; C. Wessel, *Early Jesuit Travellers in Central Asia (1603–1721)*, The Hague 1924, pp. 1–42; E. Maclagan, *The Jesuits and the Great Mogul*, London 1932, pp. 50–58, 340–72; H. Bernard, *Le frère Beuto de Goes chez les Musulmans de la Haute Asie (1603–17)*, Tientsin 1934.