GONÇALVEZ, Giacomo. — Born in June 1676 in Goa, he became an Oratorian in 1700 and a missionary on the Island of Ceylon in 1705. He soon distinguished himself as a missionary, superior of the mission, and vicar general of the bishop of Cochin (1730–42), and especially as a writer.
He created a Catholic literature in the Sinhala language and composed manuals. His masterpiece, *Deva Veda Puranaya* (*Sacred History*), according to the judgment of the Sinhala bishop Edmondo Peiris, O.M.I., of Chilaw, places him with honor among the Sinhala classics. Much of his work is still reprinted and widely circulated. He died on 17 July 1742 at Bollaavatta, Ceylon.
Bibl.: S. G. Perera, *Life of Father Facome G.*, Madura 1942; Streit, *Bibl.*, VI, pp. 217–19.