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 Singhalese and Tamil languages. His masterpiece Deva Veda Puranaya (Sacred History), in the judgment of the Singhalese bishop Edmondo Peiris O.M.I. of Chilaw, places him honorably among the Singhalese classics. A large part of his works is still reprinted and circulated today. He died on 17 July 1742 at Bollawatta, Ceylon.
BIBL.: S. G. Perera, Life of Father Jacome G., Madura 1942; Streit, Bibl., VI, pp. 217–19.