SALVATERRA (SALVATIERRE), GIANMARIA. - Jesuit, missionary and founder of the California mission, b. in Milan on 15 Nov. 1648, d. while traveling to Guadalajara (Mexico) on 17 July 1717.

Having entered the Order in 1688, he set out in 1675 for Mexico, where, after spending some years teaching letters, he devoted himself to the evangelization of the aborigines of the Sierra Madre, of Sonora, of Cinaloa and of Tarahumara. Enthused for California by Fr. E. Chino, who had worked there for several years but had then had to abandon the undertaking as impossible at that time, he embarked for that mission on 10 Oct. 1697. Having landed in the bay of St. Bruno, Salvaterra and his companions erected a rudimentary fortress and some huts in the nearby bay of St. Dionysius and placed there the image of Our Lady of Loreto, thus creating the first center, which he called Loreto. He had received from the Spanish government full powers (such as were held in the Reductions of Paraguay) and the charge of winning those regions for the Crown. His labors were crowned with success; when in 1704 he had to return to Mexico in order to be provincial, he had founded 6 missions, learned the various languages thoroughly and traveled the country in various directions. He returned there in 1707 to continue his work; ten years later, during the journey to Guadalajara to discuss the future of the mission, death overtook him and he was buried in the beloved mission of Loreto.

He wrote many letters and numerous very important reports, part of which have been preserved for us by Fr. E. Chino, in his Favores celestiales, and by Fr. M. Venegas in his Noticia de la California.

Bibliography7 works

BIBL.: Sommervogel, VII, 488-90; S. A. Patrignani, Menologia di più memorie di alcuni religiosi della Comp. d. Gesù, III, Venice 1730, pp. 66-72; J. A. Oviedo, El apostol Mariano representado en la vida del ven. p. J. M. S., Mexico 1754 (it is the abridgment and compendium of the manuscript work of Fr. M. Venegas, Noticia de la California, printed later, 3 vols., Madrid 1757); M. Eyer Wilbur, J. M. de S., of the Society of Jesus, missionary... and apostolic conqueror of the California, Cleveland 1929 (it is the version, but with useful notes, of Fr. Oviedo's book); A. Astrain, Hist. de la Comp. d. Jesús en la asistencia de España, VI, Madrid 1920, pp. 496-508; VII, ibid. 1925, pp. 255-67; P. Tacchi-Venturi, Per la biografia del p. G. S., Tre nuove lettere, in Arch. histor. S. I., 5 (1936), pp. 76-83.

Celestino Testore

@incollection{ec10_salvaterra_salvatierre_gianmar, author = {Testore, Celestino}, title = {Salvaterra (Salvatierre), gianmaria}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {X}, pages = {1718}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/salvaterra-salvatierre-gianmaria} }

One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.

Salvaterra (Salvatierre), Gianmaria

About this entry