Bidspirit auction | LEITE (Bertha). D. GONÇALO da

LEITE (Bertha). D. GONÇALO da Silveira. Lisboa. 1946. - LEITE (Bertha) D. GONÇALO da Silveira . Lisboa: Agência Geral das Colónias, 1946. 430, [2] pp.: il.; 220 mm. A biographical and historical study dedicated to D. Gonçalo da Silveira (1526-1561), a Jesuit born in Almeirim who, after having been provincial of the Society of Jesus in Goa, left on a mission to Mozambique in 1560. He baptized the Monomotapa and hundreds of his subjects in the empire of the same name, but was strangled on the orders of the sovereign himself in March 1561, following intrigues attributed to Muslim merchants who accused him of witchcraft and espionage. He is considered the proto-martyr of Southern Africa. Published in 1946 by the General Agency of the Colonies, in an extensive and illustrated volume, this work by Bertha Leite continues to be the definitive biography of the missionary, frequently cited in the historiography of Portuguese expansion and the missionary work of the Society of Jesus in Mozambique and the former Monomotapa Empire. ⚑ Auto-translated via Google Translate