Hundreds of Catholic Missionaries Led the Way. (9th of 9 Timelines).
This is my tribute to these obedient missionaries who sailed to the regions beyond for the love of God.
Hundreds of Catholic missionaries sailed to Asia, Africa and the New World, in the 16th and 17th and 18th centuries. Who were they? Where did they go? Gerald Anderson collected the biographies of notable Catholic missionaries in his massive book, A Biographical Dictionary of the Christian Missions. I counted them and created a timeline indicating their departure dates for “the regions beyond.”
This is my tribute to these obedient missionaries who sailed to the regions beyond for the love of God. They sailed to India (Rudolf Acquaviva) and Ceylon (Joseph Vaz), Japan (Luis Fróis) and China. (Matteo Ricci).
They sailed to the Philippines (Francisco Ignacio Alcina) and Korea (Gregorio Céspedes) and Morocco (João Nunes Barreto) and Madagascar (Charles Nacquart).
They sailed to California (Junipero Serra) and the American Southwest (Eusebio Kino), to the Algonquins in the upper Midwest (Jacques Marquette) and Florida (Luis Cáncer de Barbastro).
They sailed to Virginia (Juan Baptista Segura) and Maryland (Andrew White), Texas (Damian Massanet) and New Mexico (Estevan de Perea).
They sailed to Canada (Marguerite Bourgeoys) and the Great Lakes (Louis Andre) and Oceania (Diego Luis de San Vitores).
They sailed to Peru (Jose de Acosta) and Paraguay (Luis Bolaños), Brazil (Ignacio de Azevedo) and Bolivia (Manuel Mingo), Ecuador (Jodoco Ricke) and Argentina (Francisco Solano).
They made their homes among the Amazonians (Enrique Richter) and the Quechua (Domingo de Santo Tomás).
They sailed for Venezuela (Epifanio de Morans) Colombia (Peter Claver), Chile (Luis de Valdivia) and Mexico (Domingo de Betanzos), Honduras (Cristobal de Pedraza), Guatemala (Antonio Margil), Nicaragua (Antonio de Valdivieso), Puerto Rico (Alonso Manso), Cuba (Francisco Jaca) and the West Indies (Raymond Breton).
They sailed for Angola (Balthazar Barreira) the Congo (Bonaventura de Sardegna), Ethiopia (Alphonsus Mendez), and Mozambique (Gonçalo da Silveira).
They left everything and overcame every hardship until they could arrive in Tibet (Antonio de Andrade) and Siam (Pierre Lambert de la Motte).
There. Were. Hundreds. More. Like them. The Bible says:
Then God said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples/families on earth will be blessed through you.” So they went, as the Lord had told them. Genesis 12:1-4
Blincoe: Dear Protestant readers, pray for more heartfelt missionary obedience, and less arguing. If we had a 500 year tradition of martyred missionaries, as the Catholics do, we could talk about our beliefs with more credibility.
Next: Johann Baegert Addresses “the Gentlemen of the Protestant Faith” (1st of 3)
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Bob, I want your permission to share [copy and paste] to Facebook your tribute to the Catholic missionaries as a show of solidarity for my Catholic friends.
I’m so glad to be included in your emails to receive your blog.
Sending love and prayers🙏💖🙏
The heart of a Pharisee finds fault with lack of proper theology, ceremonial cleanliness, and marital status. Engaging the nations with the gospel is the heart of Scriptute. All of us have flaws.
Thank you, Bruce.
Hi Debbie, you may forward the link to your friends on Facebook.
Thank you for your excellent research and tribute to Catholic missionaries. I don’t think most Evangelicals realize that there is a wonderful work of the Spirit among young Catholics that represent an incredible potential for world evangelization.
Bob
Bob, I grew up in northern Michigan. In the 1600’s Father Père Marquette, a Jesuit came to my area with many others like him and brought the gospel to the First Nations peoples as well as European explorers. He is highly honored to this day and certainly laid a foundation that has been built upon since. He is buried in St. Ignace, MI which is about 25 minutes from my hometown.
Each one of those Catholic priests means something to the people they lived among. From California, it is Serra for me. I visited almost all of the missions. I see what you are saying about the reformers, talk is cheap without using means to accomplish the goal.