Inácio de Azevedo

Inácio de Azevedo, SJ (1526–1570) was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary. He is one of the Forty Martyrs of Brazil, beatified by Pope Pius IX in 1854.

Early life He was born Dom Inácio de Azevedo de Ataíde Abreu e Malafaia in the city of Porto, probably in the first quarter of the year 1526. His family was prominent in the Portuguese nobility of that era. His father, Dom Manuel de Azevedo, was heir to two ancient feudal properties in northern Portugal, the honras of Barbosa and Ataíde. His mother, Dona Francisca de Abreu, was a daughter of the celebrated Portuguese poet and navigator, João Gomes de Abreu, and Dona Filipa de Eça. And one of his younger brothers, Dom Jerónimo de Azevedo, was captain-general of Portuguese Ceylon and viceroy of Portuguese India.

He was an illegitimate son, legitimated by a Royal decree on July 22, 1539, as Dom Inácio de Ataíde (a surname of his grandmother - who was heiress of the honra of Ataíde - that he didn't use after joining the Jesuits) and educated at the Portuguese court of King John III. At the age of 18 he became administrator of his family's estate. However, after attending the sermons and speeches of Jesuit priest Francisco Estrada he chose to follow a religious career that would make him renounce his possessions, including his rights to the Feudal lordships of his father, in the northern Portuguese province of Entre Douro e Minho. in northern Portugal. Inácio de Azevedo was the presumptive heir to the lordship of the honra, but he renounced his rights to his father's estate when he became a Jesuit in 1548.

Priesthood In 1548 he entered the Society of Jesus where he was finally ordained in 1553. That same year he was nominated rector of the Jesuit college of Santo Antão, in Lisbon, an institution he would later endow with a sum of 600,000 reais. From the beginning of 1557 to February 1558 Azevedo was rector of the College of Arts in Coimbra and from 1560 to 1564 he was the dean of the Jesuit College of Saint Paul, in the city of Braga. On April 9, 1563, he made his four final vows of poverty, obedience, chastity, and special obedience to the Pope in Coimbra.

In the early 1560s, Azevedo was involved in the financing for the construction of the Roman College with the support of his father's fortune of 12,000 Portuguese cruzados. According to the Jesuit constitutions, Azevedo would have to renounce all the rights to his inheritance before taking the final vows. The Jesuit General, Francis Borgia, thus suggested that he postpone the vows until the death of his father, who was already 74 by the end of the 1550s in order for Azevedo to receive the full inheritance that the general hoped would be put towards the construction of the Roman College. Azvedo's father would not perish in that time frame, but left 1,500 cruzados to his son to support him. Of this sum, 900 cruzados would end up being dedicated to the Roman College.

In 1565 Francis Borgia nominated him Visitor to Brazil, with special powers for the inspection of the Jesuit missions in that Portuguese colony. He arrived in the then capital city of Salvador da Bahia in August 1566 and he proceeded to visit all the Jesuit missions in Brazil, as a passenger of the fleet that governor Mem de Sá sent to Rio de Janeiro with the aim of expelling the French from Guanabara Bay. Azevedo witnessed the final, successful Portuguese assault on the French garrison in Guanabara that took place on January 18, 1567. that included several meetings with King Sebastian of Portugal, Azevedo and his companions finally left Portugal for Brazil on the merchant vessel Santiago on 5 June 1570,

As early as 1571, on July 7, Pope Pius V honored the forty martyrs, referring to their "voluntary martyrdom" in the Brief Dum Indefese. According to tradition, St. Francis Borgia prayed daily to the forty martyrs,

In 1999, forty concrete crosses at the place of martyrdom, about 200 meters off the Fuencaliente Lighthouse were placed on the seabed by the government of the island La Palma. This place is situated in a depth of about 20 meters and is today a popular diving destination.

Adjacent to the old tower, another monument for the Forty Martyrs of Brazil has been erected in October 2014. This monument is a stone cross, with a plate on which the names of the martyrs are engraved.