José Rafael Campoy

José Rafael Campoy Gastélum (Latin: ) (15 August 1723 – 21 December 1777) was a Mexican Jesuit, teacher, scholar, and theologian. After the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spanish provinces, he went to Italy, where he died ten years later.

Biography

José Rafael Campoy was born in Álamos, New Navarre, now known as Sonora. A son of Francisco Xavier Campoy and Andrea Gastélum, he was born into a wealthy and distinguished family.

Some of José Rafael's siblings were: José Gabriel Campoy Pedro Joaquín Campoy, holder of a bachelor's degree and commissioner of the Holy Office in Real de los Álamos Raymundo Antonio Campoy, owner of the Mines of San Pedro and San Pablo and a man of great resources, who married Ana María Micaela González de Zayas María Agueda Campoy

When the Jesuits were expelled (1767) by order of Charles III of Spain, he was teaching Philosophy and Theology at the college of the aforementioned Veracruz, from where he left on 26 July 1767 on the frigate La Flora. After a long journey, he arrived in Ferrara and, finally, in Bologna, where he spent the rest of his life, "occupied with studying and writing about the Geography of America, in which he was highly educated, and entrusting himself to God, caring nothing for created things."

Campoy died in Bologna, Papal States, on 21 December 1777.