Nóbrega, Manuel da

▪ Portuguese priest

born Oct. 18, 1517, Portugal

died Oct. 18, 1570, Rio de Janeiro

      founder of the Jesuit mission of Brazil and leader of the order's activities there from 1549 to 1570.

      Father Nóbrega with five other Jesuit missionaries sailed from Lisbon to Bahia (modern Salvador, Braz.) in 1549. His first concern there was the protection and conversion of the Indians. He established a school in 1553 on the site that later became São Paulo, and he resisted the hostility of planters seeking Indians for slaves. He also condemned African slavery, though Jesuits finally accepted the institution and even owned black slaves themselves. He was named the first provincial of the Society of Jesus in Brazil (1553–59), and, although he was again named provincial in 1570, he died before news of the appointment reached him.

      When the French under Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon, including many Huguenots, settled in Rio de Janeiro (1555), Nóbrega worked earnestly for their expulsion. The Protestants were in fact forced out (1563), in part because Nóbrega won the Tamóio Indians over to the Portuguese side. In this and in other ways he shaped the destiny of southern Brazil into remaining both Catholic and Portuguese.

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