António Fernandes (c. 1569 at
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
– 12 November 1642 at
Goa
Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
) was a Portuguese
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
missionary.
Life
About 1602 he was sent to India, whence two years later he went to
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
, where he soon won favour with Emperor
Susenyos.
Sent on missions for the king, Father Fernandes in 1613 was dispatched south to find a route to
Malindi
Malindi is a town on Malindi Bay at the mouth of the Sabaki River, lying on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. It is 120 kilometres northeast of Mombasa. The population of Malindi was 119,859 as of the 2019 census. It is the largest urban centre ...
on the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
. According to
James Bruce
James Bruce of Kinnaird (14 December 1730 – 27 April 1794) was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who confirmed the source of the Blue Nile. He spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and Ethiopia and in 1770 became the first Europ ...
, the Father first started for
Gojjam
Gojjam ( ''gōjjām'', originally ጐዛም ''gʷazzam'', later ጐዣም ''gʷažžām'', ጎዣም ''gōžžām'') is a historical province in northwestern Ethiopia, with its capital city at Debre Marqos.
Gojjam's earliest western boundary ex ...
with Fecur Egzie, a
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
convert, and ten Portuguese companions. After obtaining guides for the region south of the
Abay, they left Gojjam 15 April, made their way through the territory of the
Gonga, through
Bizamo and to
Ennarea
Ennarea, also known as E(n)narya or In(n)arya ( Gonga: Hinnario), was a kingdom in the Gibe region in what is now western Ethiopia. It became independent from the kingdom of Damot in the 14th century and would be the most powerful kingdom in th ...
where they were warmly welcomed. After an audience with the Benero or king of Ennerea, who received them surprisingly coolly (due to the influence of an
Ethiopian Orthodox
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን, ''Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan'') is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Chris ...
monk who was opposed to the Father's journey) and sent them to Malindi by way of
Bale. António Fernandes then became the first European to see the
Gibe River
The Gibe River (also Great Gibe River) is by far the largest tributary of the Omo River in Ethiopia and typically flowing south-southeast. The confluence of the large Gibe River at with the smaller Wabe River forms the even larger Omo River. Cons ...
, crossing the river as he left Ennarea, and later described it as carrying "more Water than the Nile". They then travelled through the
Kingdom of Janjero
The Kingdom of Yamma was a small kingdom located in what is now Ethiopia. It lay in the angle formed by the Omo and the Jimma Gibe Rivers; to the west lay the Kingdom of Jimma and to the south the Kingdom of Garo. Three mountains — Mount Bor ...
, then across the
Omo
Omo or OMO may refer to:
Geography Ethiopia
* Omo River (Ethiopia), in southern Ethiopia is the largest Ethiopian river outside the Nile Basin and namesake for all the topics below
* Omo Nada, one of the woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia
...
to the
Kingdom of Kambaata
Kingdom commonly refers to:
* A monarchy ruled by a king or queen
* Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy
Kingdom may also refer to:
Arts and media Television
* ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...
where they were detained for two days at Sangara. Upon reaching the ruler of Kambaata,
Hamalmal, they found another Ethiopian Christian named Manquer, had arrived and claimed that the Father and his companions were to return to Susenyos' court. All three parties – Hamalmal, Father Fernandes, and Manquer – sent to Susenyos for instructions the ruler of Kambaata detained Manquer, waited three months for his reply, and found that the Emperor desired the Father to continue his journey south; Hamalmal detained Manquer and the Father and his party continued to the land of the
Alaba. Their ruler, Aliko, was initially cool to this party, and when Manquer arrived to obstruct their journey, he imprisoned the party, where several of the Portuguese died. A council was then held, which decided to return the survivors to Kambaata, whence they returned to
Gorgora
Gorgora (Amharic: ጎርጎራ ''Gōrgōrā'', also, especially formerly, ጐርጐራ ''Gʷargʷarā'', modern pronunciation ''Gʷergʷerā'') is a town and peninsula in northwestern Ethiopia. It is located south of Gondar on the north shore of ...
, according to Bruce, "without any sort of advantage to themselves."
Father Fernandes translated various
liturgical book
A liturgical book, or service book, is a book published by the authority of a church body that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official religious services.
Christianity Roman Rite
In the Roman Rite of the Catholic ...
s into Ethiopian, and was the author of ascetical and polemical works against the other faiths prevalent in Ethiopia.
Susenyos, years later, converted to
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
in 1622, after the arrival of
Afonso Mendes
Father Afonso Mendes (18 June 1579 – 21 June 1659), was a Portuguese Jesuit theologian, and Patriarch of Ethiopia from 1622 to 1634. While E. A. Wallis Budge has expressed the commonly accepted opinion of this man, as being "rigid, uncompromis ...
, the Latin Patriarch of Ethiopia. Fernandes at this time became superior of the mission to Ethiopia, though his advice was often ignored.
[Adrian Hastings, ''The Church in Africa, 1450-1950'' (1996), p. 154.] Susenyos publicly acknowledged the primacy of the Roman See and made Catholicism the state religion in 1626. For a time conversions were made, the monarch resorting to compulsion. However the Emperor's son,
Fasilides
Fasilides ( Ge'ez: ፋሲልደስ; ''Fāsīladas''; 20 November 1603 – 18 October 1667), also known as Fasil, Basilide, or Basilides (as in the works of Edward Gibbon), was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1632 to his death on 18 October 1667, and a m ...
, sided with the native church, and after his father's death restored the former faith proscribing the Catholic religion under the penalty of death.
The missionaries, on their expulsion, found a temporary protector in one of the petty princes of the country, by whom, however, they were soon abandoned. Those who reached the port of
Massowah
Massawa ( ; ti, ምጽዋዕ, məṣṣəwaʿ; gez, ምጽዋ; ar, مصوع; it, Massaua; pt, Maçuá) is a port city in the Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea, located on the Red Sea at the northern end of the Gulf of Zula beside the Dahlak ...
were held for a ransom. Father Fernandes, then over seventy years of age, was one of those detained as hostage, but a younger companion persuaded the pasha to substitute him, and Fernandes was allowed to return to India, where he ended his days.
Notes
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandes, Antonio
1569 births
1642 deaths
17th-century Portuguese Jesuits
Portuguese Roman Catholic missionaries
Jesuit missionaries in Ethiopia
Clergy from Lisbon
16th-century Portuguese Jesuits
Portuguese explorers
17th-century explorers
Portuguese expatriates in Ethiopia
Jesuit missionaries in India