Balthasar Seña (c. 1590 at

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Spain – 19 July 1614 at Guarambare,

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

) was a Spanish

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missionary and linguist in South America.

Life

He entered the Jesuit novitiate at

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tar ...

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

, in 1608. Before completing his studies he volunteered for the Guarani missions of Paraguay, and sailed from Lisbon in company with the veteran missionary, Father Juan Romero, in 1610, continuing his studies on the voyage. The rest of his life was spent at the Guarani mission town of Guarambare or with the Itatines, whose language he studied and reduced to dictionary form. He defended them against slave-dealers, and declined an offered preferment at Santa Fe in order to remain with his mission work. Attending the sick throughout a contagious epidemic, he himself fell ill and died. His remains were afterwards taken up and reinterred at the Jesuit college at Asuncion.

References

;Attribution * The entry cites: **Lozano, ''Hist. de la Comp. de J. en Paraguay'', II (Madrid, 1754-5). {{DEFAULTSORT:Sena, Balthasar 1590 births 1614 deaths People from Barcelona 17th-century Spanish Jesuits Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries Jesuit missionaries in Paraguay Missionary linguists Jesuits from Catalonia