Wojciech Męciński, nicknamed Alberto Polacco (born 1598 in Osmolice – died 23 March 1643 in

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

) was a Polish Catholic

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

missionary from

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

, widely believed to be the first Pole to visit

south-eastern Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Australian mainland, which is part of Oceania. Southeast Asia is ...

and Japan. In 17th century, he visited Vietnam in a tour through Asia, and had documented about Vietnam as the first Polish official record of the country. It is believed that he was the first documented case of a Pole setting foot into the Philippines. In 1642, Męciński arrived in Manila from Vietnam along with a large group of fellow Jesuits, where they were greeted by

Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera y Gaviria (baptized March 25, 1587 – August 12, 1660) was a Spanish soldier and colonial official. From 1632 to 1634, he was governor of Panama. From June 25, 1635 to August 11, 1644 he was governor of the Philip ...

. Męciński stayed in

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

for a few months before he was deployed on his second visit to Japan. After arriving in Japan in 1642, being the first Pole to do so, upon his second visit he was quickly caught, tortured and

martyred A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In colloquial ...

References

Bibliography

* , ''Życie ks. Wojciecha Męcińskiego'', Kraków, 1895. * ''Hagiografia polska II'', s. 124–137. * W. Padacz, ''Z polskiej gleby'', Kraków, 1973, s. 446–461. *Olga Kucharczyk: Herby przedstawicieli nacji polskiej na Uniwersytecie Padewskim. Katalog znaków heraldycznych. 2023, s. 340. ISBN 978-83-66172-60-9. *''Biuletyn Informacyjny: Epizody w relacjach japońsko-polskich'', publisher: Japanese Embassy in Poland, access date 31.01.2021 *Conrad Totman, ''Historia Japonii'', Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego 2009 *Dorota Hałasa, Zygmunt Kwiatkowski, ''Chrystus w kraju samurajów'', Wydawnictwo R-ka 2004 1598 births 1643 deaths People from Kraków 17th-century Polish Jesuits Polish Roman Catholic missionaries Polish explorers Polish expatriates in China Polish expatriates in Japan Polish expatriates in Vietnam Roman Catholic missionaries in Vietnam Roman Catholic missionaries in Malaysia Roman Catholic missionaries in Cambodia Jesuit missionaries in Vietnam Jesuit missionaries in China Jesuit missionaries in the Philippines Jesuit missionaries in Japan Foreign nationals imprisoned in Japan 17th-century executions by Japan 17th-century Roman Catholic martyrs Jesuit martyrs {{Poland-reli-bio-stub