Gregorio Céspedes (or Gregorio de Céspedes), SJ (1551–1611) was a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

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 ...

priest who went to

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

to do

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

work.

Biography

He was born in the Toledo municipality of Villanueva de Alcardete. He studied canon law in

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

, where he entered the Society of Jesus in January 1569. After his novitiate, the visitor

Alessandro Valignano Alessandro Valignano, S.J., sometimes Valignani (Chinese: 范禮安 ''Fàn Lǐ’ān''; February 1539 – January 20, 1606), was an Italian Jesuit priest and missionary born in Chieti, part of the Kingdom of Naples, who helped supervise the i ...

called him to join a group of missionaries who would leave for the East in March 1574, where he would spend the next 34 years of his life. The expedition arrived in

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 bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

in September, and there Céspedes continued his theological training for a year and a half, and was then ordained a priest. He then passed through

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

and moved to

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 ...

(Japan) in 1577, along with fourteen companions of his order. Céspedes arrived in

Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...

, Korea, on 27 December 1593. He accompanied the forces commanded by

Konishi Yukinaga Konishi Yukinaga (小西行長, baptized under the Portuguese personal name Agostinho; 1558 – November 6, 1600) was a Japanese daimyō who served under Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Known as a Kirishitan daimyo, he is notable for his role as the ...

, himself a

Kirishitan The Japanese term , from Portuguese ''cristão'' (cf. Kristang), meaning "Christian", referred to Catholic Christians in Japanese and is used in Japanese texts as a historiographic term for Catholics in Japan in the 16th and 17th centuries ...

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

'', and proselytized among the Japanese soldiers during the first Japanese invasion of Korea under

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

. There is little evidence that he interacted directly with the Korean population, but it is believed that he did proselytize among Koreans who were being held captive by the Japanese. Four letters he wrote at that time are the first written record of the Western presence in that country. He returned to Japan in 1595, where he served as superior of the Nakatsu Church. In 1602, he founded the Kokura Church, where he lived for the last nine years of his life. Some of his correspondence was published before his death in 1611.A. Valignano, ''Sumario de las cosas de Japón'' (1583). Adiciones del Sumario de Japón (1592), ed. de J. L.

References

Year of birth missing Year of death missing Roman Catholic missionaries in Korea Roman Catholic missionaries in Japan Spanish Roman Catholic missionaries Spanish Roman Catholic priests 16th-century Spanish Jesuits Spanish expatriates in Korea {{Spain-RC-clergy-stub