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Inácio de Azevedo
Portuguese missionary
BlessedResearchedKingdom of PortugalSociety of Jesus
Feast: 15 July (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Born
1528
verified
Died
15 July 1570
verified
Beatified
11 May 1854
verified
Canonised
—
not yet
Who they were
Ignatius de Azevedo, born at Oporto in 1528, joined the Jesuits in 1548 and became rector at Lisbon and provincial of Portugal. St Francis Borgia sent him as visitor to the missions of Brazil.
After three years' hard work there he asked to return as a missionary. Sailing with thirty-nine companions, he was seized and killed with them by Huguenot pirates near Palma in the Canary Islands on 15 July 1570.
The miracles
As a martyr he was raised to the altars without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
A missionary who died with thirty-nine companions on the way to Brazil.
Sources
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Blessed Ignatius de Azevedo
- Wikidata Q1671878 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Inácio de Azevedo (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.