BARROS Joào de Vida do Apostolico Padre Antonio Vieyra da Companhia de Jesus (…) restaurador das missones do Maranhaõ, e Parà.

Sabin, 3645 ; Borba de Moraes, I, 69 ; Streit, III, 1258 ; Alden, 1746/19.

First edition of this biography of António Vieira (1608-1697), Jesuit priest and Portuguese diplomate in Brésil since 1614. He is considered one of the most important Portuguese writers of the Baroque period.

Having discovered his vocation as a missionary in 1624, Vieira alternated between diplomatic activity (returning frequently to Portugal) and the evangelisation of the populations of the Brazilian interior. Removed from office more than once because of his stance in favour of the Indians and the Jews persecuted by the Inquisition, suspected of heresy for his millenarian theories, he ended his life in Brazil, devoting himself to correcting his sermons (he composed more than two hundred).

The author of this important biography, the Jesuit Father André de Barros (1675-1745), was one of the first members of the Royal Academy of Portuguese History, located in Lisbon in the Braganza palace, a family whose rights in Brazil Father Vieira had defended as early as 1641 by personally assisting King John IV, the first monarch of this dynasty.

This edition is illustrated with a large plate showing Father Vieira evangelizing the natives of Brazil, 5 head pieces, a vignette on the title with the coat of arms of the Jesuit order, and 2 initials, all engraved on copper.