Francisco Boldrino (?-1632)

Clergy of the Society of Jesus who worked mostly in Japan. Born in Rome, he died in Japan in 1632. He was admitted to the Society on 8th September, 1593. In Macau he was a Theology professor; he lived in Japan between 1609 and 1612. He professed the four vows in Macau on 21st September, 1615, and there he became prefect to the studies. He returned to Japan in August 1615; although since 1613 he had already manifested his wish to return to Japan, Boldrino himself thought it strange to be granted permission to enter Japan as a stowaway, for he could barely speak the language. In fact, he was captured in Bungo, between January 1616 and September 1617, but the only consequence of the arrest was to be sent to Nagasaki. We don't know which adventures he lived, but in March 1621 he was back to Bungo. Then, he stayed in Japan until his death in 1632, managing not to be captured again by the Japanese authorities. Bibliography: Monumenta Historica Japoniae, dir. de Josef Franz Schütte S. J., Roma, Institutum Historicum Societatis Iesu, 1975; João Paulo Oliveira e Costa, O Cristianismo no Japão e o Episcopado de D. Luís de Cerqueira, dissertação de doutoramento em História apresentada à Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisboa, 1998 (texto fotocopiado).