João Baptista Porro (1574-1643)

Clergy of the Society of Jesus who worked mostly in Japan. He was born in Milan around 1574 and died in Japan after 1643. He was the first-born son of Pompeio Porro and Lucretia Gianona. He was admitted to the Society on 8th May, 1592. He studied Philosophy, Theology and Rhetoric before sailing to India in 1603. In 1605 he went to Japan and since that date on, and until February 1608, he stayed at Arima, where he was confessor of the seminary and Latin teacher of the dojuku. He went to Macau to receive confirmation as teacher of Philosophy and Theology, having been examined by António Rodrigues and Francisco Lopes, among others. In 1609 he went to the Osaka residence, and became also consultant of the Miyako rector. On 11th December, 1611, he professed the four vows in Miyako. He stayed in Japan after the expulsion edict of 1614. In the beginning of 1616 he was in Harima and in 1620 he was responsible for the Chugoku Christian region; he was also the consultant and confidential advisor of Francisco Pacheco, rector of Miyako. In 1634 he became the vice provincial, thus replacing Sebastião Vieira. In 1638 he was captured by the Japanese authorities and apostatized after pit torture. He died in imprisonment and never again had any connections with Jesuits or Europeans in general.

Bibliography:
Monumenta Historica Japoniae, dir. de Josef Franz Schütte S. J., Roma, Institutum Historicum Societatis Iesu, 1975. COSTA, João Paulo Oliveira e, 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).

Translated by: Maria das Mercês Pacheco