The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-10-05
JOSEPH ANcH|ETA, THE
APOSTLE OF BRAZIL

APOSTLE OF BRAZIL
Joseph Anchieta, Poet, Dramatist,
Priest-compiIed Grammar and
Dictionary for Brazilians-ordained
by First Bishop of BraziI-DecIared
Venerable" by the Church.
The only available record of the
pioneer missionaries of South Ameri-
ca is hidden away in old letters and
in the scanty memoirs written by
some comrade who sent the news of
his companions death home to Eu-
rope, writes Percy Cross Standing in
the. ave Maria," From such records
he complies the following interesting
sketch of Joseph Anchieta, "the
apostle of Brazil" whose cause of
beatiication has lately been dis
cussed by the Roman congregation.
Oddly enough, Anchieta, who be-
longed to a noble family, and was
born on the island of Teneriffe in
1888, did not in the first instance go
out to South America on missionary
work intent. After passing through
the University of Coimbra, he SO
seriously injured his health by his
excessive austerities" that he was
sent off to Brazil, in the hope that
the rest and change might build up
and improve his impaired constitution
At that time (1533) he was yet only
twenty years of age. Although he
was not fully aware of it, the youth
had found his mission in life He
was destined never to return from
Brazil, but to labor on in those wild
surroundings increasingly for almost
half century.
Anchieta Founded First Classical
School in America.
Already a postmaster in the Ian
guages and literature of Portugal and
Old CASTLE, as we'll as a good Latin
scholar, Joseph promptly set him.
self to the task of acquiring a knowl-
edge of the native tongue. In this
he was SO rapidly successful that
the almost immediate outcome was
his compilation of grammar and
dictionary, followed by what is gen.
orally believed to have been the
foundation of the first classical
school in America" Anchieta was
not yet priest, but the missionaries
were only too thankful to have the
help of so Jealous a worker and so
enthusiastic teacher in their ranks;
and he began to travel great distances
and brave the utmost difficulties and
dangers in this labor of love.
He was poet and a dramatist also.
Encouraged by the progress he had
achieved in the native tongue, he first
composed a number of canticles, some
of which became exceedingly popular
among both the Portuguese settlers
and the native converts. These he
presently followed up with the open
air performance, at Bahia, of play
quote the words of Catholic COM
mentator, being possibly the first at
tempt at dramatic art in the New
World" It must have been a wonder
fully striking and picturesque sight,
this pastoral play-acting in the Brazil
of three and half centuries ago.
One imagines the groups of wonder
ing natives, some of them already
converts to Christianity, most of them
still in the semi-savage state of primi-
tive barbarism, contrasted with the
European civilizers and the mission
aries-the whole with its tropical
background.
A Sanity Missionary Declared
Venerable.
The risks run by the sanity An
chieta were innumerable. The most
savage and predatory of the local
tribes at this period were the Tamuins,
with whom the Portuguese conquerors
of the country were perpetually at
war. On at least one occasion An.
chieta remained willing hostage in
the hands of these savages for con-
siderable time, running no small risk
of being killed and devoured; for the
Tamuins were cannibals. Their hos
tage possessed no little skill in medi-
cine, and is said to have endeared
himself to his captors by his powers
as a medicine man."
Anchieta was eventually ordained
priest by Peter Lietana, the first
Bishop in Brazil. At later date he
was elevated to the high position of
rector of the College of St Vincent de
Paul and Provincial of the Jesuits in
that colony He died in 1897, without
ever having returned to Europe. The
people, inspired by his extraordinary
holiness, having demanded his canon
ization, he was declared Venerable"
by the Church, and the question of
his beatification has lately been under