SAN ROMAN, Miguel de Biography - A Stan Klos Company
FRITZ, Samuel, missionary,
born in Bohemia in 1653; died in the mission of Xeberos, near Laguna, Peru, 20
March, 1728. He became a member of the Jesuit order, and went as missionary to
Peru in 1685. His constitution was not able to resist the unhealthfulness of the
climate, and his weakness became so great that he had to be transported to Para,
a Portuguese colony at the mouth of the River, where he arrived on 11 September
1689.
The governor of this City took him for a spy and imprisoned
him until July 1691. After repeated orders from the court of Lisbon he was
liberated, and finally arrived in Lima, where he laid before the viceroy of Peru
the observations that he had made of his journey. In 1693 he returned to his
missionary labors on the Amazon. He afterward took several laborious journeys to
Quito and other places in the interest of his converts, and became superior
general of the mission.
He had great aptitude for the arts, and in a comparatively
short period had become a skilful architect, carpenter, sculptor, and painter.
Several Churches of the missions were adorned with pictures by his hand. He
passed forty-two years among the tribes that he had converted. His great map of
the Amazon was engraved on a small scale at Quito in 1707, and appeared for the
first time in France in vol. xii of the "Lettres edifiantes" (1st ed., 1717). It
is also found in vol. viii of the second edition, with an abridgment of his
"Memoirs" on the River whose course he traces.
Edited Appletons Encyclopedia by John Looby, Copyright © 2001
VirtualologyTM
FRITZ, Samuel, missionary, born in Bohemia in 1653; died in the mission of Xeberos, near Laguna, Peru, 20 5[arch, 1728. He became a member of the Jesuit order, and went as missionary to Peru in 1685. His constitution was not able to resist the unhealthfulness of the climate, and his weakness became so great that he had to be transported to Para. a Portuguese colony at the mouth of the River, where he arrived on 11 September 1689. The governor of this City took him for a spy and imprisoned him until July 1691. After repeated orders from the court of Lisbon he was liberated, and finally arrived in Lima, where he laid before the viceroy of Peru the observations that he had made oft his journey. In 1693 he returned to his missionary labors on the Amazon. He afterward took several laborious journeys to Quito and other places in the interest of his converts, and became superior general of the mission. He had great aptitude for the arts, and in a comparatively short period had become a skilful architect, carpenter, sculptor, and painter. Several Churches of the missions were adorned with pictures by his hand. He passed forty-two years among the tribes that he had converted. His great map of the Amazon was engraved on a small scale at Quite in 1707, and appeared for the first time in France in vol. xii. of the "Lettres edifiantes" (1st ed., 1717). It is also found in vol. viii. of the second edition, with an abridgment of his "Memoirs" on the River whose course he traces.
