Antonio Possevino
Antonio Possevino , Latin Antonius Possevinus (* 1534 in Mantua ; † February 26, 1611 in Ferrara , Italy ) was an Italian cleric, papal legate and the first Jesuit to visit the capital of the Christian Orthodox Grand Duchy of Moscow .
Life
Possevino was born in Mantua and joined the Jesuit order in 1559 and served as secretary to the general Everard Mercurian from 1572–1578 . Pope Gregory XIII sent him to Sweden in 1578 to influence the outcome of the Livonian War . He then went to Moscow and brokered the Jam Zapolski armistice in 1582 between Poland-Lithuania under King Stephan Báthory and the Muscovite Empire under Tsar Ivan IV , which put an end to the Livonian War for Livonia . Due to his long stay in Moscow, he left valuable reports about this empire, which had been closed to Europe until then.
Works
- Dell sacrificia della Messa (Lyon, 1563)
- Il soldato cristiano (Rome, 1569)
- Moscovia (Vilnius, 1586)
- Notæ verbi Dei et Apostolicæ Ecclesiæ (Posen, 1586)
- Bibliotheca selecta (Rome, 1593)
- Apparatus sacer ad scriptores Veteris et Novi Testamenti (Venice, 1603-06)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Possevino, Antonio |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Possevinus, Antonius (Latinized) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian cleric and papal legate |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1534 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mantua |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 26, 1611 |
| Place of death | Ferrara , Italy |