Jerome Xavier

Jerome Xavier, born Jerónimo de Ezpeleta y Goñi (1549 – June 27, 1617), was a Spanish Jesuit missionary into the Mughal court of Akbar (1542–1605), and his son Jahangir. Grand-nephew of Saint Francis Xavier he chose to be called Jerome Xavier.

Jerome Xavier was born "in the castle of his father Miguel de Ezpeleta" in the northern province of Navarra, Spain in 1549. Xavier's great-uncle, Saint Francis Xavier, was a closer friend of Ignatius of Loyola, and co-founder of the Society of Jesus.

On May 7, 1568 at the age of nineteen Jerome entered the Society of Jesus upon completion of a degree of Bachelor of Philosophy from the University of Alcalá. He spent the following years studying theology and philosophy before being ordained priest in 1575. Upon his ordination Xavier spent a number of years teaching "elementary subjects" in Villarejo de Fuentes in Cuenca, (central Spain), before being sent east, arriving in Goa in September, 1581.

Upon arrival at the Portuguese Goa Father Jerome was "appointed as master of novices" but quickly had to relinquish the position due to illness "as a consequence of the difficult sea-voyage and the troubles of acclimatization". Following his recovery Xavier began work on a Portuguese translation of Father Alessandro Valignano's History of the Jesuits in India.

In early 1584 Xavier was installed as the Rector of the Bassein College, though poor health hampered his duty once again and forced him to be transferred to the "more favorable climate" of Cochin where he occupied the same position from 1586 to 1592. Around this time Father Xavier was appointed as the Superior of the Professed House of Goa, though election to his new position further strained tense relations between the Portuguese and Spanish in the Oriental colony. The tension of a Castillian ruling a Portuguese population was eased when Mughal Emperor Akbar, (1542–1605), called for the third mission of Jesuit priests to his court and Father Jerome was sent, by popular election, to Lahore where he arrived on May 5, 1595.

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