António Francisco Cardim

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António Francisco Cardim (1596–1659) was a Portuguese Jesuit priest, missionary, and historian who wrote about the Jesuit missions in China, Japan, and other places in the Far East.

Early life and education
Cardim was born in 1596 in Viana do Alentejo, Portugal. He studied at the University of Évora and joined the Society of Jesus on February 24, 1611, at the age of 15. To honor Saint Francis Xavier, he added the name Francisco to his own. He dreamed of going to the Far East as a missionary and in 1618 sailed to Portuguese India with Bishop Diogo Correia Valente. He studied theology in Goa and was ordained a Jesuit priest on February 1, 1621.

Missionary career
In 1623 Cardim reached the Chinese coast at Guangzhou and then settled in Macau. From 1626 to 1629 he lived in Ayutthaya (in present-day Thailand), where he learned Thai and wrote a catechism and a short treatise on the Christian faith. He helped found the Jesuit mission in Ayutthaya in 1626 and, together with collaborators, built a church and administered the sacraments to many residents. In 1629 he returned to Macau to report problems at the Ayutthaya mission.

In February 1631 Cardim was sent to Tonkin (northern Vietnam) with two other missionaries, where they were warmly received by King Trịnh Tráng. He learned about Lan Xang (a nearby kingdom) and hoped to establish a mission there, but the Ayutthaya authorities would not permit it. He later tried to enter Lan Xang through Tonkin but fell seriously ill and had to return to Macau, where he served as rector of St. Paul’s College from August 1632 to May 1636.

Cardim continued his work in Europe as well. He was elected prosecutor of the region in 1638 and went to Rome, where he took part in the Eighth General Congregation of the Society of Jesus (1645–1646), which elected Vincenzo Carafa as Superior General. Back in Portugal, Cardim received strong support from King John IV for the missions.

Works and achievements
Cardim translated some of his Latin writings into Portuguese and Italian and wrote several important monographs about the Jesuit missions. His best-known work is Fasciculus e Japponicis floribus (1646), a detailed account of at least 54 Christians martyred in Japan between 1597 and 1640, and it includes eighty-eight engravings and a map of Japan. He also wrote other works documenting Jesuit activity, such as Mors felicissima quatuor legatorum Lusitanorum quo Japponiae Imperator occidit in odium Christianae religionis (1646), which describes the 1640 incident in Nagasaki in which four Portuguese ambassadors were executed for refusing to renounce their faith. Another notable work is Batalhas da Companhia de Jesus na sua gloriosa provincia do Japão, published in 1645 (with later editions).

Later life and death
In 1649 Cardim boarded the galleon São Lourenço, which was wrecked off the coast of Portuguese Mozambique, where he spent the winter. He reached Goa in 1650 and wrote a travel report, dedicating it to King John IV. In 1652, while crossing from Goa to Macau, his ship was intercepted by Dutch privateers near Dutch Malacca; he was imprisoned for about two years and seven months before being ransomed and returning to Macau exhausted. António Francisco Cardim died in Macau on April 30, 1659, at the age of 63.

Cardim’s writings provide important lessons about the Jesuit missions in the Far East and their interactions with local cultures, rulers, and martyrs.