Antonio Possevino

Antonio Possevino (Antonius Possevinus) (1534 - February 26 1611) was an Italian clergyman who acted as papal legate and the first Jesuit to visit Moscow, vicar general of Sweden, Denmark and northern islands, Muscovy, Livonia, Rus, Hungary, Pomerania, Saxony from 1578.

Born in Mantua, Possevino joined the Society of Jesus in 1559 and served as the secretary to one of the Jesuit generals from 1572 to 1578. Pope Gregory XIII in 1578 sent him to Sweden in order to influence the course of the Livonian War. Thence Possevino proceeded to the Russian capital and helped to mediate the Treaty of Jam Zapolski in 1582, ending the war. He left a valuable account of the Tsardom of Muscovy.

A curious episode is connected with Possevino's stay in Moscow. When he tried to articulate the idea of the union with the Roman Catholic Church to the Tsar Ivan IV, the latter attempted to kill him in a fit of rage. The irascible monarch later allowed Possevino to hold a dispute on the merits of each faith, in the course of which he confounded the papal legate with questions concerning the meaning of the western habit to shave a beard.

He died in Ferrara.

Writings

*"Apparatus sacer ad scriptores Veteris et Novi Testamenti" (Venice, 1603-06)
*"Bibliotheca selecta" (Rome, 1593)
*"Moscovia" (Vilna, 1586)
*"Dell sacrificia della Messa" (Lyons, 1563)
*"Il soldato cristiano" (Rome, 1569)
*"Notæ verbi Dei et Apostolicæ Ecclesiæ" (Posen, 1586)

References

* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12317a.htm "Antonius Possevinus"] in the "Catholic Encyclopedia