Antonio Possevino | |
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![]() Batory at Pskov. Painting by Jan Matejko. Possevino is the black-robed Jesuit at the center, blessing the offerings | |
Born | Antonius Possevinus 10 July 1533 |
Died | 26 February 1611 | (aged 77)
Nationality | Italian |
Occupation(s) | papal diplomat, Jesuit controversialist, encyclopedist and bibliographer |
Notable work | Bibliotheca selecta qua agitur de ratione studiorum (1593) Apparatus ad omnium gentium historiam (2 vols., 1597–1602) Apparatus sacer ad scriptores Veteris et Novi Testamenti (3 vols., 1603–06) |
Antonio Possevino (Antonius Possevinus) (10 July 1533 – 26 February 1611) was a Jesuit protagonist of Counter Reformation as a papal diplomat[1] and a Jesuit controversialist, polemicist, encyclopedist, and bibliographer.[2] He was the first Jesuit to visit Muscovy, Sweden, Denmark, Livonia, Hungary, Pomerania, and Saxony in amply documented papal missions between 1578 and 1586 where he championed the enterprising policies of Pope Gregory XIII.
Possevino, Antonio, s.j., papal diplomat and visitor to Ivan IV's Muscovy