In pursuit of the fleeing or Apology in defence of the Fathers of the Company of Jesus in Japan

Abstract

With the aim to present an unpublished manuscript recovered in the British Library in London Mss. 9860, this work carry out a philological study of Da fugida na perseguição, a treatise attributed to the Portuguese Sebastião Gonsalves written in Goa in 1598. The old Portuguese manuscript remained unpublished and almost unknown to the researchers of Christian century in Japan since it was cited in a few historical sources. In this essay it was proceeded with its transcription, put into effect according to his own critical apparatus. It is followed by the searching of authorship, the place of publication and, finally, a brief introduction to the manuscript. The treatise features an original theme but remains limited in the apologetic literature engendered in Japan in order to criticize the catechumenate of the Jesuits. The central argument is based on the authority of the Fathers of the Church in order to answer the question posed: is it licit escape from the persecution of the tyrant?