Timeline & Map
From Venice to the Coromandel. Scroll the timeline and the map follows him across the Tamil land, mission by mission — from his landing at Goa to his death at Ambalakaadu.
A historic-toned map of South India. As you scroll the timeline the map travels with him; the dotted road traces the path he walked.
Birth in Italy
Born 08 November, the 10th of fourteen children of the knight-lawyer Gaudioso Beschi and Elizabeth Nodari; baptized Costanzo Gioseffo Eusebio on 13 November.
Jesuit formation
Entered the Novitiate at eighteen; studied humanities, rhetoric, Latin, Greek and Hebrew, philosophy and theology. Ordained priest in September 1709 with permission for the Madurai Mission.
Voyage to the East
Left Lisbon in March–April and reached Goa by September–October, completing his Tertianship at Ambalakaadu in 1710–1711.
Entry into the Madurai Mission
On 08 May he entered Kaamanaayakkanpatty as a Pandaarasaami, assistant to Fr. Louis Noel de Bourzes, taking the Tamil names Dhairiya Naathar and then Veeramaamunivar.
Pastor at Ayyampettai–Thennur
Served the Coromandel substations north of the Cauvery and, though young, reconciled two communities disputing where to build the parish house. Built a church at Eyyalur with the Moghul rulers.
Final vows & near-martyrdom
Professed his four solemn vows at Vadakkankulam. On 21 December, at Gurukkalpatty, he was arrested, tortured and condemned to death on false charges — then saved by Hindu and Christian witnesses.
Itinerant in the Marava country
A risky sojourn through the explosive Marava region — where John de Britto was martyred — before being recalled to Madurai on the death of Fr. Joseph Vieyra.
Vicar Forane & Pastor of Elakkurichi
For nearly eighteen years he built the Shrine of Our Lady of Refuge, established the penitential pilgrimage with Pontifical approval, and founded a school for catechists, healing victims of flood, famine and epidemic.
Shrine of Our Lady the Great
Built the shrine at Konaankuppam near Virudhaachalam to venerate Periyanaayaki Maadhaa, depicting Our Lady in Tamil saree and ornaments.
Tempaavani completed
Completed his major epic Tempaavani, and assisted Bishop Joseph Pinheyro of Mylapore in the canonical enquiry for the cause of John de Britto.
Patronage of Chanda Sahib
With Chanda Sahib occupying Tiruchirappalli, Beschi secured land for the Pazhaiya Kovil church and kept the churches at Uraiyur and Avur safe.
The Pearl Fishery Coast
Transferred south after Chanda Sahib’s defeat, he completed the Tamil–Latin and Portuguese–Latin–Tamil dictionaries, Paramaartha Guru Kathai and Vaaman Kathai.
Visitor at Ambalakaadu & death
In 1746 he went as a Visitor to the Ambalakad Seminary, where he taught the Scholastics Tamil and prepared them for the mission. He fell ill there suddenly and died on 04 February 1747, at the age of 66, the very memorial day of John de Britto. “It is finished.”