John Zachariah

* Gyöngyös, October 13, 1719 – † Komárom, September 14, 1772 / Jesuit missionary ; ; He studied in his hometown and in Trenčín, and entered the Jesuit order in Nagyszombat in October 1739. He taught between 1745 and 1748, and left for Spain in early 1749. He spent a year and a half mainly in Córdoba, where he completed the seminary preparatory to missionary work and learned Spanish. On October 12, 1750, he set off for America from the port of Cádiz with Ferenc Éder (Selmecbánya). We know the details of their journey from the letters Zakarjás sent home. On December 8, 1750, they sighted the island of Martinigua (Martinique). On December 17, they arrived in the port of Cartagena. Here, together with his companions, he rented a smaller, single-masted ship and continued his journey to the port of Puerto Bello (today: Portobelo) on the eastern shore of the Isthmus of Panama, and from there to Panama City (February 16, 1751). From there, they sailed to the port of Callao in Peru, and then arrived in Lima, the Peruvian center of the Jesuit province, in mid-1751. He was sent to Moxitania for missionary work. This tropical jungle world of the Amazon lies at the foot of the Andes, between the Beni, Mamoré and Iténez rivers, and the Mojo and other Indian groups lived scattered in the wilderness. The center of his operations was probably the San Javier mission built on the banks of the Mamoré, but we know from his letters that he traveled all three of the aforementioned large rivers and their tributaries, and even reached the Madeira River, which was already under Portuguese control. We have little information about the later stages of his work in Peru. Presumably, he was expelled by the Spanish king in Lima in 1767, and returned to Europe in 1768. He was the parish priest of Komárom from 1770 until his death. Some of his letters were found by József Szinnyei Jr. when he was studying the Kaprina manuscript collection in the university library. He gave a presentation on their contents at the meeting of the Hungarian Geographical Society. The addressees of the 10 published letters were Archbishop József Bartakovics, and one was addressed to Ferenc Kéri Borgia (Nagyszombat). The last letter is dated 18 April 1756.