N. 1714; A. 1729; O.S. 1747; U.V.?; M. 1797

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José Rosado was born in the small town of Vimieiro (Alentejo) in 1714, entering in the novitiate of the Society of Jesus in Évora on October 26 1729, aged about 15 (ARSI, Lus. 41, fls. 74-75). He probably completed all his academic training in Évora, but professed on August 15 1747 at the college in Vila Nova de Portimão (Algarve), when he was 33 years old (ARSI, Lus. 16, fl. 288). In 1749, he had already moved to the College of São Francisco Xavier in Setúbal, where he was professor of Humanities, Rhetoric and Moral Theology (ARSI, Lus. 49, fl. 43v).

He apparently succeeded Fr. Marcelo Leitão in 1751 as executor/manager of the estate of Juan Tomás Enriquez de Cabrera y Álvarez de Toledo (1646–1705), Admiral of Castile and Duke of Medina de Rioseco, who had died in Portugal following the party of Archduke Charles of Habsburg in the War of Spanish Succession (AHTC, JI, Maço 89). This position allowed him to acquire movable and immovable assets - thus training him to become Procurator-General of the Jesuits Overseas Missions. In this context, he purchased land belonging to the Count of Tarouca in Lisbon called Cotovia, to build the Almirantino or Missions College, under the invocation of Our Lady of Conception.

Rosado was made Procurator of the Vice-Province of China, an office he had been trained for by its holder, Marcelo Leitão, following his death in Lisbon's earthquake in November 1755 (ARSI, Jap. Sin. 98, fl. 44v ). He lived at the Hospice of São Francisco de Borja in Lisbon (Cotovia), together with other Procurators of the Jesuits Overseas Missions. At that time, King D. José I (r. 1750–1777) gave him a grant (Carta de Padrão e de Tença de Juro e Herdade perpétua), usually attributed to those who had been or were expected to be posted overseas.

We can see the central role he played in receiving and distributing Asian luxury commodities in Europe, and in sending European goods to the missionaries in China, thanks to the few extant documents we have from him. This can be seen in the management of numerous commands made by him, or by Jesuits and other people (AHTC, JI, Maço 21, No. 83, pages 111 and ff.). A good example of this management was the crates filled with commodities destined for the Secretary of State for Home Affairs, Fr. Pedro da Mota e Silva, a regular buyer of Chinese goods in Macao. Furthermore, Rosado oversaw warehouses in the vicinity of the church of St. John Nepomucene in Lisbon, where Asian goods cleared from Casa da Índia (India's Custom House) were kept, destined for other Procurators living at the Hospice of São Francisco de Borja and for other people. Rosado was, on the other hand, responsible for commanding stonework in Portugal to equip churches in China, namely washbasins and stoups (AHTC, JI, maço 21, No. 83, pages 111 and ff.). Like his predecessors, Rosado also sent clothes, food, tobacco, chocolate, pharmacy drugs, books, sacred art and liturgical vestments for the missionaries, as well as watches, jewelry, painted glass and other objects to be offered to the Emperor, and to high ranking Qing dignitaries of the imperial court.

Rosado was still the Procurator of the Vice Province of China when the Society of Jesus was suppressed in Portugal in 1759. Sent to the goals of São Julião da Barra in 1759, along with the other Procurators of the Jesuits Overseas Missions, Rosado remained incarcerated there until 1767 (ARSI, Bras. Maran. 28, fl. 41). The list of goods seized in his cubicle revealed Rosado's taste for Asian commodities, such as tea, porcelain teapots and Chinese pieces of furniture. This appetite for Chinese goods was further disclosed by a trove of "shards of Chinese porcelain" found by the judge Manuel Inácio de Moura behind a false wall in his cubicle. He was eventually deported to Urbania ( Italy) in 1767 (ARSI, Lus. 40b). Although the exact date of his return to Portugal is not known today, Rosado died in his country in 1797, at the ripe age of 82 years old.

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BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES

 

COUTINHO, M. J. Pereira (2019), pp. 103-122; DEHERGNE, J. (1973), p. 231; PFISTER, L. (1932), p. 986; RODRIGUES, P. F. (1950), p. 186; RUSSO, M., TRIGUEIROS, A. J. L. (2013), pp. 647-648; VALE, A. M. Martins do (2002), p. 596; WICKI, J. (1967), Entrada N.º 2118.

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The entry, with scientific review should be cited as follows: Maria João Pereira Coutinho, "José Rosado (1714-1797)", in Res Sinicae, Enciclopédia de Autores, Arnaldo do Espírito Santo, Cristina Costa Gomes and Isabel Murta Pina (Coord.).

ISBN: 978-972-9376-56-6. URL: "https://www.ressinicae.letras.ulisboa.pt/jose-rosado-1714-1797?lang=en". Última revisão: 15.01.2021.

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