Giovanni Pietro Maffei

Giovanni Pietro Maffei (1533–1603), also anglicized as John Peter Maffei, was an Italian Jesuit and author.[1] He wrote a life of Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, and also wrote about the activities of the Society in the Orient.[1]

Orator Giovan Pietro Maffei by Giovanni Battista Moroni.

Giovanni Pietro Maffei was born at Bergamo about 1536; he was for a time professor at Genoa, became in 1564 secretary of the government at that place, and in 1565 joined the Jesuits, among whom he gained a great reputation. Brought to the notice of cardinal Henry, of Portugal, he was called to Lisbon. He died in Tivoli in 1603. Maffei wrote De vita et moribus Ignatii Loiolae (Romae 1585): — Historiarum Indicarum libri XVI (Florentiae, 1585; often reprinted): — Vite di XVII confessori di Cristo (Roma, 1601). At the request of Gregory XIII he wrote a history of the reign of that pope, which remained in MS. until 1743, when it was published at Rome by Carlo Coquelines. A History of India, written by request of cardinal Henry, was published without Maffei's name, though he was its author. His collected works, accompanied by a biographical sketch, were published under the style Io. Petri Maffeii Bergomatis e Societate Iesu opera omnia Latine scripta, nunc primum in unum corpus collecta (Verona, 1747, 2 vols. 4to).