rules of each office. English College From his friend Gregory, the Society received charge of the English College and Gregory's beneficence to the Roman College was much appreciated. Polanco's Census During this time, too, Polanco traveled the length and breadth of Europe making a census of the Society's activities and of its men. When it was finally finished it filled six large volumes and gave a detailed account of the progress the Society had made from 1537 until the death of Ignatius. Foreign Missions He was greatly interested in the foreign missions and established the Maronite mission of Lebanon. He appointed Alessandro Valignano General Visitor of all the missions in Asia (India, Japan, Moluccas). The Visitor had extensive power and changed completely the missionary outlook, insisting on the learning of the oriental languages, understanding and adopting local customs as well as admitting to the seminary and priesthood local youth. This new missionary approach allowed the emergence of such outstanding missionaries and orientalists as Matteo Ricci (in China) Roberto de Nobili (in India) and others. He was very reluctant to get the Jesuits involved in the attempt to influence politics in England under Queen Elizabeth I, but he was finally persuaded to send Edmund Campion and Robert Persons to support the Catholics in England, with strict instructions to avoid politics or treason. However, Pope Gregory XIII met with Campion and Persons before their departure from Rome and completely subverted Mercurian's instructions. He had also, unbeknownst to them, sent support before them to the Irish rebel James Fitzmaurice, thereby seriously compromising their non-political stance. Death Father Everard Mercurian passed thirty-two years in the Society, and died at the age of sixty-six. At that time the Society numbered 5000 members in eighteen provinces. He died, a martyr of charity, during the influenza epidemic of 1580 while visiting the sick in their homes. He was buried in the Church of St. Andrea al Quirinale, at that time the church of the Novitiate. Later on, his remains were transferred to the Ossuary in the crypt of the church of the Gesù. References 1. Hogge, Alice. God's Secret Agents; Elizabeths Forbidden Priests and the Hatching of the Gunpowder Plot. HarperCollins:2005. 2. McCoog, Thomas M. (ed), The Mercurian Project; forming Jesuit Culture (1573–1580), IHSI, Rome, 2004. External links Everard Mercurian in the Historical Archives of the Pontifial Gregorian University 1514 births 1580 deaths Jesuits of the Habsburg