Novohispanic School. Mexico. Late 17th century. 'Martyrs of Tazacorte' or 'Martyrs of Brazil' Oil on canvas. 55 x 92 cm. A horizontal canvas depicting the portrait of Blessed Ignatius of Azevedo (1526-1570) and his 39 companions: thirty-two Portuguese people and eight Spaniards, aged between 15 and 30, who were heading to the Jesuit mission in Brazil in the year 1570. They departed from Lisbon on June 5, 1570, aboard three ships. From the island of Madeira, one of the ships had to divert to the Canary Islands to deliver its cargo. On board was Father Azevedo with his Jesuit companions, who, sensing the approach of Calvinist corsairs, called for volunteers. Upon reaching the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, they stopped in the town of Tazacorte, where Father Azevedo celebrated the Holy Eucharist for the last time in the hermitage of Our Lady of Sorrows. According to tradition, during the celebration, as Father Ignatius drank the blood of Christ, he received a divine revelation of his glorious martyrdom. So moved was he that he bit the edge of the chalice, leaving a mark of his teeth on it (this chalice can still be found today in the parish of St. Michael the Archangel in Tazacorte). A few days later, as they continued their journey toward the port of Santa Cruz de la Palma, off the point of Fuencaliente, the ship Santiago was attacked by Huguenot Calvinist pirates led by the pirate Jacques de Sourie. Seeing them approach, Father Ignatius of Azevedo, holding an image of the Virgin Mary in his hands, encouraged his young group of missionaries to offer their lives for Christ. On July 15, 1570, after the ship was captured, the forty Jesuits were martyred—beheaded with axes, pierced with spears, stabbed, and some had their arms cut off and were thrown alive into the sea to drown. On that same day, Saint Teresa of Ávila had a vision in which she saw the 40 Martyrs ascending to heaven and being crowned; among them was her nephew, Francisco Pérez Godoy. Similarly, according to accounts, Jerónimo Azevedo, Ignatius's brother, who was a missionary in India, had the same vision but with more details, and so did the Jesuit Juan de Madureyra, a spiritual disciple of Ignatius of Azevedo. Today, underwater along the coast of Fuencaliente in La Palma, there is a submerged monument dedicated to them known as the Malpica Crosses. This canvas is likely a fragment of a larger painting created specifically for a professed house or novitiate of the Society of Jesus, intended for the internal devotion and veneration of the order. Note how the hands are depicted as severed, almost hinted at or slightly hidden. The right hand of Azevedo rests on an image of Our Lady given personally to him by Pope Pius V to take to Brazil (in all iconographies, this image of the Virgin Mary is central). In the background, the sail and mainmast of the ship Santiago can be seen, where he would have placed the image, inviting all to pray. In ecstasy, with their eyes turned toward heaven, they surrender their lives out of love for Christ and His Church.