Maroni, PAUL, missionary, b. November 1, 1695. He entered the Austrian province of the Jesuits on October 27, 1712, and, like many German and Austrian missionaries of that time, went in 1723 on the mission in Upper Maranon that belonged to the Quito province of the order. He worked for several years as professor of theology at Quito and then with great success as Indian missionary on the rivers Napo and Aguarico, converting a number of tribes to the Christian faith and founding a series of new reducibnes (i.e. settlements of converted Indians). At the same time he did great service in carefully exploring those regions, services which were duly acknowledged by the French geographer, La Condamine, (see “Journal des Savants”, Paris, March, 1750, 183). Maroni left behind him a number of valuable works which have only recently been published. Two of them are: “Diario de la entrada que hizo el P. Pablo Maroni de la C. d. J. por el rio corino b Pastaza… el ano 1737”, published by P. Sanvicente, S.J. in “El Industrial” (Quito, 1895), ano IV., num. 132, 133, 135; as also the “Noticias autenticas del famoso rio Maranon y misibn apbstolica de la Compania de Jesus de la provincia de Quito en los dilatados bosques de dicho no escribilas por los anos de 1738 un misionero de la misma cornpania y las publicas ahora por primera vez Marcos Jimenez de la Espada (Madrid, 1889)”, with maps drawn up by Maroni.
A. HUONDER