Pierre-Jean De Smet, active missionary among the Native Americans of the Western United States in the mid-19th century
Richard De Smet, Jesuit Indologist (Sankara specialist), Professor of Phisosophy, JnanaDeep Vidyapeeth, Pune, Maharashtra, India; prolific writer and contributor to the Marathi Encyclopaedia of Philosophy
William Detré, 17th century missionary in the Amazon
Salvatore di Pietro, Italian missionary and first apostolic prefect to Belize, Central America
Francesco Maria Grimaldi, 17th-century Italian mathematician, physicist and astronomer; accurately mapped the Moon; one of the first to suggest the wave-like nature of light
Anthony Kohlmann, early Catholic priest in New York whose decision not to testify established American precedent for "priest-penitent privilege" or "clergy confidentiality" in law
Martino Martini, Italian missionary to China, linguist and published the first Chinese Atlas and the first Ancient History and a chronicle of the tartarian war
John McElroy, one of two of the Army's first Catholic Chaplains. Chaplain during the Mexican–American War, founder of St. John's Literary Institute, Boston College High School, and Boston College.[4]
Servant of God Matteo Ricci, Italian missionary to China, linguist and published the first Chinese edition of Euclid's Elements
Giovanni Battista Riccioli, 17th-century Italian astronomer; devised the system for the nomenclature of lunar features that is now the international standard
William A. Rice, American missionary, founder of Baghdad College, bishop and vicar apostolic in Belize
João Rodrigues Tçuzu ("the Translator"), 16th-century Portuguese missionary who served as a translator for Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, wrote early works on Japanese linguistics, and introduced Western science and culture to Korea through his gifts to the ambassador Jeong Duwon
Andrew White (Jesuit), 17th century English Jesuit, influential figure in the early Maryland Colony who led efforts to convert and improve relations with local Native American tribes
^Father Gabriel Richard was briefly in the U.S. Congress in the 1820s, but as a territorial representative. Under guidelines released by Pope John Paul II, Catholic clergy are expected not to serve in positions of civil authority. Drinan did not seek re-election as a result of the issuance of these guidelines.
References
^Robert Aleksander Maryks; Jonathan Wright, eds. (2014). Jesuit Survival and Restoration: A Global History, 1773-1900. Studies in the History of Christian Traditions (revised reprint ed.). BRILL. p. 393. ISBN978-9-0042-8387-9.
^Tsong, Nicole (December 30, 2004). "Abuse claims breathe life into dead priests' past". Anchorage Daily News. Anchorage. p. A1. A popular Jesuit priest -- the country's first Roman Catholic priest to serve in a state Legislature
^O’Conner, Thomas H. "Breaking the religious barrier", The Boston Globe, 10 May 2004.