Nicolás Mascardi

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File:MartirioMascardi.jpgdom depicted in the Cathedral of Bariloche]]

Nicolás Mascardi ({{IPA|es|nikoˈlas masˈkaɾði}}; Rome, 1625 – † Patagonia, 1673) was a Ligurian Jesuit priest and missionary in South America in the 17th century. He arrived to Chile in 1651. While active in Araucanía he gained notoriety for the exorcisms he practised among the Mapuches.{{cite journal |title=Jesuitas, Franciscanos y Capuchinos italianos en la Araucanía (1600-1900) |journal=Revista Complutense de Historia de América |year=1993 | pages = 109–147 |volume=19 |access-date=22 February 2014 |last1=Pinto Rodríguez |first1=Jorge |author-link=Jorge Pinto Rodríguez|url=http://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/RCHA/article/viewFile/RCHA9393110109A/29307 |language=es}}

In 1662 Mascardi went on an expedition south of Chiloé Archipelago, where Jesuits had been established for about fifty years, arriving to Guaitecas Archipelago where he built a church.{{cite journal |last1=Sepúlveda Ortíz |first1=Jorge |title=Exploraciones efectuadas en la región de Trapananda antes del siglo XIX|url=http://www.historianaval.cl/publico/publicacion_archivo/publicaciones/16_5.pdf |journal=Boletín de la Academia de Historia Naval y Marítima de Chile |pages=95–110 |access-date=25 January 2019}}

In 1669 he crossed the Andes from Chiloé Archipelago and established a mission on the shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake which lasted until his death. From the mission he and his fellow Jesuits engaged in missionary activity among the Poyas, Pehuenches and Puelches. He died in 1673 after being attacked by native Poyas during one of his exploration trips in the southern Andes.{{cite journal |last1=Urbina |first1=M. Ximena|author-link=Ximena Urbina |year=2008|title= La frustrada misión estratégica de Nahuelhuapi, un punto en la inmesidad de la Patagonia |trans-title=The frustrated strategic mission of Nahuelhuapi, a point in Patagonia's inmensity |journal=Magallania |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=5–30 |url=http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-22442008000100001&lng=es&nrm=iso&tlng=es |access-date=26 April 2013|language=es}} Villa Mascardi and Mascardi Lake in present-day Argentina are named after him.