Ballooning priest, and his 1709 predecessor

Catholic priests may be celibate, but that does not rule out adventure (or trouble).  Hopes, alas, are fading for Father Antonio di Carli, who set out attached to 1000 helium party balloons on Sunday,  on Sunday to break a 19-hour flight record he set earlier  and raise money to build a spiritual rest-stop for truckers in Paranagua, southern Brazil. They've found the balloons, in shark-infested seas; the only hope is that with his survival gear he found a shore to rest on.
    What not a lot of people know (but I bet Fr Antonio did) is that the very first balloon was dreamed up by another Brazilian priest, Bartolomeu de Gusmão, and exhibited at the Portuguese Court on August 8, 1709 in Lisbon. He was a Jesuit, a mathematician and linguist, and presented his airship design to King John V of Portugal. The vessel was to be propelled by the agency of magnets.  Here it is. In the end poor Fr. Bartolomeu was chased away by the Spanish Inquisition.