Giovanni da Montecorvino
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

John of Montecorvino or Giovanni da Montecorvino in Italian (1247 – 1328) was an Italian Franciscan missionary, traveller and statesman, founder of the earliest Latin Catholic
missions Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion * Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
in India and
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, and
archbishop of Peking The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Beijing ( la, Archidioecesis Pechimensis) is a Metropolitan Latin archdiocese in the People's Republic of China. Special churches Its cathedral is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Beijing, Cathe ...
. He converted many people during his missionary work and established several churches in Yuan dynasty-held Beijing. John of Montecorvino wrote a letter intending to convert the Great Khan to Catholicism. He was a contemporary of
Marco Polo Marco Polo (, , ; 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in ''The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known as ''Book of the Marv ...
.


Biography

John was born at
Montecorvino Rovella Montecorvino Rovella (Campanian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-west Italy. History In 269 BC the Romans defeated the Picentes from the Adriatic Coast and founded a colony transplanting them ...
, in what is now Campania, Italy. As a member of a Latin Catholic
religious order A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practi ...
which at that time was chiefly concerned with the conversion of non-Catholics, he was commissioned in 1272 by the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos to Pope Gregory X, to negotiate for the reunion of the 'Greek' (
Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...
) and Latin churches. Commissioned by the Holy See to preach Christianity in the Nearer and Middle East, especially to the Asiatic hordes then threatening the West, he devoted himself incessantly from 1275 to 1286. In 1286 Arghun, the
Ilkhan The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate ( fa, ایل خانان, ''Ilxānān''), known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (, ''Qulug-un Ulus''), was a khanate established from the southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. The Ilkhanid realm, ...
who ruled Persia, sent a request to the pope through the Nestorian monk, Rabban Bar Sauma, to send Catholic missionaries to the imperial court of Kublai (Emperor Shizu) of the Yuan dynasty of China, who was alleged to be well disposed toward Christianity. Pope Nicholas IV received the letter in 1287 and entrusted John with the important mission to China, where about this time Venetian lay traveller
Marco Polo Marco Polo (, , ; 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in ''The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known as ''Book of the Marv ...
still remained.


Journey to Asia

In 1289 John revisited the Papal Court and was sent out as
papal legate 300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the pope's legate. A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title ''legatus'') is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic ...
to the Great Khan, the Ilkhan of Persia, and other leading personages of the
Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, ...
, as well as to the
Emperor of Ethiopia The emperor of Ethiopia ( gez, ንጉሠ ነገሥት, nəgusä nägäst, "King of Kings"), also known as the Atse ( am, ዐፄ, "emperor"), was the hereditary monarchy, hereditary ruler of the Ethiopian Empire, from at least the 13th century ...
. He started on his journey in 1289, provided with letters to Arghun, to the Kublai, to Kaidu, Prince of the Tatars, to the
King of Armenia This is a list of the monarchs of Armenia, for more information on ancient Armenia and Armenians, please see History of Armenia. For information on the medieval Armenian Kingdom in Cilicia, please see the separate page Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. ...
and to the Patriarch of the
Jacobites Jacobite means follower of Jacob or James. Jacobite may refer to: Religion * Jacobites, followers of Saint Jacob Baradaeus (died 578). Churches in the Jacobite tradition and sometimes called Jacobite include: ** Syriac Orthodox Church, sometimes ...
. His companions were the Dominican Nicholas of Pistoia and the merchant Peter of Lucalongo. He reached Tabriz (in Iranian Azerbeijan), then the chief city of Mongol Persia, if not of all Western Asia. From Persia they moved down by sea to India, in 1291, to the
Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
region or "Country of St Thomas" where he preached for thirteen months and baptized about one hundred persons; his companion Nicholas died. From there Montecorvino wrote home, in December 1291 (or 1292), the earliest noteworthy account of the Coromandel Coast furnished by any Western European. Travelling by sea from Nestorian Mailapur in
Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
, he reached China in 1294, appearing in the capital "Cambaliech" or
Khanbaliq Khanbaliq or Dadu of Yuan () was the winter capital of the Yuan dynasty of China in what is now Beijing, also the capital of the People's Republic of China today. It was located at the center of modern Beijing. The Secretariat directly administ ...
(now Beijing), only to find that Kublai had just died, and Temür (Emperor Chengzong) had succeeded to the Yuan throne. Though the latter did apparently not embrace Christianity, he threw no obstacles in the way of the zealous missionary. Very soon, John won the confidence of the Yuan dynasty ruler in spite of the opposition of the Nestorians who had already settled there under the name of ''Jingjiao''/''Ching-chiao'' (景教). In 1299 John built a church at
Khanbaliq Khanbaliq or Dadu of Yuan () was the winter capital of the Yuan dynasty of China in what is now Beijing, also the capital of the People's Republic of China today. It was located at the center of modern Beijing. The Secretariat directly administ ...
(now Beijing) and in 1305 a second church opposite the imperial palace, together with workshops and dwellings for two hundred persons. He gradually bought from the "heathen" parents about 150 boys, from 7 to 11 years of age, instructed them in Latin and Greek, wrote psalms and hymns for them and then trained them to serve Mass and sing in the choir. At the same time he familiarized himself with the native language, preached in it, and translated the New Testament and the Psalms into the
Uyghur language The Uyghur or Uighur language (; , , , or , , , , CTA: Uyğurçä; formerly known as Eastern Turki), is a Turkic language written in a Uyghur Perso-Arabic script with 8-11 million speakers, spoken primarily by the Uyghur people in the Xin ...
that is used commonly by the ethnic Mongol ruling class of Yuan China. Among the 6,000 converts of John of Montecorvino was the Nestorian Ongut prince George (Ongud king), George, allegedly a descendant of Prester John, and a vassal of the great khan, mentioned by Marco Polo. John wrote letters on 8 January 1305 and 13 February 1306, describing the progress of the Latin mission in the Far East, in spite of Nestorian opposition; alluding to the Latin Catholic community he had founded in India, and to an appeal he had received to preach in "Ethiopia" and dealing with overland and oversea routes to "Cathay", from the Black Sea and the Persian Gulf respectively. After he had worked alone for eleven years, the German Franciscan Arnold of Cologne was sent to him (1304 or 1303) as his first colleague. In 1307 Pope Clement V, highly pleased with the missionary's success, sent seven Franciscan bishops (Andrew of Perugia, Andreuccio d'Assisi, Gerardo Albuini, Nicola da Banzia, Ulrico von Seyfriedsdorf, Peregrino da Castello, Guglielmo da Villanova) who were commissioned to consecrate John of Montecorvino
archbishop of Peking The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Beijing ( la, Archidioecesis Pechimensis) is a Metropolitan Latin archdiocese in the People's Republic of China. Special churches Its cathedral is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Beijing, Cathe ...
and ''summus archiepiscopus'' 'chief archbishop' of all those countries; they were themselves to be his suffragan bishops. Only three of these envoys arrived safely: Gerardus, Peregrinus and Andrew of Perugia (1308). They consecrated John in 1308 and succeeded each other in the episcopal see of Quanzhou, Zaiton (Quanzhou), which John had established. In 1312 three more Franciscans were sent out from Rome to act as suffragans,''This article incorporates text from the 1913 ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' article
John of Montecorvino
by Otto Hartig, a publication now in the public domain.''
of whom one at least reached East Asia. For the next 20 years the Chinese-Mongol mission continued to flourish under his leadership. A Franciscan tradition states that about 1310 John of Montecorvino converted the third Yuan monarch Külüg Khan, (Emperor Wuzong) but this is disputed. His mission unquestionably won remarkable successes in northern and eastern China. Besides three mission stations in Peking, he established one near Xiamen, Amoy harbour, opposite of Taiwan, Formosa island (present-day Taiwan). John of Montecorvino translated the New Testament into Old Uyghur language, Uyghur and provided copies of the Psalms, the Breviary and liturgical hymns for the Öngüt. He was instrumental in teaching boys the Latin chant, probably for a choir in the liturgy and with the hope that some of them might become priests. Also, he converted Armenians in China and Alans#Medieval Alania, Alans to Latin Catholicism in China.


Death

John of Montecorvino died about 1328 in Peking. He was apparently the only effective European bishop during the medieval period in Peking. Even after his death, the mission in China endured for the next 40 years.


Legacy

Toghun Temür, the last Mongol (Yuan dynasty) emperor of China, sent an embassy to the French Pope Benedict XII in Avignon, in 1336. The embassy was led by a Genoese in the service of the Mongol emperor, Andrea di Nascio, and accompanied by another Genoese, Andalò di Savignone. These letters from the Mongol ruler represented that they had been eight years (since Montecorvino's death) without a spiritual guide, and earnestly desired one. The pope replied to the letters, and appointed four ecclesiastics as his legates to the khan's court. In 1338, a total of 50 ecclesiastics were sent by the Pope to Peking, among them John of Marignolli. In 1353 John returned to Avignon, and delivered a letter from the great khan to Pope Innocent VI. Soon, the Chinese rose up and drove the Mongols from China, thereby establishing the Ming Dynasty (1368). By 1369, all Christians, whether Latin Catholic or Church of the East, Syro-Oriental, were expelled by the Ming rulers. Six centuries later, Montecorvino acted as the inspiration for another Franciscan, the Beatification, Blessed Gabriele Allegra to go to China and complete the first translation of the Catholic Bible into Chinese in 1968.


See also

* Chronology of European exploration of Asia * Odoric of Pordenone * Rabban Bar Sauma *Prester John *Religion in China ** Christianity in China ** Roman Catholicism in China


References


Bibliography

* Jackson, Peter (2005). ''The Mongols and the West: 1221-1410''. Longman. .


Further reading

* Pacifico Sella, ''Il Vangelo in Oriente. Giovanni da Montecorvino, frate minore e primo vescovo in terra di Cina (1247-1328)'', Assisi: Edizioni Porziuncola, 2008 *The manuscripts of Montecorvino's ''Letters'' exist in the Laurentian Library, Florence (for the Indian Epistle) and in the National Library, Paris, 5006 Lat.-viz. the ''Liber de aetatibus,'' fols. 170, v.-172, r. (for the Chinese). They are printed in Wadding, ''Annales minorum (A.D.'' 1305 and 1306) vi. 69–72, 91-92 (ed. of 1733, &c.), and in the ''Münchner gelehrte Anzeigen'' (1855), No. 22, part in. pp. 171175. English translations, with valuable comments, are in Sir H. Yule's ''Cathay,'' i. 197–221. *See also Wadding, ''Annales,'' v. 195–198, 199–203, vi. 93, &c., 147, &c., 176, &c., 467, &c.; C. R. Beazley, ''Dawn of Modern Geography,'' iii. 162–178, 206–210; Sir H. Yule, ''Cathay,'' i. 165–173. (C. R. B.) * Sir Henry Yule (ed.) ''Cathay and the Way Thither'', London: Hakluyt Society, 1914
Vol. IIIpp. 45-58
Contains two letters by Montecorvino.


External links


Medieval Sourcebook: John of Monte Corvino: Report from China 1305
{{Authority control 1247 births 1328 deaths People from the Province of Salerno Italian Friars Minor Franciscan bishops 14th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in China Franciscan missionaries Italian Roman Catholic missionaries Diplomats of the Holy See Roman Catholic missionaries in China Roman Catholic missionaries in India Italian emigrants to China Italian expatriates in India