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John of Montecorvino, OFM (Italian:Giovanni da Montecorvino; 1247 – 1328) was an ItalianFranciscan missionary, traveller and statesman, founder of the earliestLatin Catholic missions inIndia andChina, andArchbishop of Peking.[1] He converted many people during his missionary work and established several churches inYuan dynasty-heldBeijing. John wrote a letter intending to convert theGreat Khan toCatholicism.[2] He was a contemporary ofMarco Polo.
John was born atMontecorvino Rovella, in what is nowCampania, Italy.
As a member of a Latin Catholicreligious order which at that time was chiefly concerned with the conversion of non-Catholics,[3] he was commissioned in 1272 by theByzantine emperorMichael VIII Palaiologos toPope Gregory X, to negotiate for the reunion of the 'Greek' (Orthodox) andLatin churches.[1]
Commissioned by theHoly See to preach Christianity in the Nearer and Middle East. He devoted himself incessantly from 1275 to 1286. In 1286Arghun, theIlkhan who ruled Persia, sent a request to the pope through theNestorian monk,Rabban Bar Sauma, to send Catholic missionaries to the imperial court ofKublai (Emperor Shizu) of theYuan 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 travellerMarco Polo still remained.[3]
In 1289 John revisited the Papal Court and was sent out aspapal legate to theGreat Khan, the Ilkhan of Persia, and other leading personages of theMongol Empire, as well as to theEmperor of Ethiopia.[1] He started on his journey in 1289, provided with letters to Arghun, to the Kublai, toKaidu, Prince of the Tatars, to theKing of Armenia and to the Patriarch of theJacobites. His companions were theDominican Nicholas of Pistoia and the merchant Peter of Lucalongo.[3] He reachedTabriz (in Iranian Azerbeijan), then the chief city of Mongol Persia, if not of allWestern Asia.[1]
From Persia they moved down by sea to India, in 1291, to theMadras region or "Country ofSt Thomas" where he preached for thirteen months and baptized about one hundred persons;[1][3] his companion Nicholas died. From there Montecorvino wrote home, in December 1291 (or 1292), the earliest noteworthy account of theCoromandel Coast furnished by any Western European.[1] Travelling by sea fromNestorianMailapur inMadras, he reached China in 1294, appearing in the capital "Cambaliech" orKhanbaliq (nowBeijing), only to find that Kublai had just died, andTemür (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 theYuan dynasty ruler in spite of the opposition of theNestorians who had alreadysettled there under the name ofJingjiao/Ching-chiao (景教).[3]
In 1299 John built a church atKhanbaliq (nowBeijing) 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 theNew Testament and the Psalms into theUyghur language that is used commonly by the ethnic Mongol ruling class ofYuan China. Among the 6,000 converts of John of Montecorvino was the NestorianOngut princeGeorge, allegedly a descendant ofPrester John, and a vassal of the great khan, mentioned by Marco Polo.[3]
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 theLatin 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.[1]
After he had worked alone for eleven years, the German FranciscanArnold of Cologne was sent to him (1304 or 1303) as his first colleague. In 1307Pope Clement V, highly pleased with the missionary's success, sent seven Franciscanbishops (Andrew of Perugia, Andreuccio d'Assisi, Gerardo Albuini, Nicola da Banzia, Ulrico von Seyfriedsdorf, Peregrino da Castello,Guglielmo da Villanova)[4][3] who were commissioned to consecrate John of Montecorvinoarchbishop of Peking andsummus archiepiscopus 'chief archbishop' of all those countries; they were themselves to be hissuffragan 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 ofZaiton (Quanzhou), which John had established. In 1312 three more Franciscans were sent out from Rome to act as suffragans,[3] of whom one at least reached East Asia.[1]
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 monarchKülüg 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 nearAmoy harbour, opposite ofFormosa island (present-dayTaiwan).[1]
John of Montecorvino translated the New Testament intoUyghur and provided copies of thePsalms, theBreviary 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 convertedArmenians in China andAlans toLatin Catholicism in China.
John of Montecorvino died about 1328 in Peking. He was apparently the only effective European bishop during themedieval period in Peking.[1] Even after his death, the mission in China endured for the next 40 years.
Toghun Temür, the last Mongol (Yuan dynasty) emperor of China, sent an embassy to the FrenchPope Benedict XII inAvignon, 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.[5] 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 toPeking, among themJohn of Marignolli. In 1353 John returned to Avignon, and delivered a letter from the great Khan toPope Innocent VI. Soon, the Chinese rose up and drove the Mongols from China, thereby establishing theMing Dynasty (1368). By 1369, all Christians, whether Latin Catholic orSyro-Oriental, were expelled by the Ming rulers.
Six centuries later, Montecorvino acted as the inspiration for another Franciscan, theBlessedGabriele Allegra to go to China and complete the first translation of theCatholic Bible into Chinese in 1968.[6]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Beazley, Charles Raymond (1911). "Monte Corvino, Giovanni di". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 763–764. This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "John of Montecorvino".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.