Missionary work of theCatholic Church has often been undertaken outside the geographically definedparishes anddioceses byreligious orders who have people and material resources to spare, and some of which specialized in missions. Eventually, parishes and dioceses would be organized worldwide, often after an intermediate phase as anapostolic prefecture orapostolic vicariate. Catholic mission has predominantly been carried out by theLatin Church in practice.

In theRoman Curia, missionary work is organised by theCongregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

During the Middle Ages, Christianmonasteries and missionaries (such asSaint Patrick andAdalbert of Prague) fostered formal education and learning of religion, beyond the boundaries of theold Roman Empire. In the seventh century,Gregory the Great sent missionaries, includingAugustine of Canterbury, into England. TheHiberno-Scottish mission began in 563 CE.

In the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries,Franciscans (such asWilliam of Rubruck,John of Montecorvino, and Giovanni ed' Magnolia) were sent as missionaries to the Near and Far East. Their travels took them as far as China, in an attempt to convert the advancingMongols to Christianity, especially theGreat Khans of theMongol Empire. (See alsoCatholic Church in China.)

During theAge of Discovery, theCatholic Church established a number ofmissions in the Americas and other colonies through theAugustinians,Franciscans, andDominicans in order to spread Catholicism in the New World and to convert theindigenous peoples of the Americas and other indigenous people. At the same time, missionaries such asFrancis Xavier as well as otherJesuits, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Dominicans were moving into Asia and the Far East. The Portuguese sent missions into Africa. These are some of the most well-known missions in history.

In the empires ruled by bothPortugal andSpain, religion was an integral part of the state and evangelization was seen as having both secular and spiritual benefits. Wherever these powers attempted to expand their territories or influence, missionaries would soon follow. By theTreaty of Tordesillas, the two powers divided the world between them into exclusive spheres of influence, trade, and colonization. The Catholic world order was challenged by theNetherlands andEngland. Theoretically, it was repudiated byGrotius'sMare Liberum. Portugal's and Spain's colonial policies were also challenged by the Catholic Church itself. TheVatican founded theCongregatio de Propaganda Fide in 1622 and attempted to separate the churches from the influence of theIberian kingdoms.

While missions in areas ruled by Spanish and Portuguese, and to a lesser extent, the French, are associated withcultural imperialism and oppression, and often operated under the sponsorship and consent of colonial governments, those in other portions of the world (notablyMatteo Ricci'sJesuit mission to China, and the work of other Jesuit missionaries in the Nagasaki region in Japan) were focused on the conversion of individuals within existing social and political structures, and often operated without the consent of local government.

John of Monte Corvino was a Franciscan sent to China to become prelate of Peking in around 1307. He traveled from Persia and moved down by sea to India in 1291, to theMadras region or "Country of St. Thomas". There he preached for thirteen months and baptized about one hundred people. From there Monte Corvino wrote home, in December 1291 (or 1292), giving one of the earliest noteworthy accounts of the Coromandel coast furnished by any Western European. Traveling by sea from Mailapur, he reached China in 1294, appearing in the capital "Cambaliech" (now Beijing).^[1]

FriarOdoric of Pordenone arrived in India in 1321. He visited Malabar, touching at Pandarani (20 m. north of Calicut) at Cranganore and at Kulam or Quilon, proceeding thence, apparently, to Ceylon and to the shrine of St Thomas at Maylapur near Madras. He writes that he had found the place where Thomas was buried.

The French Dominican missionary FatherJordanus Catalani followed in 1321–22. He reported to Rome, apparently from somewhere on the west coast of India, that he had given Christian burial to four martyred monks. Jordanus is known for his 1329Mirabilia describing the marvels of the East: he furnished the best account of Indian regions and the Christians, the products, climate, manners, customs, fauna and flori given by any European in the Middle Ages – superior even to Marco Polo's.

In 1347,Giovanni de Marignolli visited the shrine of St Thomas near the modern Madras, and then proceeded to what he calls the kingdom of Saba and identifies with the Sheba of Scripture, but which seems from various particulars to have been Java. Taking ship again for Malabar on his way to Europe, he encountered great storms.

Another prominent Indian traveler was Joseph, priest over Cranganore. He journeyed to Babylon in 1490 and then sailed to Europe and visited Portugal, Rome, and Venice before returning to India. He helped to write a book about his travels entitledThe Travels of Joseph the Indian which was widely disseminated across Europe.

The introduction of Catholicism in India begins from the first decade of 1500, with the arrival of the Portuguese missionaries there. In the 16th century, the proselytization of Asia was linked to thePortuguese colonial policy. With the Papal bullRomanus Pontifex^[2] written on 8 January 1455 byPope Nicholas V toKing Afonso V ofPortugal, the patronage for the propagation of the Christian faith (see "Padroado") in Asia was given to the Portuguese, who were rewarded with the right of conquest.^[3] The missionaries of the different orders (Franciscans,Dominicans,Jesuits,Augustinians, etc.) flocked out with the conquerors, and began at once to build churches along the coastal districts wherever the Portuguese power made itself felt.

The history of Portuguese missionaries in India starts with the neo-apostles who reachedKappad near Kozhikode on 20 May 1498 along withVasco da Gama,^[4] which represented less than 2% of the total population^[5] and was the largest Christian church within India.^[4] He was seeking to form anti-Islamic alliances with pre-existing Christian nations. The lucrative spice trade attracted the Portuguese crown.^[6]

During the second expedition under CaptainPedro Álvares Cabral, the Portuguese fleet consisted of 13 ships and 18 priests anchored at Cochin on 26 November 1500. Cabral soon won the goodwill of theRaja of Cochin who allowed four priests to do apostolic work among the early Christian communities scattered in and around Cochin. Thus missionaries established a Portuguese mission in 1500. DomFrancisco de Almeida, the first Portuguese Viceroy, got permission from the Kochi Raja to build two church edifices –Santa Cruz Basilica (1505) andSt. Francis Church (1506) using stones and mortar which were unheard of at that time, as local prejudices were against such a structure except for a royal palace or a temple.

In the beginning of the 16th century, the whole of the East was under the jurisdiction of theArchdiocese of Lisbon. On 12 June 1514, Cochin and Goa became two prominent mission stations under the newly createdDiocese of Funchal inMadeira, in the Atlantic. In 1534Pope Paul III by the Bull Quequem Reputamus raised Funchal to anarchdiocese withGoa as itssuffragan, placing the whole of India under thediocese of Goa. This created anepiscopal see –suffragan toFunchal, with a jurisdiction extending potentially over all past and future conquests from theCape of Good Hope toChina.

The first converts to Christianity in Goa were native Goan women who married Portuguese men that arrived with Afonso de Albuquerque during thePortuguese conquest of Goa in 1510.^[7]

During the mid-16th century, the city ofGoa, was the center ofChristianization in the East.^[8] The Portuguese rulers implemented state policies encouraging and even rewarding conversions amongHindu subjects, it would be false to ascribe the large number of conversions to force. The rapid rise of converts in Goa was mostly the result of Portuguese economic and political control over the Hindus, who were vassals of the Portuguese crown.^[9] At the same time manyNew Christians from Portugal migrated to India as a result of theinquisition in Portugal. Many of them were suspected of beingCrypto-Jews, converted Jews who were secretly practicing their old religion, and were considered a threat to the solidarity of Christian belief.^[10] SaintFrancis Xavier, in a 1545 letter toJohn III of Portugal, requested theGoan Inquisition, but it was not set up until 1560.^[10][11]

In 1557Goa was made an independent archbishopric, with suffragan sees atCochin andMalacca. The whole of the East was under the jurisdiction ofGoa and its boundaries extended to almost half of the world: from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, to Burma, China, and Japan in East Asia. In 1576 the suffragan See of Macao (China) was added, and in 1588 that of Funai in Japan.^{[citation needed]}

In 1597 the death of the lastmetropolitan bishop,Archdeacon Abraham of theSaint Thomas Christians, an ancient body formerly part of theChurch of the East^[12] gave the then Archbishop of GoaMenezes an opportunity to bring the native church under the authority of the Catholic Church. He was able to secure the submission ofArchdeacon George, the highest remaining representative of the native church hierarchy. Menezes convened theSynod of Diamper between 20 and 26 June 1599,^[13] which introduced a number of reforms to the church and brought it fully into theLatin Church of the Catholic Church. Following the Synod, Menezes consecrated Jesuit Francis Ros as Archbishop of theArchdiocese of Angamalé for the Saint Thomas Christians – another suffragan see to Archdiocese of Goa – andLatinisation of St Thomas Christians started. Most eventually accepted the Catholic faith but some switched to West Syrian rite. TheSaint Thomas Christians were pressured to acknowledge the authority of thePope.^[13] Resentment of these measures led to some part of the community to join theArchdeaconThomas in swearing never to submit to the Portuguese or to accept Communion with Rome, in theCoonan Cross Oath in 1653.^{[citation needed]}

TheDiocese of Angamaly was transferred toDiocese of Craganore in 1605, and in 1606 a sixth suffragan see to Goa was established at San Thome, Mylapore, near the modern Madras. The suffragan sees added later to Goa were the prelacy of Mozambique in 1612 and Peking and Nanking in China in 1690.^{[citation needed]}

Missionary work progressed on a large scale and with great success along the western coasts, chiefly at Chaul, Bombay, Salsette, Bassein, Damao, and Diu, as well as on the eastern coasts at San Thome of Mylapore as far as Bengal. In the southern districts the Jesuit mission in Madura was the most famous. It extended to the Krishna River, with a number of outlying stations beyond it. The mission of Cochin on the Malabar Coast was also one of the most fruitful. Several missions were also established in the interior northwards, e.g., that of Agra and Lahore in 1570 and that of Tibet in 1624. Still, even with these efforts, the greater part even of the coast line was by no means fully worked, and many vast tracts of the interior northwards were practically untouched.^{[citation needed]}

With the decline of Portuguese power other colonial powers – the Dutch and British and Christian organisations – gained influence.^{[citation needed]}

Portuguese shipping arrived in Japan in 1543^[14] andCatholic missionary activities in Japan began in earnest around 1549, performed in the main byPortuguese-sponsoredJesuits untilSpanish-sponsoredmendicant orders such as theFranciscans andDominicans gained access to Japan. Of the 95 Jesuits who worked in Japan up to 1600, 57 were Portuguese, 20 were Spaniards and 18 Italian.^[15] Jesuit FathersFrancisco Xavier,^[16][17] Cosme de Torres, and John Fernandes were the first to arrive atKagoshima with hopes of bringing Christianity and Catholicism to Japan.

Spain and Portugal disputed the attribution of Japan. Since neither could colonize it, the exclusive right to propagate Christianity in Japan meant the exclusive right to trade with Japan. Portuguese-sponsored Jesuits underAlessandro Valignano took the lead in proselytizing in Japan over the objection of the Spaniards. This fait accompli was approved inPope Gregory XIII'spapal bull of 1575, which decided that Japan belonged to the Portuguese diocese ofMacau. In 1588 the diocese of Funai (Nagasaki) was founded under Portuguese protection.

In rivalry with the Jesuits, Spanish-sponsoredmendicant orders entered Japan viaManila. While criticizing Jesuit activities, they actively lobbied the Pope. Their campaigns resulted inPope Clement VIII's decree of 1600 which allowed Spanishfriars to enter Japan via the Portuguese Indies, andPope Paul V's decree of 1608 which abolished the restrictions on the route. The Portuguese accused Spanish Jesuits of working for their homeland instead of their patron.

The history of themissions of theSociety of Jesus or Jesuits inMing andQingChina stands as one of the notable events in the early history of relations between China and theWestern world, as well as a prominent example of relations between two cultures and belief systems in the pre-modern age. The missionary efforts and other work of the Jesuits in 16th, 17th, and 18th century played a significant role in introducing Europeanscience andculture to China. Their work laid much of the foundation for much ofChristian culture in Chinese society today. Members of the Jesuit delegation to China were perhaps the most influential Christian missionaries in that country between the earliest period of the religion up until the 19th century, when significant numbers ofCatholic andProtestant missions developed.

Despiteearlier evangelization under the Tang andYuan, by the 16th century there is no reliable evidence for any practicing Christians remaining in China. ThePortugueseexplorerJorge Álvares reachedGuangdong in 1513, establishing direct maritime connection between China and Europe; within six years of the Jesuit's 1540 founding, two Chinese boys were enrolled in theircollege inGoa,India. One of them, known by his baptismal name Antonio, travelled with the Jesuit founderSt Francis Xavier when he tried to begin missionary work in China in the early 1550s. Unable to receive permission to enter the country, however, Xavier died onShangchuan Island off the coast ofGuangdong in 1552.

With thePortuguese establishing an enclave onZhongshan Island'sMacau Peninsula, Jesuits established a base nearby onGreen Island (now theSAR's "Ilha Verde" neighborhood).Alessandro Valignano, the new regional manager ("visitor") of the order, came to Macau in 1578–1579 and establishedSt. Paul's College to begin training future missionaries in thelanguage andculture of the Chinese. He requested assistance from the orders' members in Goa in bringing over suitably talented linguists to staff the college and begin the mission in earnest.

In 1582, Jesuits once again initiated mission work inside China, introducingWestern science,mathematics,astronomy, andcartography. Missionaries such asMatteo Ricci andJohann Adam Schall von Bell wrote Chinese catechisms^[18] and made influential converts likeXu Guangqi, establishing Christian settlements throughout the country and becoming close to the imperial court, particularly itsMinistry of Rites, which oversaw officialastronomy andastrology. "Jesuits were accepted in late Ming court circles as foreignliterati, regarded as impressive especially for their knowledge of astronomy, calendar-making, mathematics, hydraulics, and geography."^[19] By 1610, more than two thousand Chinese from all levels of society had converted.^{[citation needed]} Clark has summarized as follows:

"When all is said and done, one must recognize gladly that the Jesuits made a shining contribution to mission outreach and policy in China. They made no fatal compromises, and where they skirted this in their guarded accommodation to the Chinese reverence for ancestors, their major thrust was both Christian and wise. They succeeded in rendering Christianity at least respectable and even credible to the sophisticated Chinese, no mean accomplishment."^[20]

This influence worked in both directions:

[The Jesuits] made efforts to translate western mathematical and astronomical works into Chinese and aroused the interest of Chinese scholars in these sciences. They made very extensive astronomical observation and carried out the first modern cartographic work in China. They also learned to appreciate the scientific achievements of this ancient culture and made them known in Europe. Through their correspondence European scientists first learned about the Chinese science and culture.^[21]

Ricci and others includingMichele Ruggieri,Philippe Couplet, andFrançois Noël undertook a century-long effort in translating theChinese classics intoLatin and spreading knowledge ofChinese culture andhistory in Europe, influencing its developingEnlightenment.^[22][23]

The introduction of theFranciscans and other orders of missionaries, however, led to a long-runningcontroversy over Chinese customs and names for God. The Jesuits, the secularizedmandarins, and eventually theKangxi Emperor himself maintained thatChinese veneration of ancestors andConfucius were respectful and secular rituals compatible withChristian doctrine; other orders pointed to the beliefs of the common people of China to show that it was impermissibleidolatry and that the common Chinese names for God confused the Creator with His creation. Acting on the complaint of theBishop of Fujian,^[24][25]Pope Clement XI finally ended the dispute witha decisive ban in 1704;^[26] hislegateCharles-Thomas Maillard De Tournon issuedsummary and automaticexcommunication of any Christian permitting Confucian rituals as soon as word reached him in 1707.^[27] By that time, however, Tournon and Bishop Maigrot had displayed such extreme ignorance in questioning before the throne that theKangxi Emperor mandated the expulsion of Christian missionaries unable to abide by the terms of Ricci'sChinese catechism.^[28][24][29] Tournon's policies, confirmed by Clement's 1715bullEx Illa Die..., led to the swift collapse of all of the missions across China,^[28] with the last Jesuits—obliged to maintain allegiance to the papal rulings—finally being expelled after 1721.^[30]

Although Catholic mission work began again following the opening up of the country after theTreaty of Nanking in the 1830s, it was not until 1939 that the church revisited its stance on Chinese customs.Pope Pius XII's initial move towards greater leniency was subsequently confirmed and expanded byVatican II.

There are records ofFranciscan activity on theAmericas as early as 1519. Throughout the early 16th century the mission movement spread from theCaribbean toMexico,Central America, parts ofSouth America, and theSouthwest United States.^[31]

The goal of theFranciscan missions was to spread theChristian faith to the people of theNew World through "word and example".^[32]SpreadingChristianity to the newly discovered continent was a top priority, but only one piece of the Spanish colonization system. The influence of theFranciscans, considering thatmissionaries are sometimes seen as tools ofimperialism,^[33] enabled other objectives to be reached, such as the extension ofSpanish language, culture, and political control to theNew World. A goal was to change the agricultural or nomadic Indian into a model of the Spanish people and society. Basically, the aim was forurbanization. The missions achieved this by “offering gifts and persuasion…and safety from enemies.” This protection also offered security for the Spanish military operation, since there would be theoretically less warring if the natives were pacified. Thus the missionaries assisted with another aim of the colonizers.^[34]

Between 1769 and 1823,Spanish members of theFranciscan Order established and operated 21 missions inCalifornia to convert theNative Americans. This was the first major effort byEuropeans to colonize thePacific Coast region and gave Spain a valuable toehold on this frontier. The settlers introduced Europeanlivestock,fruits,vegetables, andindustry but Spanish occupation also brought negative consequences to the native populations. Today the missions are among the state's oldest structures and most-visited historic monuments; many of them also remain in operation as Catholic churches.

The missions inNew Mexico were established by Franciscan friars to convert the localPueblo,Navajo, andApaches. The first permanent settlement was Mission San Gabriel in 1598 near what is now known as theSan Juan Pueblo.

Catholic missionary work has undergone profound change since theSecond Vatican Council.^[36] It has prioritizedsocial justice issues and striven to avoid the dangers of cultural imperialism or economic exploitation that had often accompanied religious conversion. Christian missionaries recognize that working for justice is a constitutive part of preaching the Gospel^[37] and usually observe the principles ofinculturation in their missionary work. Before Vatican II "baptism of desire" and salvation outside the Catholic Church were allowed very little scope.^[38] With the Council's emphasis on individual conscience,^[39] baptism is seen not only as the ordinary means of salvation but as a vocation call for Christians to spread thegood news of God's love to all peoples by their practice of true charity, that is universal and inclusive of all God's children.^[40]

The Church on mission through its various religious and lay associations is today much more involved in anoption for the poor and integral human development than in proselytizing. In 2016Pope Francis formed aDepartment for Promoting Integral Human Development in the Roman Curia to oversee numerous Catholic outreach programs fostered directly by theVatican. Not that such missions are new;Caritas Internationalis is a confederation ofCatholicrelief,development, and social service organisations that date back since just afterPope Leo XIII's social encyclicalRerum novarum in 1893. And today Jesuit missions, as in Africa and India, are more involved in educating and further assisting thepoorest rural populations, such as theDalits andAdivasi in India, than in direct conversion efforts. This is true also in China where proselytizing was forbidden but many Christians assisted with language studies.^[41] The present practice in Asia and Africa is detailed in the articles on hundreds of educational institutions and development centres that the Jesuits administer. Much the same can be said of other Catholic lay and religious groups and their contemporary missions.

• Catholic Church in China
• Catholic Church in Sichuan
• Catholic Church in Tibet
• List of Roman Catholic missionaries in China
• Spanish missions in the Americas
  • Spanish missions in South America
• Spanish Redemptorist missions in Sichuan
• List of Spanish missions
• Evangelism
• Fidesco International
• Society for the Propagation of the Faith

• Clendinnen, Inga (1982). "Disciplining the Indians: Franciscan Ideology and Missionary Violence in Sixteenth-Century Yucatán".Past and Present (94). Boston: Oxford University Press:27–48.doi:10.1093/past/94.1.27.
• de Mendonça, Délio (2002).Conversions and Citizenry: Goa Under Portugal, 1510-1610. Concept Publishing Company.ISBN 978-81-7022-960-5.
• Frykenberg, Robert E. (2008).Christianity in India: From Beginnings to the Present. Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN 9780198263777.
• Graham, Elizabeth (1998). "Mission Archeology".Annual Review of Anthropology.27 (1). Annual Reviews:25–62.doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.27.1.25.
• Habig, Marion A. (1945). "The Franciscan Provinces of Spanish North America [Concluded]".The Americas.1 (3). Academy of American Franciscan History:330–44.doi:10.2307/978158.JSTOR 978158.
• Kelsey, Harry (1993).Mission San Juan Capistrano: A Pocket History. Interdisciplinary Research, Inc., Altadena, California.ISBN 978-0-9785881-0-6.
• Lee, Antoinette J. (1990). "Spanish Missions".APT Bulletin.22 (3). Association for Preservation Technology International:42–54.doi:10.2307/1504327.JSTOR 1504327.
• Udías, Agustín (2003).Searching the Heavens and the Earth: The History of Jesuit Observatories. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.ISBN 9781402011894.
• Wilmshurst, David (2000).The Ecclesiastical Organisation of the Church of the East, 1318–1913. Louvain: Peeters Publishers.ISBN 9789042908765.

• Beebe, Rose Marie, and Robert M. Senkewicz, eds.Junípero Serra: California, Indians, and the Transformation of a Missionary (U of Oklahoma Press, 2015), on 18th century Spanish missions in California
• Curtis, Sarah A. "The Double Invisibility of Missionary Sisters."Journal of Women's History 28.4 (2016): 134–143, deals with French missionaries.
• De Landa, Diego (1974).Relación de las cosas de Yucatán. Alfred M. Tozzer (trans.). Boston: Periodicals Service Company.ISBN 0-527-01245-9.
• Forrestal, Alison, and Seán Alexander Smith, eds.The Frontiers of Mission: Perspectives on Early Modern Missionary Catholicism (Brill, 2016).
• McClain, Lisa. "On a Mission: Priests, Jesuits," Jesuitresses," and Catholic Missionary Efforts in Tudor-Stuart England."Catholic Historical Review 101.3 (2015): 437-462.
• Nolan, Francis.The White Fathers in Colonial Africa (1919–1939) (Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 2012). Pp. 472.ISBN 9966086552
• O’Brien, Anne. "Catholic nuns in transnational mission, 1528–2015."Journal of Global History 11.3 (2016): 387–408.
• Okachibe Okpanachi, Blaise.Nigerian-Vatican Diplomatic Relations: Evangelisation and Catholic Missionary Enterprise, 1884–1950 (Frankfurt a. M.: Peter Lang. 2013)online review
• Sievernich, Michael (2011)."Catholic Mission".European History Online. Mainz:Institute of European History. Retrieved2011-07-21.
• Stock, Eugene; Andrews, Herbert Tom; Grieve, Alexander James (1911)."Missions" .Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). p. 587.
• Veale, Ailish. "International and Modern Ideals in Irish Female Medical Missionary Activity, 1937–1962."Women's History Review 25.4 (2016): 602–618.
• Wall, Barbra Mann.Into Africa: A Transnational History of Catholic Medical Missions and Social Change (Rutgers UP, 2015).
• Wiest, Jean-Paul. "Bringing Christ to the nations: shifting models of mission among Jesuits in China." TheCatholic Historical Review 83.4 (1997): 654–681.online
• Williams, Maria Patricia. "Mobilising Mother Cabrini's educational practice: the transnational context of the London school of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus 1898–1911."History of Education 44.5 (2015): 631–650.
• Peter Rohrbacher:Völkerkunde und Afrikanistik für den Papst. Missionsexperten und der Vatikan 1922–1939 in: Römische Historische Mitteilungen 54 (2012), 583–610.

• Dries, Angelyn. "" National and Universal": Nineteenth-and Twentieth-Century Catholic Missions and World Christianity in The Catholic Historical Review."Catholic Historical Review 101.2 (2015) pp. 242–273.
• Hsia, R. Po-chia. "The Catholic Historical Review: One Hundred Years of Scholarship on Catholic Missions in the Early Modern World."Catholic Historical Review 101.2 (2015): 223–241.online, mentions over 100 articles and books, mostly on North America and Latin America.