John of Montecorvino (1247–1328)

Biography

(Italian: Giovanni da Montecorvino)

He was probably born at Montecorvino Rovella, from which his name derives, in the Italian province of Salerno. Almost nothing is known of his youth. He took the habit of Saint Francis and, from his early years as a friar, appears to have devoted himself to missionary work in the Near East. Around 1289 he is found as legate of Hethum II, king of Armenia, to the papal court, and it appears that he had made another journey to Persia before then.

At that time news of the distant and legendary land of China began to reach the papal court through a Chinese man named Bar Sauma, who had come to the Pope as ambassador of Arghun, king of Persia. Shortly afterward came the first reports from the Venetian merchants, the Polos, who had lived for a time in Beijing. On the strength of all these reports Pope Nicholas IV decided to send John of Montecorvino as his legate, although it seems that the Pope intended him to remain in China after completing his mission in order to establish the Church there. If so, it is certainly surprising that he did not take more companions. His only companion was the Dominican Nicholas of Pistoia. Montecorvino embarked from Venice and Ancona. He followed the route through Antioch and Lajazzo, reached Sis, capital of the new Armenia, and entered Persia. At Tabriz he delivered a papal letter to Khan Arghun in response to Arghun’s embassy through Bar Sauma. From Persia he continued toward China by way of India, where in 1291 he visited the tomb of the Apostle Saint Thomas, traditionally said to be at São Tomé of Meliapore, or Mylapore. He himself wrote that he remained there thirteen months and baptized about one hundred people from various places. His traveling companion Nicholas of Pistoia also died there. John then continued alone along the Coromandel Coast and again by sea toward China, until he reached Khanbaliq, court of the Great Khan.

He arrived at Khanbaliq, Beijing, in 1294 accompanied by a Genoese merchant, Peter of Lucalongo, who had joined him in India. Kublai had already died, but John delivered the letters of Nicholas IV to his successor Timur. He first exercised his apostolic ministry among Nestorian Christians, who had been present in some regions of present-day China since the seventh century. He brought one of their princes, named George, into union with the Catholic Church. Through the prince’s generosity, a beautiful church was built in Beijing. It is noteworthy that both John of Montecorvino and Marco Polo considered this Nestorian prince, later a Catholic, a descendant of the famous Prester John. One can imagine Montecorvino’s life of sacrifice and heroism, alone among Nestorians and pagans. Malicious campaigns based on crude slanders began against him; he was even accused of the death of Nicholas of Pistoia. Prince George died in 1298, leaving him still more defenseless. To secure his apostolate in his complete isolation, he founded a school for boys and taught them to sing the psalmody in Latin. According to a letter he wrote in 1305, by then he had baptized about 6,000 people; without those slanders, he said, he would have baptized more than 30,000.

He translated the New Testament and the Psalms into the native language. For more than ten years he remained completely alone and cut off from his brothers in Europe, who already believed him dead or missing. In 1305 he found an opportunity to write to Europe, and his letters began to arrive. That same year the German Franciscan Arnold had reached Khanbaliq with a Lombard physician. John’s letters awakened great missionary zeal, and Clement V asked the minister general of the Order to choose seven Franciscans whom he wished to send as bishops to China. They, in turn, would consecrate Montecorvino archbishop of Khanbaliq. This was in 1307. They were indeed chosen and consecrated, and set out for China accompanied by several other Franciscans. Three died on the journey; the others reached Beijing and consecrated John of Montecorvino, thus beginning the hierarchical organization of the Church in China, with a metropolitan see in Beijing and a suffragan see at Zayton. Montecorvino remained at Khanbaliq, where he died in 1328 at the age of 81, leaving behind a cherished memory. He had worked in Beijing for 34 years. Little is known of the fortunes of his suffragans and fellow apostles. The Chinese mission disappeared soon afterward because of the difficulty of sending new missionaries.

Documentation concerning his beatification was lost over the centuries. Although he is venerated within the Franciscan Order, he has not yet been beatified by the Holy See.