29 Facts About Alessandro Valignano

Alessandro Valignano excelled as a student at the University of Padua, where he first obtained his doctorate in law at the age of 19.

Alessandro Valignano was ordained in the Society of Jesus and in 1573, at the age of 34, he was appointed Visitor of Missions in the Indies.

Alessandro Valignano made his profession of the fourth vow after only seven years in the Society.

In spring of 1574, Alessandro Valignano sailed for Goa as the newly appointed Visitor to the Province of India.

Alessandro Valignano was given an enormous amount of leeway and discretion, especially for someone so young, and was answerable only to the Jesuit Superior General in Rome.

Alessandro Valignano's commanding presence was only increased by his unusual height, enough to "turn heads in Europe and to draw crowds in Japan".

Alessandro Valignano formed a basic strategy for Catholic proselytism, which is usually called "adaptationism".

Alessandro Valignano put the advance of Jesuits' influence above adherence to traditional Christian behavior.

Alessandro Valignano attempted to avoid cultural frictions by making a compromise with local customs that other missionaries viewed as conflicting with Catholic values.

Alessandro Valignano's strategy was in contrast to those of mendicant orders including Franciscans and Dominicans, whom Valignano worked hard to block from entering Japan.

Once Ruggieri started studying Chinese and realized the immensity of the task, he wrote to Alessandro Valignano, asking him to send Matteo Ricci to Macau as well, to share the work.

Alessandro Valignano exercised his position as Visitor by overseeing all of the Jesuit missions in Asia from the major Portuguese port of Macau.

Alessandro Valignano claimed that, in order not to be despised by the Japanese, every Jesuit should behave according to the class to which he belonged.

Alessandro Valignano had arrived accompanied by an African servant named Yasuke, but Yasuke left him in 1581 to serve a daimyo.

Alessandro Valignano forced Francisco Cabral to resign as Superior of the Jesuit mission in Japan since Cabral opposed his plans.

Alessandro Valignano remained in a minority within the Jesuits in Japan.

Alessandro Valignano was optimistic about training of native priests, but many Jesuits doubted the sincerity of Japanese converts.

In spite of the headquarter's policies, the Jesuit college in Macau, which was founded by Alessandro Valignano, produced a dozen Japanese priests.

On his first arrival in Japan, Alessandro Valignano was horrified by what he considered to be, at the least, negligent, and at the worst, abusive and un-Christian practices on the part of mission personnel.

Alessandro Valignano later wrote that, although the mission had made some major gains during Francisco Cabral's tenure, the general methods used by the Superior were severely lacking.

Alessandro Valignano immediately began to reform many aspects of the mission, and wherever possible, undermined Cabral's authority as Superior of the Jesuit mission to Japan.

Where Cabral had worked to exclude Japanese men from rising beyond brothers in the Society, Alessandro Valignano insisted that they be treated equally in every way to Europeans and while the Japanese seminarians would learn Latin for sacramental use, the Visitor remarks that it is Europeans who must learn Japanese customs, and not the other way around.

Alessandro Valignano made clear that all seminarians, whatever their background, would receive education in both Latin and Japanese.

For one, as the Arima seminary was a converted Buddhist monastery, and because Alessandro Valignano emphasized the need for cultural adaptation, the original decor was left largely unchanged.

Some experts hypothesize that Alessandro Valignano was actively trying to replicate the Japanese institution of dojuku, or novitiate monastics.

Alessandro Valignano was the initiator of the Tensho embassy, the first official Japanese delegation to Europe, and accompanied the group of Japanese converts led by Mancio Ito from Nagasaki to Goa, from where he then returned to Macau.

Alessandro Valignano made an impassioned appeal to the Pope, saying that he would forgo all trade as soon as the 12,000 ducats required to meet their annual expenses were forthcoming from another source.

Alessandro Valignano was a great admirer of the Japanese people and envisioned a future when Japan would be one of the leading Christian countries in the world.

Alessandro Valignano memorably wrote that the Japanese "excel not only all the other Oriental peoples, they surpass the Europeans as well".