26 Facts About Gabriele Allegra

Gabriele Allegra was a Franciscan friar and Biblical scholar.

Gabriele Allegra is best known for accomplishing the first complete translation of the Bible into the Chinese language.

Giovanni Stefano Allegra was born the eldest of eight children, in San Giovanni la Punta in the province of Catania, Italy.

Gabriele Allegra entered the Franciscan minor seminary at S Biagio in Acireale in 1918, taking the name "Gabriele Maria", and the novitiate in Bronte in 1923.

Gabriele Allegra then studied at the Franciscan International College of St Anthony in Rome from 1926, now known as the Pontifical University Antonianum.

On that day, at the age of 21, Gabriele Allegra was inspired to translate the Bible into Chinese; a task that took the next 40 years of his life.

Gabriele Allegra was ordained a priest in 1930 and soon thereafter received orders to sail for mainland China.

Gabriele Allegra arrived at the mission in Hunan, southern China, in July 1931 and started to learn Chinese.

Gabriele Allegra was fatigued from the translation effort and had to return to Italy for three years where he continued his studies in biblical languages and biblical archaeology.

Gabriele Allegra attempted to return to Hunan again, but the Second Sino-Japanese War had already started and he was forced to go further north to Beijing instead.

Gabriele Allegra organized a team of Chinese Franciscan friars to work with him on the translation of the Bible and inaugurated the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Beijing in 1945, dedicating it to Duns Scotus.

Gabriele Allegra lived mostly in Hong Kong thereafter, and he organized the 1st Ecumenical Bible Exhibition in Hong Kong in 1965.

Gabriele Allegra's archived letters show his determination to translate the Bible into Chinese and his fascination with the study of scripture.

Gabriele Allegra was known for working too hard, often resulting in the deterioration of his health.

Gabriele Allegra used to say, "The most enviable fate for a Franciscan who doesn't obtain the grace of martyrdom, is to die while he is working".

Gabriele Allegra was an expert on the philosophy of Duns Scotus and introduced Teilhard de Chardin to some aspects of it that shaped de Chardin's thoughts on the subject.

Gabriele Allegra frequently visited his "beloved lepers" in Macau, spending many of the holidays with them.

Gabriele Allegra was a member of the Marian Movement of Priests and completed the translation of the writings of the Catholic priest Stefano Gobbi into Chinese, shortly before he died.

Gabriele Allegra wrote two books, one on the primacy of Christ, the other on the Virgin Mary's Immaculate Heart.

Gabriele Allegra started writing his memoirs in 1975, but died while working on them in Hong Kong in 1976.

From his early days, Gabriele Allegra was viewed as a favorite son of the Catholic Church.

Gabriele Allegra will meet with many difficulties, but let him not lose courage.

The cause for Gabriele Allegra's beatification was started in 1984 by Bishop John Wu in Hong Kong, 8 years after his death.

Gabriele Allegra was declared venerable by the Holy See in 1994, and the promulgation of a decree of one miracle attributed to him, required to conclude the beatification process, was approved in 2002.

However, on the feast of the Assumption in 2012, the Roman Curia announced through the Sicilian Franciscan Holy Name Province, that Gabriele Allegra would be beatified on September 29,2012, at the Cathedral of Arcireale, Catania in Sicilia.

Gabriele Allegra is, thus far, the only biblical scholar of the 20th century who has been beatified.