16 Facts About Martino Martini

Martino Martini, born and raised in Trento, was a Jesuit missionary.

Martino Martini pursued his theological studies in Portugal on his way to China, where he was ordained priest.

Martino Martini set out for China in 1640 and arrived in Portuguese Macau in 1642 where he studied Chinese for some time.

Martino Martini made great use of his talents as missionary, scholar, writer and superior.

Down in Zhenjiang, Martino Martini continued working with the short-lived regime of Zhu Yujian, Prince of Tang, who set himself up as the Ming Longwu Emperor.

When Wenzhou, in southern Zhejiang, where Martino Martini happened to be on a mission for Zhu Yujian, was besieged by the Qing and was about to fall, the Jesuit decorated the house where he was staying with a large red poster with seven characters saying, "Here lives a doctor of the divine Law who has come from the Great West".

Martino Martini agreed and had his head shaved in the Manchu way, and his Chinese dress and hat were replaced with Qing-style ones.

In 1651 Martino Martini left China for Rome as the Delegate of the Chinese Mission Superior.

Martino Martini took advantage of the long, adventurous voyage.

When passing through Leyden, Martino Martini was met by Jacobus Golius, a scholar of Arabic and Persian at the university there.

On his way to Rome, Martino Martini met his then 10-year-old cousin Eusebio Kino who later became another famed Jesuit missionary explorer and the world-renowned cartographer of New Spain.

Martino Martini had brought along a long and detailed communication from the Jesuit missionaries in China, in defence of their inculturated missionary and religious approach: the so-called Chinese Rites.

Martino Martini was again involved in pastoral and missionary activities in the Hangzhou area where he built a three naves church that was considered to be one of the most beautiful in the country.

Martino Martini travelled in at least fifteen countries in Europe and seven provinces of the Chinese empire, making stops in India, Java, Sumatra, the Philippines and South Africa.

Martino Martini reached almost certainly some cities in France, then Monaco di Baviera, Vienna and the nearby Hunting Pavilion of Ebersdorf, and finally Rome.

Ma Yong said: "Martino Martini was the first to study the history and geography of China with rigorous scientific objectivity; the extent of his knowledge of the Chinese culture, the accuracy of his investigations, the depth of his understanding of things Chinese are examples for the modern sinologists".