John of Montecorvino
John of Montecorvino (* 1246 in Montecorvino Rovella, Apulia, Foggia, Italy, † 1328 in Beijing, China ) was an Italian soldier, doctor, judge, monk, missionary and bishop.
Life
John was first a soldier, doctor and judge, before he finally entered the Franciscan Order. In 1279 he was sent as a missionary to Armenia and Persia, followed by John of Montecorvino from the Armenian King Hayton II (also called Hethum, 1289-1293 ) and the Mongolian prince Ilkhan ( Ilkhanate ) Argun ( 1284-1291 ), who ruled over Persia, sent a diplomatic mission to the papal court in Rieti. 1289 John Pope Nicholas IV ( 1288-1292 ), a missionary to the Great Khan Kublai ( Kublai Khan) was the first Franciscan to the Holy See, was sent to Beijing, with the mission to convert the Mongols and the Nestorian Christians in Central Asia and urge China to reunite with the Catholic Church.
Kublai Khan was the grandson of Genghis Khan. He made Beijing, which had been conquered by Genghis Khan in 1215, the Mongolian capital. John, along with the Dominican Niccolò da Pistoia and the Venetian merchant Pietro de Luca Longo about Antioch, Sis, Tabriz, Sultanieh, Hormuz after Quilon in Kerala, South India. He held thirteen months on in India. Then he traveled by sea to Quanzhou in Fujian and finally in 1294 finally arrived in Beijing, was at that time Dadu or Khanbaliq ( "City of Khan "). In the same year, Kublai Khan, who had made Buddhism the state religion, died on February 18. His successor on the throne Timur Khan (1294-1307) John received from Montecorvino and gave him full freedom in his work.
His missionary efforts were only partially successful, as he failed to win the Nestorians for a reunion with the Roman Church. After all, he was able to persuade the prince of Onguten to convert from Nestorian to the Catholic faith. Until 1306, he managed to baptize 6400 people. In 1299 he built the first church in Beijing near the Palace and 1305, the second with 200 seats where with papal permission, the mass was read in Mongolian. He also built a school was taught in reading, writing and Gregorian chant. He also translated the New Testament and the Psalms. From his work, he reported in 1305 and 1306, in two letters to Pope Clement V.
As this work grew more and more, asked John Pope Clement V (1305-1314) for help. The Pope appointed John of Montecorvino on July 23, 1307 for the first Archbishop and Patriarch of the Orient. Seven Franciscans were selected and sent to him in 1307, but only three of them survived the trip to Beijing. Nevertheless, now he was able to expand as Archbishop of Peking mission, since 1309-1313 more Franciscans arrived to assist.