ANSALONI, GIORDANO (GIORDANO DI SANTO STEFANO)

ANSALONI, GIORDANO (GIORDANO DI SANTO STEFANO). — Dominican, martyr of Japan. Born at S. Stefano (Agrigento) in 1600, he was sent to Salamanca to pursue his studies. In 1625 he obtained permission to leave for the Philippines and spent several years in Manila as a confessor at a hospital. Having learned Chinese and Japanese, in 1632 he secretly entered Japan, where persecution was raging (v. CIAPPONESI, MARTIRI). Captured at Nagasaki in August 1634, after atrocious tortures he died on 18 November of the same year, sharing martyrdom with seventy other Christians. A speaker of several languages, he made translations and also wrote a book on Chinese idols and sects, which remained unfinished and of which only a record survives.