APPIANI, LUIGI ANTONIO. - Lazarist missionary, b. at Dogliani (Cuneo) in 1663, d. at Canton in 1732. Having entered the Congregation of the Mission as a priest (1687), he was appointed professor in the house of Rome and spiritual director at the College of Propaganda. Reduced to the point of death by illness, he made a vow to go on mission and, once healed, went to China with 32 religious and two secular priests. From Propaganda he received the charge of founding a seminary for the native clergy (1697). He began his ministry in the vicariate of Szechwan, and in 1705 he was chosen as interpreter by Msgr. de Tournon, pontifical legate and a relative of his, who was to deal with the difficult question of the Chinese rites. Shortly afterward (1706) he was arrested and remained in harsh imprisonment for about twenty years. The reason for the capture would seem to lie in the aversion of the Chinese authorities to the Pope's stance on the question of the rites. Clement XI addressed a brief to the prisoner (1711) praising his fidelity and fortitude and naming him apostolic protonotary. He also offered him the episcopate, which A. refused, begging instead that it be given to his confrere Müllener. The same Pope asked the emperor for clemency for him, which was denied; Benedict XIII renewed the request and A. was freed (1726). He continued to work tirelessly at Canton until his death.
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Egilberto Martire