Caballero, Antonio de S.

CABALLERO, ANTONIO de S. MARIA. - Friar Minor, prefect of the Franciscan mission in China. Born at Baltanás in the district of Valenza on 20 Apr. 1602, died at Canton on 13 May 1669. In 1618 he entered the Discalced friars of the province of S. Paolo; he completed his studies at the University of Salamanca. In 1628, with 29 companions, he went as a missionary to the Philippine Islands, where he first taught rhetoric and theology, while at the same time devoting himself to the Japanese language and to the care of lepers. Invited by the Dominican Fr. Cocchi (v.), he went to China, where he founded new Christian communities, and from 1636 took part in the disputes over the Chinese rites, concerning which he wrote extensively and travelled widely. In 1640 he was at Macao and, after a most perilous voyage with his companion and several Poor Clare nuns, was finally able to land at Manila, where he began a new apostolate. In 1649 he returned once more to China and worked in Hantung, where in 1662 it was said that he had already converted 5,000 Chinese. Irritated, the fanatical leaders of the people unleashed the cruel persecution of 1664, in which Fr. Antonio, together with his companion Fr. Giovanni Valat, a Jesuit, was first imprisoned on the spot and then exiled to Canton, where, worn out by labours and infirmities, he ended his life. He left 32 letters and various reports concerning his mission.