Caballero, Antonio de Saint Mary

CABALLERO, ANTONIO DE SAINT MARY. - Friar Minor, prefect of the Franciscan mission in China. Born at Baltanás in the region of Valencia on 20 April 1602, died at Canton on 13 May 1669. In 1618 he entered the Discalced of the province of St. Paul; he completed his studies at the University of Salamanca. In 1628 he went with 29 companions as a missionary to the Philippine Islands, where he first taught rhetoric and theology, devoting himself at the same time to the Japanese language and to the care of lepers. Invited by the Dominican Father Angelo Cocchi (v.), he went over to China, where he founded new Christian communities, and from 1636 he took part in the questions of the Chinese rites, on account of which he wrote and traveled a great deal. In 1640 he is at Macao, and after a most dangerous voyage with his companion and some Poor Clare nuns, he was finally able to disembark at Manila, where he began to exercise a new apostolate. In 1649 he returned once more to China and worked in Shantung, where in 1662 it was said that he had already converted 5000 Chinese. Irritated, the fanatical leaders of the people stirred up the cruel persecution of 1664, in which Father Antonio, with his companion the Jesuit Father Giovanni Valat, was first imprisoned on the spot, then exiled to Canton, where, worn out by labors and infirmities, he ended his life. He left 32 letters and various reports concerning his mission.