FERRARI, ONORATO. — Barnabite missionary, born in Vercelli in 1685, died there on 1 October 1755. In 1719 he departed for China as Clement XI’s ablegate. He carried out his activity in Beijing: he secretly baptized as many natives as he could, constructing a hospice for them; he took in the sick and abandoned children. Forced to leave Beijing (1722) because of the persecution by the new Emperor, he took refuge in Nanjing. He returned to Italy on 6 January 1724.
BIBL.: J. Gobio, Legazione dei pp. O. F. in Cina e Cosincina, Milan 1862; O. Premoli, Storia dei Barnabiti, III, Rome 1925, pp. 41–45, 51–59; G. Bofino, Biblioteca degli scrittori barnabiti, II, Florence 1933, pp. 10–20; L. Levati, Mendoglio dei Barnabiti, X, Genoa 1936, pp. 5–12. Virgilio Colciago