GIAMBATTISTA MAOLETTI DA SERRAVALLE. - Franciscan missionary in China. Two missionaries of this name are known, who evangelized China in the 18th century.

1. G. M. da S. (Vercelli), the elder, b. ca. 1667 and, having become a Franciscan, arrived in 1706 in Shensi, in China. The missionary Antonio Laghi, who had succeeded the celebrated Father Basilio Brollo da Gemona as vicar in the direction of those Christian communities, took him with him to Sianfu, where they established their residence. After the episcopal consecration of Father Laghi (20 June 1717), he was sent by him into Kansu. There he labored until, in 1724, he was elected apostolic vicar of Huli-Wang (a territory comprising the provinces of Hupeh and Hunan). But during the journey to his vicariate, he died suddenly on 14 January 1725 and was buried in the village of Luo-Kuo-Na.

He left a detailed account of his journey to China, which is preserved in the Biblioteca di Brera in Milan.

2. G. M. da S., the younger. Nephew of the preceding, b. in the early years of the 18th century, also a Franciscan, he went to China in 1739 and labored in the vicariate of Shensi and Shansi until 1760, when the bishop G. Antonio Buocher, an exile and prisoner at Macao, being unable to govern the vicariate, sent his resignation to Rome. Father G. M. was elected to succeed him, but he died before his consecration, on 1 July 1761.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: Costantino di Valcamonica, Memoria di tre vescovi, Parma 1876, pp. 5-7; G. Ricci, Hierarchia cath. in Sinis, Wuchang 1929, pp. 68, 75; Streit, Bibl., VII, p. 469.

Alberto Ghinato

@incollection{ec6_giambattista_maoletti_da_serra, author = {Ghinato, Alberto}, title = {Giambattista Maoletti da Serravalle}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VI}, pages = {341}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/giambattista-maoletti-da-serravalle} }

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