GIAMBATTISTA MAOLETTI of 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 Shensi, China, in 1706. The missionary Antonio Laghi, who had succeeded the celebrated Fr. 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 Fr. Laghi’s episcopal consecration (20 June 1717), he was sent by him to Kansu. There he laboured until, in 1724, he was elected apostolic vicar of Huli-Wang (a territory comprising the provinces of Hupeh and Hunan). But while travelling to his vicariate, he died suddenly on 14 Jan. 1725 and was buried in the village of Luo-Kuo-Na.
He left a detailed account of his journey to China, 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, likewise a Franciscan, he went to China in 1739 and worked in the vicariate of Shensi and Shansi until 1760, when Bishop G. Antonio Buocher, an exile and prisoner in Macao, being unable to govern the vicariate, sent his resignation to Rome. Fr. G. M. was elected to succeed him, but died before his consecration, on 1 July 1761.