GIOVANNI da MONTECORVINO. — First bishop of Khambalik (Peking). Born in 1247 at Montecorvino (Salerno), died at Khambalik in 1328. According to his contemporary Giovanni de Marignolli, before becoming a Franciscan religious he is said to have been a soldier, judge, and physician, which leads us to suppose that he belonged to a distinguished family. Rigid and austere, he perhaps belonged spirituali (v.) or zealots. Before 1289 he had already been sent, probably by the minister general fra Bonagrazia (1273–83), to Persia and Armenia as a missionary; that year he returned to Europe as legate of King Aitone II of Armenia to Pope Niccolò IV. The Pope in turn employed him on an embassy to many Eastern peoples, and especially to the Great Khan of China. Bearing papal credentials, he departed on 15 July 1289 from Rieti, where the papal Curia was located, and landed at Antioch; he then proceeded toward Sis, the capital of Armenia, and afterward to Tauris (Tabriz), in Persia. From there, in 1291, accompanied by the Dominican Niccolò da Pistoia, who died during the journey, and a wealthy Italian merchant, he traveled by sea to Khambalik, where he arrived between 1294 and 1295, received with Oriental magnificence as the Pope’s ambassador. A letter written from India provides information about his journey.
At Khambalik he lived for 34 years, carrying out an active apostolate in the city and throughout the Tatar Empire. He built 3 churches and convents at Khambalik, a church and convent at Yangtchon (in Kiang-su), and 3 churches and convents at Zaytong (in Fukien); he also established other churches and Christian communities in Tchekiang, Tenduc, and Armalik (Kulgia). He founded two orphanages for boys at Khambalik and a kind of small seminary, where he gathered 40 boys whom he instructed in Latin, singing, and ecclesiastical ceremonies. Having soon and thoroughly mastered the language, he translated the Saliccio and the New Testament.
He baptized many thousands of unbelievers, but encountered serious difficulties in his ministry, especially from the Nestorians. On 8 January 1305 and 13 February 1306 he wrote two letters in which he gave an account of his work and requested assistance, especially personnel. As a result, the Supreme Pontiff and the Franciscan minister general sent a large expedition with 7 bishops, charged with retaining G. da M. himself as archbishop of Khambalik and patriarch of the whole East; this was accomplished between 1309 and 1310. In 1322 Odorico da Pordenone arrived at Khambalik, and in 1328 G. died.
The great work which he had successfully begun, for various reasons—including the decreasing contacts between Europe and China—gradually declined, and from 1370 onward there is no further information about this first evangelization of China.