LO (LOPEZ), GREGORIO. - Dominican, first native Chinese bishop, b. at Lo-kia-hiang, province of Fukien, c. 1611, d. at Nanking 27 Feb. 1691. Baptized in 1633, he devoted himself to the conversion of his family and served as a catechist with the Catholic missionaries. On 1 Jan. 1650 he entered the Dominican habit, was ordained priest at Manila (1654), and then sent back as a missionary to China.
He labored with zeal and in only two years baptized about 2000 non-believers, so that he was proposed for the episcopate and on 4 Jan. 1674 was created titular Bishop of Basili[nopoli]tano, Apostolic Vicar of Nanking and Apostolic Administrator of five provinces and of Korea. But owing to various difficulties his consecration did not take place until 8 Apr. 1685. Abp. L. was the providential man to sustain the missions of China in those times of persecution. He also addressed himself to the delicate problem of the native clergy. Some of his letters in manuscript and a small treatise in Chinese and Latin on the cult of Confucius and of ancestors survive.