PAYEN, GEORGE. - Canon lawyer, b. at Nantes on 15 April 1862, d. at Sciangai on 29 June 1940.
Having entered the Society of Jesus in 1880, after several years of teaching in France (1899-1904) he went to China to teach theology (dogmatic and moral) and canon law at the Major College and the Seminary of Zikawei, where for 36 years he was the teacher of young fellow religious and seminarians at Sciangai. For almost 35 years he also taught medical deontology to the students of the Faculty of Medicine of Aurora University in Sciangai. He was chosen as theological consultant to the First Plenary Council of China and entrusted with drafting the relevant decrees.
Among his principal writings are: Monita Nankinensia, Zikawei 1918; 2ª ed., 2 vols., 1933; Quaestiones de Baptismo, 3 vols., ivi 1929-30; De Matrimonio in missionibus ac potissimum in Sinis, ivi 1928-30; 2ª ed. 1935-36 (which received the highest commendation); Déontologie médicale d'après le droit naturel, ivi 1922; 2ª ed. 1935.