SIDOTTI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA. - Born in Palermo in 1668 to a noble family, died in Japan in Oct.-Nov. 1715. He was a priest and missionary.
An auditor of the Rota, he set out for the Far East with the legation of Cardinal de Tournon (v.), stopping in 1704 in the Philippines with the aim of entering Japan. In Manila he first cared for the sick of the royal Hospital, which he succeeded in having enlarged, and then worked for the construction of the Seminary of St. Clement for natives, which was completed thanks to him. He obtained from the Discalced Augustinians a good number of missionaries placed at the disposal of Japan. Then, on 22 Aug. 1708 he departed with some Japanese for Japan, which he reached on the following 10 Oct. Betrayed and immediately captured, he was subjected to numerous interrogations, in which, while confessing himself a Catholic priest, he managed to win sympathy and to elude the death penalty. On 28 Oct. 1709 he was transferred to the Kirishitan Yashiki prison near Tokyo, sustained by the benevolence of the shogun himself. Here, in 1714, he was able to baptize his two guards and perhaps others. Once the fact became known, he was subjected to extremely strict custody. In the meantime, on 27 Aug. 1714, Propaganda had appointed him vicar apostolic of Japan. That of S. was the last attempt of the Church to save the Christians of Japan.
Bibliography4 worksMax V. Küenburg, Kirishitan Yashiki, das ehemalige Christengefängnis in Kotehskawa, in Monum, Nipponica, I, Tokio 1938, pp. 300-304; R. Tass
BIBL.: Max V. Küenburg, Kirishitan Yashiki, das ehemalige Christengefängnis in Kotehskawa, in Monum, Nipponica, I, Tokio 1938, pp. 300-304; R. Tassinari, The end of Padre S., ibid., V, 1, 1942, pp. 246-53; A. Brou, L'abbé Jean-Baptiste S., in Rev. d'hist. des Missions, 14 (1937), pp. 367-79, 494-501 and 15 (1938), pp. 80-91; L. Pedot, La S. C. de Propaganda Fide e le missions del Giappone, Roma 1946, pp. 332-36 (the latter is the only one that reports the notices of Propaganda on S.).
Pedot, Lino. “Sidotti, giovanni battista.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XI, coll. 543–544. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1953. https://azioneromana.com/article/sidotti-giovanni-battista.
MLA
Pedot, Lino. “Sidotti, giovanni battista.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XI, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1953, coll. 543–544. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/sidotti-giovanni-battista.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec11_sidotti_giovanni_battista,
author = {Pedot, Lino},
title = {Sidotti, giovanni battista},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {XI},
pages = {543--544},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1953},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/sidotti-giovanni-battista}
}
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